Computer Keyboard Symbols

Don't you get astonished to see your friends click something on the keyboard and change something on a file or a window with a few magic shortcuts, which you used to do otherwise in a tedious way, or could not do at all. Well, shortcut is the word for it.

We must be working on a computer, for we don't know how many hours everyday, but do we know about these symbols? Perhaps we don't even know the use of several keys.

Most of the symbols mentioned below are not of native English language, but then, with the combination of few keys, you would be able to get them on your screen whenever needed. Few of these are mostly used for denoting currencies.

Here are the list of a few shortcuts to get those signs, which are not printed on the board.

• ALT + 0, 1, 6, 2 - (¢) Cents
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 9 - (½) One-half
• ALT + 0, 1, 6, 9 - (©) Copyright
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 3 - (™) Trademark
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 4 - (®) Registered
• ALT + 0, 1, 3, 3 - (...) Ellipsis
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 0 - ( - ) "N" Dash
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 1 - ( - ) "M" Dash
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 2 - ( ¶ ) (Pilcrow) Paragraph
• ALT + 0, 1, 6, 3 - (£) Pound

• ALT + 0, 1, 2, 8 - ( € ) Euro
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 8 - (²) Square Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 9 - (³) Cube Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 8 - (¼) One-fourth Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 9 - (½) Half Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 9, 0 - (¾) Three-fourth Sign
• ALT + 0, 2, 1, 5 - (×) Multiplication Sign
• ALT + 2, 2, 7 - (π) Pi Sign
• ALT + 2, 2, 8 - (Σ) Sum
• ALT + 2, 4, 6 - (÷) Division Sign

• ALT + 2, 5, 1 - (√) Square root Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 6 - (°) Degrees
• ALT + 0, 1, 3, 7 - (‰) per mille/per thousand
• ALT + 0, 2, 2, 4 - à accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 3, 2 - è accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 3, 6 - ì accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 4, 2 - ò accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 4,1 - ñ accent
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 4 - š accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 4, 9 - ù accent

• ALT + 0, 2, 5, 3 - ý accent
• ALT + 2, 6 - (→) Right arrow
• ALT + 2, 7 - (←) Left arrow
• ALT + 2, 4 - (↑) Up arrow
• ALT + 2, 5 - (↓) Down arrow
• ALT + 1 - (☺) White Smiley
• ALT + 2 - (☻) Black Smiley
• ALT + 3 - (♥ ) Heart
• ALT + 4 - (♦ ) Diamond
• ALT + 5 - (♣ ) Club
• ALT + 6 - (♠ ) Spade

Function keys (Fn) are from F1 to F12. Depending upon the operating system you're using, their function may change or differ. They are in a line at the top of the keyboard

• F1 - The F1 key is the help key. When pressed, it opens the help screen. If windows and F1 keys are pressed, it opens the Microsoft Windows help and support center.
• F2 - F2 key is basically used for renaming a particular file or a folder.
• F3 - The F3 key will open up a search window for you to search for any particular file or folder.

• F4 - This key will help you to open the 'address' window, through which you can navigate where you want to search for a file or document.
• F5 - This is one of the most-used key. It is basically pressed for refreshing the screen.
• F6 - By pressing this key, the address bar window in the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox becomes editable.

• F7 - The F7 key helps to run a spell check through your document to check for any errors.
• F8 - With the help of the F8 key, you can enter the Windows startup menu.
• F9 - For Windows users, this key is of no use. But if used on MS Word, it will help update the selected fields.

• F10 - By pressing the F10 key on an open document, one can activate the Menu bar, and then choose respective menus. This happens on the Microsoft Windows.
• F11 - If you want to enlarge the size of your internet browser, you can do so by pressing the F11 key.
• F12 - In Microsoft Word, pressing the F12 key will open the 'Save as' window.

The Function key row, you would see a row, which has numbers and signs printed on them. If you want to simply type a number, then you will just need to press the respective number key. If you don't want the number but want the sign to come instead, then you can do so by pressing the shift key and respective number key, and it will come up on the screen.

• Ctrl + W - Close Tab
• Ctrl + T - New Tab
• Ctrl + N - New Window
• Ctrl + 9 - Last Tab
• Ctrl + TAB - Next Tab
• Ctrl + F - Find
• Ctrl + X - Cut
• Ctrl + C - Copy
• Ctrl + P - Paste
• Ctrl + '+' - Zoom In
• Ctrl + '-' - Zoom Out
• Ctrl + '0' - Normal View

For people who must have worked on both Windows and Mac, will know how different the shortcuts are on both of these individual platforms. For a very few people, who would be working alternately on these two machines, it would be a little difficult in the beginning to remember and know about the symbols.

However, it may not be the case with Mac devotees. Mentioned below is the list of a few Apple computer keyboard symbols

• Shift + 4 - $
• Option + 3 - £
• Option + F - ƒ
• Option + 4 - ¢
• Option + Y - ¥
• Option + Shift + 2 - €
• Option + G - ©
• Option + O - ø
• Option + 7 - ¶
• Option + E + A - á
• Option + E + E - é
• Option + E + I - í
• Option + E + O - ó
• Option + E + U - ú

Today almost everything is being computerized, as we have already started saying that we live in a digital world. Knowing about the symbols is fun and helpful to learn at the same time. Hope this was of help. Cheers!