This article describes how to use the US-International keyboard layout
to create accented characters.
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When you use the US-International keyboard layout, you should also use
the English (International) language setting. To change these
settings, choose the International icon in Control Panel.
The US-International keyboard layout does not remap your standard US
keyboard layout; instead, it creates international characters by
assigning certain characters a strikeover function so that you can use
them to add an accent or diacritical mark to a character. It also
assigns new functions to the right-most ALT key. The following
describes the features of the US-International Keyboard Layout:
| • | When you press the APOSTROPHE (') key, QUOTATION MARK (") key,
ACCENT GRAVE (`) key, TILDE (~) key, ACCENT CIRCUMFLEX key, or CARET
(^) key, nothing appears on the screen until you press the a second
key. If you press one of the letters designated as eligible to receive
an accent mark, the accented version of the letter appears. If you
press an ineligible key, two separate characters appear. In other
words, the US-International keyboard layout dynamic-link library (DLL)
automatically accents letters that customarily receive an accent but
does not automatically accent letters that do not customarily receive
an accent.
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| • | The right-most ALT key activates additional functions for the
APOSTROPHE/QUOTATION MARK key. As a result, the right-most ALT key no
longer performs Windows functions. You must use the left-most ALT key
to perform Windows functions and as part of key combinations in
Windows (such as ALT+TAB or ALT+F4) or Windows-based applications
(such as ALT+F1 in Word for Windows).
|
| • | You can press the right-most ALT key plus another character to
produce some common extended characters. Most keys on the keyboard
produce one or two extended characters in combination with the
right-most ALT key. The following table lists some of the extended
characters you can produce with the right-most ALT+<character> key
combination:
Note: This is an incomplete list due to the difficulty of displaying
extended characters in some environments.
Key Combination Result
----------------------------------------------------------
Right-most ALT+r Registered trademark symbol
Right-most ALT+c Copyright symbol
Right-most ALT+z ae symbol
Right-most ALT+Z AE symbol
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| • | If you want to type one of these characters (an APOSTROPHE,
QUOTATION MARK, CARET, TILDE, or ACCENT GRAVE) followed by an
unaccented letter, press the SPACEBAR after you press the key. For
example, to type "A girl named Sally," press the QUOTATION MARK key,
then press the SPACEBAR, then press A.
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The following table lists the accented characters you can create using
the US-International keyboard layout:
Press Then Press
This Key This Key Result
---------------------------------------------------------------------
APOSTROPHE (') c c, Cedilla
APOSTROPHE (') e, y, u, i, o, a <letter>, Accent acute
APOSTROPHE (') SPACEBAR Apostrophe (')
APOSTROPHE (') All others Apostrophe followed by
the letter (two separate
characters)
Right-most ALT+ n/a Accent acute
Apostrophe (')
QUOTATION MARK (") e, u, i, o, a <letter>, Dieresis
QUOTATION MARK (") SPACEBAR Quotation mark (")
QUOTATION MARK (") All others Quotation mark followed
by the letter (two
separate characters)
Right-most ALT+QUOTATION MARK n/a Dieresis
(Right-most ALT+SHIFT+
Apostrophe)
ACCENT GRAVE (`) e, u, i, o <letter>, Accent grave
ACCENT GRAVE (`) SPACEBAR Accent grave
ACCENT GRAVE (`) All others Accent grave followed by
the letter (two separate
characters)
TILDE (~) o, n <letter>, Tilde
TILDE (~) SPACEBAR Tilde
TILDE (~) all others Tilde followed by
the letter (two separate
characters)
CARET (^) e, u, i, o, a <letter>, Caret
CARET (^) SPACEBAR Caret
CARET (^) All others Caret followed by
the letter (two separate
characters)
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Windows version 3.1 online help for Control Panel.
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