Keyboard Shortcuts

Here you find all special characters that are accessible via the British/American keyboard. I compiled them in groups that I find quite sensible, most important ones on the top.

Windows Input Method

On Windows, many of the characters have to be inserted by entering an alt code; press and hold alt key and enter the code with the numeric keypad – e.g. en dash = Alt + 0 1 5 0.

Quotation

Character	Name	macOS	Windows	Linux
“	Opening	⌥ + [	Alt + 0147	—
”	Closing	⇧ + ⌥ + [	Alt + 0148	—
‘	Single opening	⌥ + ]	Alt + 0145	—
’	Apostrophe	⇧ + ⌥ + ]	Alt + 0146	—
«	Opening Guillemet (angle quote)	⌥ + \	Alt + 0171	—
»	Closing Guillemet (angle quote)	⌥ + ⇧ + \	Alt + 0187	—
‹	Single opening Guillemet	⇧ + ⌥ + 3	Alt + 0139	—
›	Single closing Guillemet	⇧ + ⌥ + 4	Alt + 0155	—
„	German opening	⇧ + ⌥ + W	Alt + 0132	—
‚	German single opening	⇧ + ⌥ + 0	Alt + 0130	—

Punctuation

Character	Name	macOS	Windows	Linux
-	Ascii hyphen	-	-	-
–	En Dash	⌥ + -	Alt + 0150	—
—	Em Dash	⇧ + ⌥ + -	Alt + 0151	—
…	Ellipsis	⌥ + ;	Alt + 0133	—
’	Apostrophe	⇧ + ⌥ + ]	Alt + 0146	—
·	Interpunct (interpoint, Centred point, Middle dot)	⇧ + ⌥ + 9	Alt + 0183	—
•	Bullet	⌥ + 8	Alt + 0149	—
¡	Inverted exclamation mark	⌥ + 1	Alt + 0161	—
!	Exclamation mark	⇧ + 1	⇧ + 1	—
¿	Inverted question mark	⇧ + ⌥ + /	Alt + 0191	—
?	Question mark	⇧ + /	⇧ + /	—
(	Opening parenthesis (round bracket)	⇧ + 9	⇧ + 9	—
)	Closing parenthesis (round bracket)	⇧ + 0	⇧ + 0	—
[	Opening square bracket	[	[	—
]	Closing square bracket	]	]	—
{	Opening curly bracket (brace)	⇧ + [	⇧ + [	—
}	Closing curly bracket (brace)	⇧ + ]	⇧ + ]	—
/	Slash	/	/	—
\	Backslash	\	\	—
\|	Vertical bar	⇧ + \	⇧ + \	—

Currencies

Character	Name	macOS	Windows	Linux
€	Euro	⇧ + ⌥ + 2	Alt + 0128	—
$	Dollar	⇧ + 4	⇧ + 4	—
¥	Yen	⌥ + Y	Alt + 0165	—
£	Pound	⌥ + 3	Alt + 0163	—
¢	Cent	⌥ + 4	Alt + 0162	—
ƒ	Florin	⌥ + F	Alt + 0131	—
¤	Currencie Sign	—	Alt + 0164	—

Miscellaneous Symbols

Character	Name	macOS	Windows	Linux
@	At sign	⇧ + 2	⇧ + 2	—
&	Ampersand	⇧ + 7	⇧ + 7	—
ﬁ	ﬁ ligature	⇧ + ⌥ + 5	—	—
ﬂ	ﬂ ligature	⇧ + ⌥ + 6	—	—
§	Section sign	§	Alt + 21	—
%	Percent	⇧ + 5	⇧ + 5	—
‰	Permille sign	⇧ + ⌥ + R	Alt + 0137	—
¶	Pilcrow (paragraph mark, alinea)	⌥ + 7	Alt + 0182	—
™	Trademark	⌥ + 2	Alt + 0153	—
©	Copyright	⌥ + G	Alt + 0169	—
®	Registered Trademark	⌥ + R	Alt + 0174	—
*	Asterisk	⇧ + 8	⇧ + 8	—
†	Dagger (obelisk)	⌥ + T	Alt + 0134	—
‡	Double dagger (diesis)	⇧ + ⌥ + 7	Alt + 0135	—
°	Degree	⇧ + ⌥ + 8	Alt + 248	—
'	Single code mark (Feet, minutes)	'	'	—
"	Double code mark (Inches, seconds)	⇧ + '	⇧ + '	—
ª	Feminine ordinal indicator	⌥ + 9	Alt + 0170	—
º	Masculine ordinal indicator	⌥ + 0	Alt + 0186	—

Diacritics / Accented letters

These are all accented letters available via keyboard shortcuts! You can copy/paste the most important Latin characters at our tweeting symbols article.

iOS (left) and macOS (right): by pushing and holding keys, you can access a corresponding glyph palette; e.g. in iA Writer.

