AltGr key

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Alt Gr)
Jump to: navigation, search

AltGr is a modifier key on PC keyboards used to type many characters, primarily ones that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as foreign currency symbols and accented letters. If a key has a third symbol on it (on the front vertical face or the bottom right of the key top, sometimes in a different colour), then AltGr can often be used to type that character.

Contents

Sun Microsystems keyboard, notating AltGR as "Alt Graph"
Sun Microsystems keyboard, notating AltGR as "Alt Graph"

On the original IBM AT Enhanced keyboard the right Alt key has green letters, however IBM states that AltGr is an abbreviation for "alternate graphic"[1][2]. The meaning of the key's abbreviation is not explicitly given in many IBM PC compatible technical reference manuals.

Originally, US PC keyboards (specifically: the US 101-key PC/AT keyboards) did not have an AltGr key, it being relevant to only non-US markets; they simply had "left" and "right" Alt keys. As those using such US keyboards increasingly needed the specific functionality of AltGr when typing non-English text, Windows began to allow all keystroke combinations involving AltGr to be typed by using Ctrl+Alt in its place. Therefore, it is recommended that Ctrl-Alt not be used as a modifier in Windows keyboard shortcuts as, depending on the keyboard layout and configuration, someone trying to type a special character with Ctrl-Alt may accidentally trigger the shortcut[3], or the keypresses for the shortcut may be inadvertently interpreted as the user trying to input a special character.

US international keyboard layout
US international keyboard layout

On US international keyboard layouts, the AltGr key can be used to enter the following characters:

¡ ² ³ ¤ € ¼ ½ ¾ ‘ ’ ¥ ×
 ä å é ® þ ü ú í ó ö « »
  á ß ð           ø ¶ ´ ¬
   æ   ©     ñ µ ç   ¿

And, in combination with the Shift key:

¹     £               ÷
 Ä Å É   Þ Ü Ú Í Ó Ö
  Á § Ð           Ø ° ¨ ¦
   Æ   ¢     Ñ   Ç

Note that a lot of these symbols can also be entered using the dead keys.

For comparison, the US international keyboard layout follows. Note that the "`/~" key has been omitted; it does not react to the AltGr key.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - =
 Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ]
  A S D F G H J K L ; ' \
 m Z X C V B N M , . /

"m" denotes the "Macro" key. It generally produces a "\", although applications receive a different keycode and can therefore instead use the key to, for example, run macros.

When using the standard US QWERTY key map layout in Microsoft Windows, the functionality of AltGr is also available via Ctrl+Alt. This is useful in case the current key mapping is not able to differentiate between the Alt key on the left and the AltGr key on the right. Other supported US keyboard layouts (such as "United States-International") do distinguish between left and right-Alt keys, thus allowing the functionality of AltGr to produce accents and other extended characters.

In UK keyboard layouts, the only two symbols printed on most keyboards which require the AltGr key are:

  • € the Euro currency symbol. Located on the "4/$" key.
  • Either |, the vertical bar ("pipe symbol") or ¦, the broken vertical bar ("broken pipe symbol"). Located on the "`/¬" key, to the immediate left of "1".

The two latter symbols interchange places in UK keyboards according to the operating system in use. In OS/2, the "UK keyboard layout" (specifically: the UK166 layout) requires AltGr for the vertical bar and the broken vertical bar is a shifted key — which, coincidentally, matches the actual symbols that are printed on most UK keyboards; in Windows, the "UK keyboard layout" requires AltGr for the broken vertical bar and the vertical bar is a shifted key — the converse of what is usually printed on the keys[citation needed]; and in Linux, the "UK keyboard layout" produces the unbroken vertical bar with both AltGr plus "`/¬" and shifted \, and produces the broken vertical bar with AltGr plus shifted \.

Using the AltGr key on UK keyboards in some versions of Windows (for example XP) in combination with vowel characters produces acute accents over the vowels (for example, á,é,í,ó,ú and Á,É,Í,Ó,Ú).

The free 'To Bach' utility written by Draig Technology uses the AltGr key to enter accented Welsh language vowels (â, ê, î, ô, û, ŷ, ŵ) using a standard UK keyboard.

Traditionally typewriters in Poland used a QWERTZ layout specifically designed for Polish language with accented characters obtainable directly. However, during the initial adoption of personal computers in the 1980s, due to politics of the communist regime most of these machines didn't come from commercial import channels, rather being brought or sent by private persons from foreign countries. Most of these had US keyboards; various methods were devised to make it possible to enter special Polish characters. An established method was to use AltGr in combination with a Latin letter to obtain the accentuated variant, with a single exception of using AltGr+X to obtain ź (as AltGr+Z is used for ż).

