Working on something new culinary recipe or making angular calculations in a simple text editor, like a standard notepad, the user may be faced with a completely logical question: how to put, for example, a degree sign, which, apparently, is not included in the standard layout? To solve this issue, it is not at all necessary to use special third-party programs. The QWERTY layout hides several tricks that are not written about in the operating instructions.

Where did the rest of the symbols go?

The existing sequence of letters and numbers on the keyboard was invented at the end of the century before last and still remains almost unchanged. Over the years, humanity has not invented anything radically new in this area. The question arises: why not come up with a new layout that would include more values?

Obviously, it will be quite problematic to place all the special characters on a regular keyboard, given their huge number. However, to solve this problem, the developers came up with several simple ways, that allow expand the set printable characters. Who can benefit from this log?

• To the people those involved in programming. The standard layout provides a sufficient set for special languages ​​that are used in this area (|, \, &, etc.). However, an HTML programmer often requires additional values ​​that a regular keyboard does not provide (for example, © is the icon indicating Copyright).
• For employees office sector. Some computational operations or to indicate a special mathematical operation also require their own icon (± - plus/minus sign).
• Ordinary users. It is unlikely that there are people left who would not be interested in how to print a “heart” or a cheerful emoticon☺.

Working with special characters

HTML special characters are mostly used in the field of programming. To display them correctly, it is advisable to choose standard fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman. This typology includes arithmetic signs, currency symbols, markers, arrows, Greek alphabet, etc. To display the desired icon, use the specialized codes given in the table. Please note that all combinations are written in lowercase.

Alt codes

Another way to type a special character is to use alt codes. This method does not require auxiliary systems. To use it, need to be clamped alt button on the keyboard and sequentially enter a special numerical combination, with which the required icon will be inserted into the text.

As an example, here are a few alt codes. Hold alt and enter:

• 8776 – approximately or approximately equal to (≈);
• 197 – cross (┼)
• 0134 – cross (†)
• 24, 25, 26, 27 – arrows up, down, right and left (,↓,→,←)
• 7 — Bold dot ( )
• 42 – Asterisk (*)
• 1, 2 – Emoticons (☺, ☻)
• 0216 – Diameter (Ø). Enters in English layout.
• 255 – Empty character (). Not to be confused with space.
• 0176, 248 – Degrees (°)
• 8381 and 01364 – Ruble sign (₽, Ք)
• 0128 and 0136 – Euro (€). The code depends on the layout - the first is for English, the second is for Russian
• 9742, 9743 – Telephone (☎, ☏)
• 10122 – 10131 – numbers from 1 to 10 in a black circle (➊ ​​– ➓)
• 10112 – 10121 – numbers from 1 to 10 in a white circle (➀ – ➉)
• 0177 – plus or minus (±)
• 8734 – infinity (∞)
• 960 – Pi icon (π)
• 0216 – crossed out O (Ø). In English layout

You can also use the table to find the desired value.

The Windows operating system provides a special built-in program with which you can display characters that are not on the keyboard. To find it on your device, follow any of the following instructions:

This program allows you to see all hidden signs. In order to transfer a character into text, you just need to copy it, for example, using the clipboard or using a special “copy/paste” key combination.

Everyone can type text today. Even the most staunch opponents of new technologies know how to type symbols on the keyboard ( but they don't do it out of principle). After all, all that is required is to find the key with the desired letter or punctuation mark and press it with your finger:

But sometimes situations arise when the desired character is simply not on the keyboard. For example, a person writes a text about temperature on South Pole, and there is no symbol indicating degrees. In this case, not only a beginner, but also a fairly experienced user may become confused ( or the one who considers himself to be one).

But there is certainly a way out of this situation. When the characters on the keyboard do not meet the requirements, you must use other input methods. Some of them will be discussed in this article.

Why isn't everything on the keyboard?

If you look just below the monitor screen, you can see different symbols on the keyboard, which, however, look very familiar. They are used, oddly enough, for printing, and humanity has been interested in this activity for quite a long time.

Back in 1868, the typewriter was introduced to the world ( although they tried to do this a century earlier), the letters on it were arranged in alphabetical order, and it took people 22 years to eliminate this inconvenience. In turn, in 1890, the QWERTY layout appeared, which migrated to modern keyboards.

