There are some characters that are not present on the keyboard, so to be able to 'type' them isn't straight forward. Here are your options:
Press the Windows key and type Character Map - here you can find all the characters visually if you know the Character Set they belong to.
Use numeric shortcuts known as ALT Codes - Simply:
* These should work if your system locale is set to English (United States).
| ALT Code | Character | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Standard ASCII Codes (1-127) | ||
| ALT 1 | ☺ | White Smiley Face |
| ALT 2 | ☻ | Black Smiley Face |
| ALT 3 | ♥ | Black Heart Suit |
| ALT 4 | ♦ | Black Diamond Suit |
| ALT 5 | ♣ | Black Club Suit |
| ALT 6 | ♠ | Black Spade Suit |
| ALT 7 | • | Bullet |
| ALT 8 | ◘ | Inverse Bullet |
| ALT 9 | ○ | White Circle |
| ALT 10 | ◙ | Inverse White Circle |
| ALT 11 | ♂ | Male Sign |
| ALT 12 | ♀ | Female Sign |
| ALT 13 | ♪ | Eighth Note |
| ALT 14 | ♫ | Beamed Eighth Notes |
| ALT 15 | ☼ | White Sun With Rays |
| ALT 16 | ► | Black Right-Pointing Pointer |
| ALT 17 | ◄ | Black Left-Pointing Pointer |
| ALT 18 | ↕ | Up Down Arrow |
| ALT 19 | ‼ | Double Exclamation Mark |
| ALT 20 | ¶ | Paragraph Sign |
| ALT 21 | § | Section Sign |
| ALT 22 | ▬ | Black Rectangle |
| ALT 23 | ⇚ | Up Down Arrow With Base |
| ALT 24 | ↑ | Upwards Arrow |
| ALT 25 | ↓ | Downwards Arrow |
| ALT 26 | → | Rightwards Arrow |
| ALT 27 | ← | Leftwards Arrow |
| ALT 28 | ∟ | Right Angle |
| ALT 29 | ↔ | Left Right Arrow |
| ALT 30 | ▲ | Black Up-Pointing Triangle |
| ALT 31 | ▼ | Black Down-Pointing Triangle |
| ALT 32 | (Space) | Space |
| ALT 33 | ! | Exclamation Mark |
| ALT 34 | " | Double Quote |
| ALT 35 | # | Hash or Number |
| ALT 36 | $ | Dollar Sign |
| ALT 37 | % | Percent |
| ALT 38 | & | Ampersand |
| ALT 39 | ' | Single Quote |
| ALT 40 | ( | Left Parenthesis |
| ALT 41 | ) | Right Parenthesis |
| ALT 42 | * | Asterisk |
| ALT 43 | + | Plus |
| ALT 44 | , | Comma |
| ALT 45 | - | Hyphen |
| ALT 46 | . | Period |
| ALT 47 | / | Slash |
| ALT 48 | 0 | Digit 0 |
| ALT 49 | 1 | Digit 1 |
| ALT 50 | 2 | Digit 2 |
| ALT 51 | 3 | Digit 3 |
| ALT 52 | 4 | Digit 4 |
| ALT 53 | 5 | Digit 5 |
| ALT 54 | 6 | Digit 6 |
| ALT 55 | 7 | Digit 7 |
| ALT 56 | 8 | Digit 8 |
| ALT 57 | 9 | Digit 9 |
| ALT 58 | : | Colon |
| ALT 59 | ; | Semicolon |
| ALT 60 | < | Less Than |
| ALT 61 | = | Equals |
| ALT 62 | > | Greater Than |
| ALT 63 | ? | Question Mark |
| ALT 64 | @ | At Sign |
| ALT 65 | A | Uppercase A |
| ALT 66 | B | Uppercase B |
| ALT 67 | C | Uppercase C |
| ALT 68 | D | Uppercase D |
| ALT 69 | E | Uppercase E |
| ALT 70 | F | Uppercase F |
| ALT 71 | G | Uppercase G |
| ALT 72 | H | Uppercase H |
| ALT 73 | I | Uppercase I |
| ALT 74 | J | Uppercase J |
| ALT 75 | K | Uppercase K |
| ALT 76 | L | Uppercase L |
| ALT 77 | M | Uppercase M |
| ALT 78 | N | Uppercase N |
| ALT 79 | O | Uppercase O |
| ALT 80 | P | Uppercase P |
| ALT 81 | Q | Uppercase Q |
| ALT 82 | R | Uppercase R |
| ALT 83 | S | Uppercase S |
| ALT 84 | T | Uppercase T |
| ALT 85 | U | Uppercase U |
| ALT 86 | V | Uppercase V |
| ALT 87 | W | Uppercase W |
| ALT 88 | X | Uppercase X |
| ALT 89 | Y | Uppercase Y |
| ALT 90 | Z | Uppercase Z |
| ALT 91 | [ | Left Square Bracket |
| ALT 92 | \ | Backslash |
| ALT 93 | ] | Right Square Bracket |
| ALT 94 | ^ | Caret |
| ALT 95 | _ | Underscore |
| ALT 96 | ` | Grave Accent |
| ALT 97 | a | Lowercase a |
| ALT 98 | b | Lowercase b |
| ALT 99 | c | Lowercase c |
| ALT 100 | d | Lowercase d |
| ALT 101 | e | Lowercase e |
| ALT 102 | f | Lowercase f |