At the time of the political transformation and opening of commercial import channels this practice was so common and widespread that the commerce quickly codified this practice. Nowadays most people in Poland use standard US-layout keyboards, using the AltGr method of entering Polish characters. This layout is sometimes referred to as Polish programmers' layout (klawiatura polska programisty), although more often it's just called the Polish layout.

The traditional typewriter layout is rarely if ever used on computer keyboards, mostly by professional typists (and most typewriters still do use this layout). That said, it's still available in most operating systems and usually called Polish typists' layout (klawiatura polska maszynistki); getting an actual keyboard in this layout can be very troublesome. Some older Polish versions of Microsoft Windows used this layout as the default layout and called it just Polish layout.

On Danish keyboards, the AltGr key can be used to create the following characters:

  • @ - combination of AltGr+2
  • £ - combination of AltGr+3
  • $ - combination of AltGr+4
  • { - combination of AltGr+7
  • [ - combination of AltGr+8
  • ] - combination of AltGr+9
  • } - combination of AltGr+0
  • | - combination of AltGr+´
  • € - combination of AltGr+e
  • ~ - combination of AltGr+¨
  • µ - combination of AltGr+m

Especially the location of the @ symbol can be considered cumbersome, as the AltGr key is located just to the right of the space key, meaning that most people will have to use two hands to access the @ symbol.

On Finnish and Swedish keyboards, the following characters are created by using AltGr:

  • @ - AltGr+2
  • £ - AltGr+3
  • $ - AltGr+4
  • € - AltGr+5 or AltGr+e
  • { - AltGr+7
  • [ - AltGr+8
  • ] - AltGr+9
  • } - AltGr+0
  • \ - AltGr++
  • ~ - AltGr+¨
  • | - AltGr+<
  • µ - AltGr+m

Slovenian/Croatian keyboard layout
Slovenian/Croatian keyboard layout

On Croatian and Slovenian keyboards, the following letters and special characters are created using AltGr:

  • \ - AltGr + q
  • | - AltGr + w
  • € - AltGr + e
  • ÷ - AltGr + š
  • × - AltGr + đ
  • [ - AltGr + f
  • ] - AltGr + g
  • ł - AltGr + l
  • ß - AltGr + ć
  • ¤ - AltGr + ž
  • @ - AltGr + v
  • { - AltGr + b
  • } - AltGr + n
  • § - AltGr + m
  • < - AltGr + ,
  • > - AltGr + .
  • ~ - AltGr + 1
  • ˇ - AltGr + 2
  • ^ - AltGr + 3
  • ˘ - AltGr + 4
  • ° - AltGr + 5
  • ˛ - AltGr + 6
  • ` - AltGr + 7
  • ˙ - AltGr + 8
  • ´ - AltGr + 9
  • ˝ - AltGr + 0
  • ¨ - AltGr + '
  • ¸ - AltGr + +

Having Latvian set as the system language, the following letters can be input using Alt Gr.

Lowercase letters:

  • ā = AltGr + a
  • č = AltGr + c
  • ē = AltGr + e
  • ģ = AltGr + g
  • ī = AltGr + i
  • ķ = AltGr + k
  • ļ = AltGr + l
  • ņ = AltGr + n
  • š = AltGr + s
  • ū = AltGr + u
  • ž = AltGr + z

Uppercase letters:

  • Ā = AltGr + Shift + a
  • Č = AltGr + Shift + c
  • Ē = AltGr + Shift + e
  • Ģ = AltGr + Shift + g
  • Ī = AltGr + Shift + i
  • Ķ = AltGr + Shift + k
  • Ļ = AltGr + Shift + l
  • Ņ = AltGr + Shift + n
  • Š = AltGr + Shift + s
  • Ū = AltGr + Shift + u
  • Ž = AltGr + Shift + z

On German keyboards, AltGr eables the user to type the following characters:

  • ² - AltGr + "2"
  • ³ - AltGr + "3"
  • { - AltGr + "7"
  • [ - AltGr + "8"
  • ] - AltGr + "9"
  • } - AltGr + "0"
  • \ - AltGr + "ß"
  • ~ - AltGr + "+"
  • @ - AltGr + "Q"
  • € - AltGr + "E"
  • | - AltGr + "<"
  • µ - AltGr + "M"

In the X Window System, AltGr can be used to produce additional characters with almost every key in the keyboard. For example, in the Danish keymap, AltGr+Shift+Q produces Ω, AltGr[+Shift]+O produces ø/Ø, AltGr+M produces µ, and so on. With some keys, AltGr produces a dead key; for example on a UK keyboard AltGr+; produces a combining acute accent, thus AltGr+; followed by e produces é.