Thus, the composition and arrangement of the main symbols were developed over the years, and over time, humanity did not come up with something radically new in this regard, but only improved the old.

Why do keyboards remain the same, and there is no one who wants to make money on the newness? You need to understand that large companies producing equipment must focus on a wide audience, so the symbols and signs on the keyboard are designed for the most general needs. To understand manufacturers, it is necessary to define the categories of people who use computers.

• Regular users. They need to go online, check their email and, in some cases, write small texts ( messages, announcements):

These people do not require additional characters on the keyboard, and even those that are there are too many.

• Programmers:

Keyboard symbols include the basic reserved constructs of many programming languages ​​( &, |, #, (), etc.). Such popular and most widely used languages ​​as C, C++, Lisp, Java have an established syntax, which was initially partially adjusted to the symbols available on the keyboard. Therefore, if the standard layout changes significantly now, this will lead to significant inconvenience for programmers, and no one wants this.

• Office workers. These comrades in most cases operate with numbers, so their needs closely intersect with those of programmers:

Mathematical operations, percentage and dollar signs are faithful companions of each report.

Needless to say, today everyone uses a computer, everywhere. In many cases, people need to enter characters that are not available on the keyboard. These could be some kind of scientific designations or simply more suitable means of display in a particular situation.

In order to accommodate all the known symbols, thousands of keyboards would be needed, but the keys have a remarkable property: they can be pressed several at a time. However, more on this a little later.

Special characters

We are accustomed to the fact that a character is something visual, but when formatting text it is often necessary to make indentations and line breaks, which are ignored by the browser when displayed. In this case, special characters are used. The keyboard does not have them, but in the html code you can, for example, write   , which will mean a non-breaking space.

Let's imagine another situation: you are writing an article about Internet technologies and want to give examples of HTML language tags. But here’s the problem: you know how to put the symbols ( not small anymore), but the browser treats the tags as tags and renders nothing. In this case, special symbols come to the rescue again.

Sometimes the authors of articles are faced with a complicated problem: how to write characters on the keyboard if there are none on it. The weak give up and use tricks, calling into words what they could not type. Initiates turn to special symbols and find what they need:

For example, 7 is the Jewish star; The symbol is not on the keyboard, but it is very useful when writing religious texts.

Character codes

The codes for special characters in the html language have already been discussed above, but there are other ways to show what is not shown on the keyboard keys.

First of all, we should mention encoding standards: ASCII, Unicode, UTF-8, which allow not only entering characters using the keyboard, but also setting them programmatically, when not the number 300 is displayed on the screen, but a beautiful heart ( if the encoding is set to ASCII).

There is a way to expand existing characters on the keyboard - ALT code. To enter characters this way, you don’t need to go to any special editor:

In order to know how to make symbols on the keyboard ( even those that are not there and that you don’t know about), just have a sign in front of your eyes and, holding down the alt key, enter a sequence of numbers.

How to enter something that is not on the keyboard?

For those who do not know how to make symbols on the keyboard that are not displayed on the keys, putting together everything mentioned above, there are several ways.

• Use the capabilities of a text editor. Programs like Microsoft Word and its equivalents offer a lot of options beyond just how to write symbols on your keyboard ( drawing up formulas, displaying physical units, selection of different punctuation styles). Therefore, you can safely type texts on any topic;
• Special characters html. Not knowing how to put symbols on the keyboard when publishing articles on the World Wide Web, you can use the table of special characters. It will help display almost any known symbol, but you should choose common fonts ( Arial, Times).
• Apply keyboard character codes. When editing text normally, you can hold down the alt key and enter a specific number sequence. If the screen output is programmed, then the characters are specified using their codes ( depending on the selected encoding).

In conclusion, it is worth noting that all secret symbols on the keyboard are not actually secret symbols. You can display anything by pressing a little more than one key, and information about character codes is available to all curious users.

The symbol table is classified as service Windows programs, that is, it is free and is part of the operating room Windows systems. With its help, you can find characters that are not on the keyboard, copy them into the computer's memory, and then paste them into an application.

This table is available in all Windows versions: 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP. And it works the same everywhere.