| ALT 103 | g | Lowercase g |
| ALT 104 | h | Lowercase h |
| ALT 105 | i | Lowercase i |
| ALT 106 | j | Lowercase j |
| ALT 107 | k | Lowercase k |
| ALT 108 | l | Lowercase l |
| ALT 109 | m | Lowercase m |
| ALT 110 | n | Lowercase n |
| ALT 111 | o | Lowercase o |
| ALT 112 | p | Lowercase p |
| ALT 113 | q | Lowercase q |
| ALT 114 | r | Lowercase r |
| ALT 115 | s | Lowercase s |
| ALT 116 | t | Lowercase t |
| ALT 117 | u | Lowercase u |
| ALT 118 | v | Lowercase v |
| ALT 119 | w | Lowercase w |
| ALT 120 | x | Lowercase x |
| ALT 121 | y | Lowercase y |
| ALT 122 | z | Lowercase z |
| ALT 123 | { | Left Curly Brace |
| ALT 124 | | | Vertical Bar |
| ALT 125 | } | Right Curly Brace |
| ALT 126 | ~ | Tilde |
| ALT 127 | DEL | Delete |
| Extended OEM Codes (128-255 / CP437) | ||
| ALT 128 | Ç | Latin capital letter C with cedilla |
| ALT 129 | ü | Latin small letter u with diaeresis |
| ALT 130 | é | Latin small letter e with acute |
| ALT 131 | â | Latin small letter a with circumflex |
| ALT 132 | ä | Latin small letter a with diaeresis |
| ALT 133 | à | Latin small letter a with grave |
| ALT 134 | å | Latin small letter a with ring above |
| ALT 135 | ç | Latin small letter c with cedilla |
| ALT 136 | ê | Latin small letter e with circumflex |
| ALT 137 | ë | Latin small letter e with diaeresis |
| ALT 138 | è | Latin small letter e with grave |
| ALT 139 | ï | Latin small letter i with diaeresis |
| ALT 140 | î | Latin small letter i with circumflex |
| ALT 141 | ì | Latin small letter i with grave |
| ALT 142 | Ä | Latin capital letter A with diaeresis |
| ALT 143 | Å | Latin capital letter A with ring above |
| ALT 144 | É | Latin capital letter E with acute |
| ALT 145 | æ | Latin small letter ae |
| ALT 146 | Æ | Latin capital letter AE |
| ALT 147 | ô | Latin small letter o with circumflex |
| ALT 148 | ö | Latin small letter o with diaeresis |
| ALT 149 | ò | Latin small letter o with grave |
| ALT 150 | û | Latin small letter u with circumflex |
| ALT 151 | ù | Latin small letter u with grave |
| ALT 152 | ÿ | Latin small letter y with diaeresis |
| ALT 153 | Ö | Latin capital letter O with diaeresis |
| ALT 154 | Ü | Latin capital letter U with diaeresis |
| ALT 155 | ¢ | Cent sign |
| ALT 156 | £ | Pound sign |
| ALT 157 | ¥ | Yen sign |
| ALT 158 | ₧ | Peseta sign |
| ALT 159 | ƒ | Latin small letter f with hook |
| ALT 160 | á | Latin small letter a with acute |
| ALT 161 | í | Latin small letter i with acute |
| ALT 162 | ó | Latin small letter o with acute |
| ALT 163 | ú | Latin small letter u with acute |
| ALT 164 | ñ | Latin small letter n with tilde |
| ALT 165 | Ñ | Latin capital letter N with tilde |
| ALT 166 | ª | Feminine ordinal indicator |
| ALT 167 | º | Masculine ordinal indicator |
| ALT 168 | ¿ | Inverted question mark |
| ALT 169 | ⌐ | Reversed not sign |
| ALT 170 | ¬ | Not sign |
| ALT 171 | ½ | Vulgar fraction one half |
| ALT 172 | ¼ | Vulgar fraction one quarter |
| ALT 173 | ¡ | Inverted exclamation mark |
| ALT 174 | « | Left-pointing double angle quotation mark |
| ALT 175 | » | Right-pointing double angle quotation mark |
| ALT 176 | ░ | Light shade |
| ALT 177 | ▒ | Medium shade |
| ALT 178 | ▓ | Dark shade |
| ALT 179 | │ | Box drawings light vertical |
| ALT 180 | ┤ | Box drawings light vertical and left |
| ALT 181 | ╡ | Box drawings vertical single and left double |
| ALT 182 | ╢ | Box drawings vertical double and left single |
| ALT 183 | ╖ | Box drawings down double and left single |
| ALT 184 | ╕ | Box drawings down single and left double |