Image:KB Sweden AltGr.svg

 q  w  e  r  t  y  u  i  o  p  å  ¨
  a  s  d  f  g  h  j  k  l  æ  ø  '
<  z  x  c  v  b  n  m  ,  .  -

The keymap with the Alt Gr key:

 @  ł  €  ®  þ  ←  ↓  →  œ  þ  "  ~
  ª  ß  ð  đ  ŋ  ħ  j  ĸ  ł  '  ^  ˝
\  «  »  ©  “  ”  n  µ  ¸  ·

The keymap with Alt Gr+Shift:

 Ω  Ł  ¢  ®  Þ  ¥  ↑  ı  Œ  Þ  ˚  ˇ
  º  §  Ð  ª  Ŋ  Ħ  J  &  Ł  ˝  ˇ  ×
¬  <  >  ©  `  '  N  º  ˛  ˙  ˙


'  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  0  -  =
 q  w  e  r  t  y  u  i  o  p  á  [
  a  s  d  f  g  h  j  k  l  ç  ã  ]
\  z  x  c  v  b  n  m  ,  .  ;  /

Shift:

"  !  @  #  $  %  ä  &  *  (  )  _  +
 Q  W  E  R  T  Y  U  I  O  P  À  {
  A  S  D  F  G  H  J  K  L  Ç  Â  }
|  Z  X  C  V  B  N  M  <  >  :  ?

AltGr:

¬  ¹  ²  ³  £  ¢  ¬  {  [  ]  }  \  §
 /  ?  €  ®  ŧ  ←  ↓  →  ø  þ  ´  ª
  æ  ß  ð  đ  ŋ  ħ     ĸ  ł  á  ~  º
º  «  »  ©  “  ”     µ  ─  ·  ạ  °

AltGr + Shift:

¬  ¡  ½  ¾  ¼  ⅜  ¨  ⅞  ™  ±  °  ¿  ą
 /  ?  €  ®  Ŧ  ¥  ↑  ı  Ø  Þ  `  ā
  Æ  §  Ð  ª  Ŋ  Ħ     &  Ł  ő  ^  º
ă  <  >  ©  `  '     µ  ×  ÷  ȧ  ¿

  1. ^ http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/doc_link/en_US/a_doc_lib/aixkybd/kybdtech/Appendix.htm
  2. ^ http://www-306.ibm.com/software/globalization/topics/keyboards/alternate.jsp
  3. ^ http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/03/29/101121.aspx


IBM/Wintel Keyboard:
v • d • e
Esc F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 PtSc ScLk Brk
Tilde Exclamation mark At sign Number sign Dollar sign Percent sign Caret Ampersand Asterisk Bracket Bracket Underscore Plus and minus signs Backspace Grave accent 1 (number) 2 (number) 3 (number) 4 (number) 5 (number) 6 (number) 7 (number) 8 (number) 9 (number) 0 (number) Hyphen Equals sign Backspace Tab key Q W E R T Y U I O P Bracket Bracket Vertical bar Tab key Q W E R T Y U I O P Bracket Bracket Backslash Caps lock A S D F G H J K L Colon (punctuation) Quotation mark Enter key Caps lock A S D F G H J K L Semicolon Apostrophe Enter key Shift key Z X C V B N M Bracket Bracket Question mark Shift key Shift key Z X C V B N M Comma (punctuation) Full stop Slash (punctuation) Shift key Control key Windows key Alt key Space bar AltGr key Windows key Menu key Control key
Ins Home PgUp Num / * -
Del End PgDn 7 8 9 +
4 5 6
↑ 1 2 3 Ent
← ↓ → 0 .
v • d • e
Keyboard keys
Dead keys Compose
Modifier keys Control · Shift · Alt/Option (Apple) · AltGr · Command/Meta (Apple/MIT/Sun keyboards) · Windows/Super · Fn (compact keyboards)
Lock keys Scroll lock · Num lock · Caps lock
Navigation Arrow · Page Up/Page Down  · Home/End
Editing Return/Enter · Backspace · Insert · Delete · Tab · Space bar
Misc. SysRq/Print screen · Break/Pause · Escape · Menu · Numeric keypad · Function · Power management (Power, Sleep, Wake) · Language input · Any key
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltGr_key"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.