keyboard shortcuts to pounds sign

nicholascharles wrote:

The GP pound symbol (as in Sterling currency) looks like this: £ which is produced by shift+3.....at least on my 2014 MacbookPro....

In that case you have a British keyboard, not a US keyboard (like the OP said he had). On a US keyboard, shift + 3 produces #, and option + 3 produces £.

To see how Apple keyboards differ depending the country, you can check

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2841

It is option/alt + 3

Holding down option and 3 together worked on my Mac desktop - thank you

Macjohnkayson wrote:

under System Preferences, Keyboard, Input Sources, I have selected British. Would that explain the difference?

Yes, if you have selected British, then Shift + 3 will produce £, regardless of whether your hardware keyboard is US, British, Russian, Hebrew, or Chinese.

Surely you can see what is printed above the 3 on your 3 key. If it is #, then it's US hardware, if it is £, then it is British hardware. The US online Apple store does sell MBA's with the British hardware keyboard.

ayyazfromlondon wrote:

Perfect and simple answer.

For £ sign. Press SHIFT key and then 3, while still holding down Shift key

For # sign. Press OPTION key and then 3, while still holding down Option key

This answer only applies when you have the British keyboard layout chosen in your system preferences. If you have the US or US International PC keyboard layout chosen, it is the opposite. If it is the British PC layout, the # sign is at over at the right edge of the keyboard, no shift or option needed.

Please note that an iMac with Brit keyboard that has pound symbol above the 3 still cannot now print a pound sign (it did before the latest iMacs were on sale), even though I have embedded British English, etc. in Preferences. So you now have to use alt-3 to print a pound sign instead of a hache. This seems retrograde but I guess the UK is really unimportant now to Apple. Long live Sterling!!

Try here > Mac OS X: How to type Unicode characters, including Symbol or Zapf Dingbat fonts

Try this thread also > http://osxdaily.com/2009/11/08/type-the-british-pound-symbol-in-mac-os-x/

JJust go to system preferences/keyboard/input sources and make sure that British is the Only item on the list.

Macjohnkayson wrote:

I have just bought a MacBook Air with a US keyboard and I can definitely say that with mine option + 3 produces #, while shift + 3 produces £.

Which key does what actually has nothing to do with the hardware keyboard. It's determined by the software layout you have active in system prefs/keyboard/input sources. Shift + 3 giving £ means you have the "British" or "British PC" layout active. If you switched to US, Shift + 3 would be #. Is that not what is printed on the 3 key?

If you have £ printed on your 3 key, it is a British hardware keyboard and not a US one.

Tom, you're a star! Such a simple remedy. I had Brit and US English showing, and obviously the Brit was over-ridden despite me selecting it. Deleting the US option has solved the problem.

£££ Many thanks £££.

LouLou321 wrote:

Thank you NicholasCharles! I'm Australian, and my keyboard has a # above my 3 - but when I type Option+3 I get the # - and you're spot on, when I type Shift+3, I get a £ sign! 🙂

If you would like what you type to match what is printed on the keys, just go to system preferences/keyboard/input sources and add US or Australian and delete British.

Sorry to disagree, but Option + 3 gives what Americans call "pound", but what Europeans call "hash". The GP pound symbol (as in Sterling currency) looks like this: £ which is produced by shift+3.....at least on my 2014 MacbookPro....

Yes, you have to select it in the "flag" menu at the top right of the screen (instead of in the system preferences).

The machine was bought in LA so I'm not sure how it can have a British hardware keyboard. However, under System Preferences, Keyboard, Input Sources, I have selected British. Would that explain the difference?

Yes I can see what's printed on the keys thank you very much. What I now appreciate is that the selection of keyboard preferences can cause confusion in discussions such as this, especially when in your last entry on March 6 you talk about having "a British keyboard, not a US keyboard" and then only in a later entry today referring to the keyboard preferences.

As for buying at the online Apple Store, it's actually cheaper to buy it in a store in LA, providing of course you're in LA to start off with!