Character	Name	macOS	Windows	Linux
À	A with grave	⌥ + ` + ⇧ + A	Alt + 0192	—
à	a with grave	⌥ + ` + A	Alt + 0224	—
Á	A with acute	⇧ + ⌥ + Y	Alt + 0193	—
á	a with acute	⌥ + E + A	Alt + 0225	—
Â	A with circumflex	⌥ + ⇧ + M	Alt + 0194	—
â	a with circumflex	⌥ + I + A	Alt + 0226	—
Ã	A with tilde	⌥ + N + ⇧ + A	Alt + 0195	—
ã	a with tilde	⌥ + N + A	Alt + 0227	—
Ä	A with diaeresis	⌥ + U + A	Alt + 0196	—
ä	a with diaeresis	⌥ + U + A	Alt + 0228	—
Å	A with ring	⇧ + ⌥ + A	Alt + 0197	—
å	a with ring	⌥ + A	Alt + 0229	—
Æ	AE ligature	⇧ + ⌥ + ‘	Alt + 0198	—
æ	ae ligature	⌥ + ‘	Alt + 0230	—
Ç	C with cedilla	⇧ + ⌥ + C	Alt + 0199	—
ç	c with cedilla	⌥ + C	Alt + 0231	—
È	E with grave	⌥ + ` + ⇧ + E	Alt + 0200	—
è	e with grave	⌥ + ` + E	Alt + 0232	—
É	E with acute	⌥ + E + ⇧ + E	Alt + 0201	—
é	e with acute	⌥ + E + E	Alt + 0233	—
Ê	E with circumflex	⌥ + I + ⇧ + E	Alt + 0202	—
ê	e with circumflex	⌥ + I + E	Alt + 0234	—
Ë	E with diaeresis	⌥ + U + ⇧ + E	Alt + 0203	—
ë	e with diaeresis	⌥ + U + E	Alt + 0235	—
Ì	I with grave	⌥ + ` + ⇧ + I	Alt + 0204	—
ì	i with grave	⌥ + ` + I	Alt + 0236	—
Í	I with acute	⇧ + ⌥ + S	Alt + 0205	—
í	i with acute	⌥ + E + I	Alt + 0237	—
Î	I with circumflex	⌥ + ⇧ + D	Alt + 0206	—
î	i with circumflex	⌥ + I + I	Alt + 0238	—
Ï	I with diaeresis	⇧ + ⌥ + F	Alt + 0207	—
ï	i with diaeresis	⌥ + U + I	Alt + 0239	—
ı	Dotless i	⇧ + ⌥ + B	—	—
Ñ	N with tilde	⌥ + N + ⇧ + N	Alt + 0209	—
ñ	n with tilde	⌥ + N +N	Alt + 0241	—
Ò	O with grave	⌥ + ⇧ + L	Alt + 0210	—
ò	o with grave	⌥ + ` + O	Alt + 0242	—
Ó	O with acute	⇧ + ⌥ + H	Alt + 0211	—
ó	o with acute	⌥ + E + O	Alt + 0243	—
Ô	O with circumflex	⌥ + ⇧ + J	Alt + 0212	—
ô	o with circumflex	⌥ + I + O	Alt + 0244	—
Õ	O with tilde	⌥ + N + ⇧ + O	Alt + 0213	—
õ	o with tilde	⌥ + N + O	Alt + 0245	—
Ö	O with diaeresis	⌥ + U + ⇧ + O	Alt + 0214	—
ö	o with diaeresis	⌥ + U + O	Alt + 0246	—
Ø	O with stroke (slashed O)	⇧ + ⌥ + O	Alt + 0216	—
ø	o with stroke (slashed o)	⌥ + O	Alt + 0248	—
Œ	OE ligature	⇧ + ⌥ + Q	Alt + 0140	—
œ	oe ligature	⌥ + Q	Alt + 0156	—
Š	S with caron	—	Alt + 0138	—
š	s with caron	—	Alt + 0154	—
ẞ	Capital eszett	—	Alt + 7838	—
ß	Eszett	⌥ + S	Alt + 0223	—
Ù	U with grave	⌥ + ` + ⇧ + U	Alt + 0217	—
ù	u with grave	⌥ + ` + U	Alt + 0249	—
Ú	U with acute	⌥ + ⇧ + ;	Alt + 0218	—
ú	u with acute	⌥ + E + U	Alt + 0250	—
Û	U with circumflex	⌥ + I + ⇧ + U	Alt + 0219	—
û	u with circumflex	⌥ + I + U	Alt + 0251	—
Ü	U with diaeresis	⌥ + U + ⇧ + U	Alt + 0220	—
ü	u with diaeresis	⌥ + U + U	Alt + 0252	—
Ý	Y with acute	—	Alt + 0221	—
ý	y with acute	—	Alt + 0253	—
Ÿ	Y with diaeresis	⌥ + U + ⇧ + Y	Alt + 0159	—
ÿ	y with diaeresis	⌥ + U + Y	Alt + 0255	—
Ž	Z with caron	—	Alt + 0142	—
ž	z with caron	—	Alt + 0158	—
Ð	Eth (Icelandic)	—	Alt + 0208	—
ð	eth (Icelandic)	—	Alt + 0240	—
Þ	Thorn (Icelandic)	—	Alt + 0222	—
þ	thorn (Icelandic)	—	Alt + 0254	—
`	Grave	`	`	—
´	Acute	⇧ + ⌥ + e	Alt + 0180	—
ˆ	Circumflex	⇧ + ⌥ + I	Alt + 0192	—
˜	Tilde (non-mathematical)	⇧ + ⌥ + N	Alt + 0152	—
¨	Diaeresis (Umlaut)	⇧ + ⌥ + U	Alt + 0168	—
˚	Ring accent (≠ degree °)	⌥ + K	Alt + 0000	—
ˇ	Caron	⇧ + ⌥ + T	—	—
˝	Double acute (hungarumlaut)	⇧ + ⌥ + G	—	—
˙	Dot accent	⌥ + H	—	—
¯	Macron	⇧ + ⌥ + ,	Alt + 0175	—
˘	Breve	⇧ + ⌥ + .	—	—
¸	Cedilla	⇧ + ⌥ + Z	—	—
˛	Ogonek	⇧ + ⌥ + X	—	—