How to find the Symbol Table on your device

This can be done using one of the three options below:

1) In the Search line, enter “character table” without quotes. As a result of the search, a link to the Symbol Table should appear.

2) Or in the main menu: Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Character Table.

3) The third option is to find the symbol table. We use keys, that is,

• Press two “Win+R” keys at the same time.
• The “Run” window will appear, in which we type “charmap.exe” without quotes.
• Then click “OK” and the “Symbol Table” will open.

The symbol table allows you to view all the symbols that are included in a font. Let's look at this specific example.

Windows character table for Times New Roman font

For clarity, this table is presented below in the figure:

Rice. 1. Windows character table for the Times New Roman font. The “Paragraph” symbol is highlighted. The keys for entering a paragraph are indicated: Alt+0167

The order of symbols in the Symbol Table is as follows:

• punctuation marks come first,
• then the numbers
• english letters,
• further linguistic.
• And only after all this come the symbols that are not on the keyboard, such as: ⅜, ∆, ™, ₤ and so on.

How can I copy a symbol from the Symbol Table and place it where needed?

I suggest two ways for this:

1. Copied (in the Symbol Table) - Pasted (where required).
2. Using a keyboard shortcut (that is, using hot keys).

First method: Copied in the Table - Pasted where needed.

We copy (not download, but copy) a symbol in the Symbol Table in order to temporarily place it in the memory of a computer (or similar device). This temporary memory is called.

Such a buffer is needed to temporarily place a character there, and then insert it from the buffer to where we want to see this character. Thus, the symbol is not downloaded to the computer disk, but is temporarily placed in the computer’s RAM, that is, on the clipboard. And from this buffer the user can insert a character wherever needed.

Let's look at a specific example of how you can drop a symbol from the Table into the clipboard, and then take it out from there and place it where it is needed.

To copy symbol into the computer memory, we need to allocate it. To do this, just click on the required symbol (number 1 in Fig. 2).

Then click on the “Select” button (2 in Fig. 2):

Rice. 2. Click on the required symbol and press the “Select” button

As a result, the symbol will end up in the “For copying” line (1 in Fig. 3). In order for the symbol to appear on the clipboard, you need to click on the “Copy” button (2 in Fig. 3):

Rice. 3. Copy the symbol from the Table to the clipboard

There is also a quick option:

Double-click on the symbol and it will be copied to the clipboard.

After this, all that remains is to go to the appropriate application (or text editor) and insert copied character from the clipboard.

To do this, you need to place the cursor in the desired place in the application (in a text editor, etc.) and press the two Ctrl+V keys (they execute the “Paste” command).

If it doesn’t work with the Ctrl+V keys, then right-click where the symbol should be placed. A menu will open in which we click the “Insert” command. The copied symbol will then appear.

Note that you can place several symbols at once in the “To copy” line in the Symbol Table and copy them all at the same time. Then all the copied symbols will be inserted at once where it is required (in Notepad, in some application, etc.)

Second method: copy the symbol using a keyboard shortcut

For each character in the Table there is strictly its own keyboard shortcut.

On the right in the Windows character table (3 in Fig. 3) you can see which key combination you need to press to insert the selected character in the application you need.

For example, for the paragraph sign §, you should press the key combination Alt+0167, and you can only use numbers from the small numeric keypad.

You can learn more about how to practically check character encoding using the small numeric keypad. This method of entering characters that are not on the keyboard requires certain skills and, I think, is rarely used by ordinary users.

The main device for manual input of information, commands and data. This article describes its structure and layout, hot keys, symbols and signs.

Computer keyboard: operating principle

Basic keyboard functions do not require special software. The drivers necessary for its operation are already available in the BIOS ROM. Therefore, the computer responds to commands from the main keyboard keys immediately after turning on.

The operating principle of the keyboard is as follows:

1. After pressing a key, the keyboard chip generates a scan code.
2. The scan code enters a port integrated into the motherboard.
3. The keyboard port reports a fixed-number interrupt to the processor.
4. Having received a fixed interrupt number, the processor contacts a special interrupt. region random access memory, containing an interrupt vector - a list of data. Each entry in the data list contains the address of the program servicing the interrupt, which matches the entry number.
5. Having determined the program entry, the processor proceeds to execute it.
6. The interrupt handler program then directs the processor to the keyboard port, where it finds the scan code. Next, under the control of the processor, the processor determines which character corresponds to this scan code.
7. The handler sends code to the keyboard buffer, notifying the processor, and then stops working.
8. The processor moves on to the pending task.
9. The entered character is stored in the keyboard buffer until it is retrieved by the program for which it is intended, for example, text Microsoft editor Word.