Mathematical etc.

Character	Name	macOS	Windows	Linux
+	Plus	⇧ + =	⇧ + =	—
×	Multiplication	—	Alt + 0215	—
÷	Division	⌥ + /	Alt + 0247	—
=	Equals	=	=	—
≈	Almost equal to	⌥ + X	—	—
≠	Not equal	⌥ + =	—	—
≙	Estimates	—	Alt + 2259	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2259
<	Less-than	⇧ + ,	⇧ + ,	—
>	Greater-than	⇧ + .	⇧ + .	—
≤	Greater-than or equal	⌥ + .	—	—
≥	Greater-than or equal	⌥ + .	—	—
±	Plus-minus	⇧ + §	Alt + 0177	—
¦	Broken bar	—	Alt + 0166	—
^	Caret (Ascii Circumflex)	⇧ + 6	Alt + 94	—
~	tilde (mathematical)	⇧ + `	⇧ + `	—
¬	Logical Not	⌥ + L	Alt + 0172	—
µ	Micro sign (mu)	⌥ + M	Alt Gr + M	—
Ω	Ohm sign (Omega)	⌥ + Z	—	—
∆	Symmetric Difference	⌥ + J	—	—
π	pi	⌥ + P	—	—
∂	Partial derivative	⌥ + D	—	—
∏	Product	⇧ + ⌥ + P	—	—
∑	Summation	⌥ + W	—	—
√	Square root	⌥ + V	—	—
∞	Infinity	⌥ + 5	—	—
∫	Integral	⌥ + B	—	—
◊	Lozenge (diamond)	⇧ + ⌥ + V	—	—
⁄	Fraction slash	⇧ + ⌥ + 1	—	—
¹	Superscript 1	—	Alt + 0185	—
²	Superscript 2	—	Alt + 253	—
³	Superscript 3	—	Alt + 0179	—
¼	One quarter	—	Alt + 0188	—
½	One half	—	Alt + 0189	—
¾	Three quarters	—	Alt + 0190	—