Photo of a computer keyboard and the purpose of the keys

A standard keyboard has more than 100 keys, divided into functional groups. Below is photo of the keyboard computer with a description of key groups.

Alphanumeric keys

Alphanumeric keys are used to enter information and commands typed by letter. Each of the keys can work in different registers and also represent several characters.

Switching case (entering lowercase and uppercase characters) is carried out by holding the Shift key. For hard (permanent) case switching, Caps Lock is used.

If the computer keyboard is used to enter text data, the paragraph is closed by pressing the Enter key. Next, data entry begins on a new line. When the keyboard is used to enter commands, Enter ends the input and begins execution.

Function keys

The function keys are located at the top of the keyboard and consist of 12 buttons F1 – F12. Their functions and properties depend on the running program, and in some cases operating system.

A common function in many programs is the F1 key, which calls up help, where you can find out the functions of other buttons.

Special keys

Special keys are located next to the alphanumeric group of buttons. Due to the fact that users often resort to using them, they have an increased size. These include:

1. Shift and Enter discussed earlier.
2. Alt and Ctrl – used in combination with other keyboard keys to form special commands.
3. Tab is used for tabulation when typing text.
4. Win – opens the Start menu.
5. Esc – refusal to use the started operation.
6. BACKSPACE – deleting the characters just entered.
7. Print Screen – prints the current screen or saves a snapshot of it to the clipboard.
8. Scroll Lock – switches the operating mode in some programs.
9. Pause/Break – pause/interrupt the current process.

Cursor keys

The cursor keys are located to the right of the alphanumeric pad. Cursor is a screen element indicating the location for entering information. The directional keys move the cursor in the direction of the arrows.

Additional keys:

1. Page Up/Page Down – move the cursor to page up/down.
2. Home and End – move the cursor to the beginning or end of the current line.
3. Insert – traditionally switches the data input mode between insertion and replacement. In different programs, the action of the Insert button may be different.

Additional numeric keypad

The additional numeric keyboard duplicates the actions of the numeric and some other keys of the main input panel. To use it, you must first enable the Num Lock button. Also, the additional keyboard keys can be used to control the cursor.

Keyboard shortcut

When you press a certain key combination, a particular command is executed for the computer.

Commonly used keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl + Shift + Esc – open the Task Manager.
• Ctrl + F – search window in the active program.
• Ctrl + A – selects all content in the open window.
• Ctrl + C – copy the selected fragment.
• Ctrl + V – paste from the clipboard.
• Ctrl + P — prints the current document.
• Ctrl + Z – cancels the current action.
• Ctrl + X – cut the selected section of text.
• Ctrl + Shift + → selecting text by words (starting from the cursor position).
• Ctrl + Esc - opens/closes the Start menu.
• Alt + Printscreen – screenshot of the active program window.
• Alt + F4 – closes the active application.
• Shift + Delete – permanently delete an object (past the trash can).
• Shift + F10 – call the context menu of the active object.
• Win + Pause – system properties.
• Win + E – launches Explorer.
• Win + D – minimizes all open windows.
• Win + F1 – opens Windows Help.
• Win + F – opens the search window.
• Win + L – lock the computer.
• Win + R – open “Run a program”.

Keyboard symbols

Surely, many users noticed symbols for nicknames, and others in social networks. How to make symbols on the keyboard if there are no explicit keys for this?

You can place characters on the keyboard using Alt codes - additional commands for entering hidden characters. These commands are entered by simply pressing Alt + number in decimal system Reckoning.

You can often come across questions: how to make a heart on the keyboard, an infinity sign or a euro on the keyboard?

• alt + 3 =
• Alt+8734 = ∞
• Alt + 0128 = €

These and other keyboard symbols are presented in the following tables in the form of pictures. In the "Alt code" column there is numeric value, after entering which, in combination with the Alt key, a certain character will be displayed. The symbol column contains the final result.

Please note that if the additional numeric keypad is not enabled - Num Lock is not pressed, then the Alt + number key combination may lead to unexpected results.

For example, if you press Alt + 4 in the browser without Num Lock enabled, the previous page will open.

Punctuation marks on the keyboard

Sometimes users, when trying to put a punctuation mark on the keyboard, do not get exactly what they expected. This is due to the fact that different keyboard layouts imply different use of key combinations.

Below we discuss how to put punctuation marks on the keyboard.

Punctuation marks with Cyrillic alphabet

• " (quotes) - Shift + 2
• № (number) - Shift + 3
• ; (semicolon) - Shift + 4
• % (percentage) - Shift + 5
• : (colon) - Shift + 6
• ? (question mark) - Shift + 7
• ((open bracket) - Shift + 9
• – (dash) – button labeled “-”
• , (comma) - Shift + “period”
• + (plus) – Shift + button with plus sign “+”
• . (dot) – button to the right of the letter “U”

Latin punctuation marks

• ~ (tilde) - Shift + Yo
• ! (exclamation mark) - Shift + 1
• @ (dog – used in address Email) - Shift + 2
• # (hash) - Shift + 3
• $ (dollar) – Shift + 4
• % (percentage) - Shift + 5
• ^ — Shift + 6
• & (ampersand) - Shift + 7
• * (multiply or asterisk) - Shift + 8
• ((open bracket) - Shift + 9
• ) (close bracket) - Shift + 0
• – (dash) – key on the keyboard labeled “-”
• + (plus) - Shift and +
• = (equal) – equal sign button
• , (comma) – key with the Russian letter “B”
• . (dot) - key with the Russian letter “Yu”
• < (левая угловая скобка) — Shift + Б
• > (right angle bracket) - Shift + Yu
• ? (question mark) – Shift + button with a question mark (to the right of “Y”)
• ; (semicolon) – letter “F”
• : (colon) – Shift + “F”
• [ (left square bracket) – Russian letter “X”
• ] (right square bracket) – “Ъ”
• ( (left curly brace) – Shift + Russian letter “X”
• ) (right curly brace) – Shift + “Ъ”

Computer keyboard layout

Computer keyboard layout— a scheme for assigning symbols of national alphabets to specific keys. Switching the keyboard layout is done programmatically - one of the functions of the operating system.

In Windows, you can change the keyboard layout by pressing Alt + Shift or Ctrl + Shift. Typical keyboard layouts are English and Russian.

If necessary, you can change or add a keyboard language in Windows 7 by going to Start – Control Panel – Clock, language and region (sub-item “change keyboard layout or other input methods”).

In the window that opens, select the “Languages ​​and keyboards” tab - “Change keyboard”. Then, in a new window, on the “General” tab, click “Add” and select the required input language. Don't forget to save your changes by clicking OK.

Virtual computer keyboard

The virtual keyboard is a separate program or an add-on included in the software. With its help, you can enter letters and symbols from the computer screen using the mouse cursor. Those. During the typing process, the computer keyboard is not involved.

A virtual keyboard is needed, for example, to protect confidential data (login and password). When entering data using a regular keyboard, there is a risk of information being intercepted by malicious spyware. Then, via the Internet, the information is transmitted to the attacker.

You can find and download a virtual keyboard using search engines - it won’t take much of your time. If Kaspersky anti-virus is installed on your PC, you can launch the virtual keyboard through the main program window; it is included in it.

Screen keyboard

On-screen keyboard is a keyboard on the touch screen of a smartphone, which is pressed with the user’s fingers. Sometimes the on-screen keyboard is called a virtual keyboard.

Also, the on-screen keyboard on your computer is included in the list of Windows accessibility features. If you have stopped typing, suddenly turned off, etc., the on-screen keyboard for Windows will come to the rescue.

To launch the on-screen keyboard in Windows 7, go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - then Accessibility - On-Screen Keyboard. It looks like this.

To switch the keyboard layout, use the corresponding buttons on the taskbar (near the date and time, at the bottom left of the monitor screen).

What to do if the keyboard does not work

If your keyboard suddenly stops working, don’t rush to get upset, first find out what caused the breakdown. All the reasons why the keyboard does not work can be divided into hardware and software.