Windows-only

Character	Name	macOS	Windows	Linux
☺	Smiley	—	Alt + 1	Strg + ⇧ + U + 263A
☻	Black smiley	—	Alt + 2	Strg + ⇧ + U + 263B
♥	Hearts (suit)	—	Alt + 3	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2665
♦	Diamonds (suit)	—	Alt + 4	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2666
♣	Clubs (suit)	—	Alt + 5	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2663
♠	Spades (suit)	—	Alt + 6	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2660
◘	Inverse bullet	—	Alt + 8	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25D8
○	White circle	—	Alt + 9	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25CB
◙	Inverse white circle	—	Alt + 10	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25D9
♂	Male sign	—	Alt + 11	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2642
♀	Female sign	—	Alt + 12	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2640
♪	Eighth note	—	Alt + 13	Strg + ⇧ + U + 266A
♫	Beamed eighth notes	—	Alt + 14	Strg + ⇧ + U + 266B
☼	Sun	—	Alt + 15	Strg + ⇧ + U + 263C
►	Black right-pointing pointer	—	Alt + 16	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25BA
◄	Black left-pointing pointer	—	Alt + 17	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25C4
↕	Up down arrow	—	Alt + 18	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2195
‼	Double exclamation mark	—	Alt + 19	Strg + ⇧ + U + 203C
▬	Black rectangle	—	Alt + 22	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25AC
↨	Up down arrow with base	—	Alt + 23	Strg + ⇧ + U + 21A8
↑	Upwards arrow	—	Alt + 24	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2191
↓	Downwards arrow	—	Alt + 25	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2193
→	Rightwards arrow	—	Alt + 26	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2192
←	Leftwards arrow	—	Alt + 27	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2190
∟	Right angle	—	Alt + 28	Strg + ⇧ + U + 221F
▲	Black up-pointing triangle	—	Alt + 30	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25B2
▼	Black down-pointing triangle	—	Alt + 31	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25BC
⌂	House	—	Alt + 127	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2302
₧	Pesetas sign	—	Alt + 158	Strg + ⇧ + U + 20A7
░	Light shade	—	Alt + 176	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2591
▒	Medium shade	—	Alt + 177	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2592
▓	Dark shade	—	Alt + 178	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2593
│	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 179	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2502
┤	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 180	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2524
╡	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 181	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2561
╢	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 182	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2562
╖	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 183	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2556
╕	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 184	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2555
╣	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 185	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2563
║	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 186	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2551
╗	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 187	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2557
╝	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 188	Strg + ⇧ + U + 255D
╜	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 189	Strg + ⇧ + U + 255C
╛	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 190	Strg + ⇧ + U + 255B
┐	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 191	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2510
└	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 192	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2514
┴	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 193	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2534
┬	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 194	Strg + ⇧ + U + 252C
├	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 195	Strg + ⇧ + U + 251C
─	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 196	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2500
┼	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 197	Strg + ⇧ + U + 253C
╞	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 198	Strg + ⇧ + U + 255E
╟	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 199	Strg + ⇧ + U + 255F
╚	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 200	Strg + ⇧ + U + 255A
╔	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 201	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2554
╩	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 202	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2569
╦	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 203	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2566
╠	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 204	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2560
═	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 205	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2550
╬	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 206	Strg + ⇧ + U + 256C
╧	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 207	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2567
╨	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 208	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2568
╤	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 209	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2564
╥	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 210	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2565
╙	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 211	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2559
╘	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 212	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2558
╒	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 213	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2552
╓	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 214	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2553
╫	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 215	Strg + ⇧ + U + 256B
╪	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 216	Strg + ⇧ + U + 256A
┘	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 217	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2518
┌	Box drawing element	—	Alt + 218	Strg + ⇧ + U + 250C
█	Full block	—	Alt + 219	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2588
▄	Lower half block	—	Alt + 220	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2584
▌	Left half block	—	Alt + 221	Strg + ⇧ + U + 258C
▐	Rigth half block	—	Alt + 222	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2590
▀	Upper half block	—	Alt + 223	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2580
α	Greek letter alpha	—	Alt + 224	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03B1
Γ	Greek letter Gamma	—	Alt + 226	Strg + ⇧ + U + 0393
Σ	Greek letter Sigma	—	Alt + 228	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03A3
σ	Greek letter sigma	—	Alt + 229	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03C3
τ	Greek letter tau	—	Alt + 231	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03C4
Φ	Greek letter Phi	—	Alt + 232	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03A6
Θ	Greek letter Theta	—	Alt + 233	Strg + ⇧ + U + 0398
δ	Greek letter delta	—	Alt + 235	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03B4
φ	Greek letter phi	—	Alt + 237	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03C6
ε	Greek letter epsilon	—	Alt + 238	Strg + ⇧ + U + 03B5
∩	Intersection	—	Alt + 239	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2229
≡	Identical to	—	Alt + 240	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2261
⌠	Top half integral	—	Alt + 244	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2320
⌡	Bottom half integral	—	Alt + 245	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2321
∙	Bullet operator	—	Alt + 249	Strg + ⇧ + U + 2219
ⁿ	Superscript n	—	Alt + 252	Strg + ⇧ + U + 207F
■	Black square	—	Alt + 254	Strg + ⇧ + U + 25A0

Hint: You can copy & paste all characters shown, even if there’s no keyboard shortcut available, like Ω on Windows.