In the first case, if the keyboard hardware is broken, fixing the problem without special skills is very problematic. Sometimes it’s easier to replace it with a new one.

Before you say goodbye to a seemingly faulty keyboard, check the cable that connects it to system unit, He may have moved away a little. If everything is fine with the cable, make sure that the breakdown is not caused by a software glitch in the computer. To do this, restart your PC.

If after a reboot the keyboard shows no signs of life, try to wake it up using the solution available in Windows. The sequence of actions is given using Windows 7 as an example; if you have a different version of the Windows operating system, proceed by analogy. The principle is approximately the same, the names of the menu sections may differ slightly.

Go to Start - Control Panel - Hardware and Sound - Device Manager. In the window that opens, if you have problems with your keyboard, it will be marked with a yellow label with an exclamation mark. Select it with the mouse and select Action – Delete from the menu. After uninstallation, close Device Manager.

Return to the Hardware and Sound tab and select Add a Device. After searching for equipment, your keyboard will be found and its drivers will be installed.

If the hardware installation was successful and the keyboard failure was due to a software glitch, the Num Lock key indicator on the keyboard will light up.

If the problem cannot be resolved, then a temporary solution may be.

These days, a computer keyboard, like a mouse, is considered a low-value device. However, it plays an important role in working with a computer.

No computer or laptop user can do without alphabetic characters on the keyboard, entered using the appropriate keys. Almost every key has 2 letters - English at the top and Russian at the bottom, i.e. there are 26 letters on the keyboard English alphabet and 33 letters of Russian. Moreover, these can be both lowercase and uppercase letters, which are typed using the Shift key.

There are punctuation marks in both English and Russian layouts, although they are located in different places on the keyboard. It is convenient when working with Russian text that a period and a comma are the same key, which is located in the bottom row of the most recent letter keys. Only the comma is typed in combination with the Shift key. And in the English layout, a dot is a key with the Russian letter Y, and a comma is B. So, to enter these punctuation marks, you do not need to switch from one font to another.

We use digital signs or numbers not only for calculations, but also in text to indicate various numerical data. In this case, you can use both the upper numeric row of the keyboard and the additional numeric pad (small numeric keypad) located on the right side of the keyboard.

The basic signs of arithmetic operations (plus “+”, minus “-”, multiplication “*”, division “/”), located on the small numeric keypad by analogy with a familiar calculator, so they are convenient to use when making calculations. But if you just need to print the equal sign “=”, and not find out the result of the calculations, then you will not find such a sign there. It is located in the top number row after the number 0, one key later.

What frequently used characters are on the keyboard?

If you look closely at the keyboard, you can see that many characters are hidden in the number row and with right side letter rows, last keys. To enter characters instead of letters or numbers when printing, you need to switch to upper case using the Shift key.

If you go in order, starting with the number 1, then in this way when printing Russian texts you enter:

1) exclamation point “!”;
2) opening and closing quotation marks at the beginning and end of the phrase “...”;
3) then, if necessary, the number sign “No”;
4) semicolon “;”;
5) "%";
6) colon “:”;
7) question mark “?”;
8) the asterisk “*”, which is also used as a multiplication sign in computer calculations;
9) round opening “(”;
10) round closing bracket “)” on the key with the number 0;
11) a hyphen and a “-” sign – in the computer version they look the same. The dash character (longer) appears automatically using spaces before and after this character in text programs or is entered using a special code.
12) the = sign and the + sign in upper case, i.e. in combination with the Shift key.

It is noteworthy that the exclamation point, %, *, parentheses are found in both Russian and English keyboard layouts on the same keys.

But some characters exist only in the English layout. For example, square […] and curly (…) brackets, which are located on keys with the Russian letters X (opening) and Ъ (closing), “>” (key with the Russian letter Yu) and less “Rarely used characters on the keyboard

IN Everyday life the average user rarely has to use characters that exist only in the English layout: different variants quotation marks “…”, ‘…’, `…`, dash “|”, forward “/” and backslash “\”, tilde “~”. But the paragraph sign “§” or the degree “°” would be nice , but they are not on the keyboard. You have to enter some characters into the text in a different way.