| ALT 185 | ╣ | Box drawings double vertical and left |
| ALT 186 | ║ | Box drawings double vertical |
| ALT 187 | ╗ | Box drawings double down and left |
| ALT 188 | ╝ | Box drawings double up and left |
| ALT 189 | ╜ | Box drawings up double and left single |
| ALT 190 | ╛ | Box drawings up single and left double |
| ALT 191 | ┐ | Box drawings light down and left |
| ALT 192 | └ | Box drawings light up and right |
| ALT 193 | ┴ | Box drawings light up and horizontal |
| ALT 194 | ┬ | Box drawings light down and horizontal |
| ALT 195 | ├ | Box drawings light vertical and right |
| ALT 196 | ─ | Box drawings light horizontal |
| ALT 197 | ┼ | Box drawings light vertical and horizontal |
| ALT 198 | ╞ | Box drawings vertical single and right double |
| ALT 199 | ╟ | Box drawings vertical double and right single |
| ALT 200 | ╚ | Box drawings double up and right |
| ALT 201 | ╔ | Box drawings double down and right |
| ALT 202 | ╩ | Box drawings double up and horizontal |
| ALT 203 | ╦ | Box drawings double down and horizontal |
| ALT 204 | ╠ | Box drawings double vertical and right |
| ALT 205 | ═ | Box drawings double horizontal |
| ALT 206 | ╬ | Box drawings double vertical and horizontal |
| ALT 207 | ╧ | Box drawings up single and horizontal double |
| ALT 208 | ╨ | Box drawings up double and horizontal single |
| ALT 209 | ╤ | Box drawings down single and horizontal double |
| ALT 210 | ╥ | Box drawings down double and horizontal single |
| ALT 211 | ╙ | Box drawings up double and right single |
| ALT 212 | ╘ | Box drawings up single and right double |
| ALT 213 | ╒ | Box drawings down single and right double |
| ALT 214 | ╓ | Box drawings down double and right single |
| ALT 215 | ╫ | Box drawings vertical double and horizontal single |
| ALT 216 | ╪ | Box drawings vertical single and horizontal double |
| ALT 217 | ┘ | Box drawings light up and left |
| ALT 218 | ┌ | Box drawings light down and right |
| ALT 219 | █ | Full block |
| ALT 220 | ▄ | Lower half block |
| ALT 221 | ▌ | Left half block |
| ALT 222 | ▐ | Right half block |
| ALT 223 | ▀ | Upper half block |
| ALT 224 | α | Greek small letter alpha |
| ALT 225 | ß | Latin small letter sharp s |
| ALT 226 | Γ | Greek capital letter gamma |
| ALT 227 | π | Greek small letter pi |
| ALT 228 | Σ | Greek capital letter sigma |
| ALT 229 | σ | Greek small letter sigma |
| ALT 230 | µ | Micro sign |
| ALT 231 | τ | Greek small letter tau |
| ALT 232 | Φ | Greek capital letter phi |
| ALT 233 | Θ | Greek capital letter theta |
| ALT 234 | Ω | Greek capital letter omega |
| ALT 235 | δ | Greek small letter delta |
| ALT 236 | ∞ | Infinity |
| ALT 237 | φ | Greek small letter phi |
| ALT 238 | ε | Greek small letter epsilon |
| ALT 239 | ∩ | Intersection |
| ALT 240 | ≡ | Identical to |
| ALT 241 | ± | Plus-minus sign |
| ALT 242 | ≥ | Greater-than or equal to |
| ALT 243 | ≤ | Less-than or equal to |
| ALT 244 | ⌠ | Top half integral |
| ALT 245 | ⌡ | Bottom half integral |
| ALT 246 | ÷ | Division sign |
| ALT 247 | ≈ | Almost equal to |
| ALT 248 | ° | Degree sign |
| ALT 249 | ∙ | Bullet operator |
| ALT 250 | · | Middle dot |
| ALT 251 | √ | Square root |
| ALT 252 | ⁿ | Superscript latin small letter n |
| ALT 253 | ² | Superscript two |
| ALT 254 | ■ | Black square |
| ALT 255 | Non-breaking space | |
| Windows ANSI Codes (Leading Zeros / CP1252) | ||
| ALT 0128 | € | Euro sign |
| ALT 0130 | ‚ | Single low-9 quotation mark |
| ALT 0131 | ƒ | Latin small letter f with hook |
| ALT 0132 | „ | Double low-9 quotation mark |
| ALT 0133 | … | Horizontal ellipsis |
| ALT 0134 | † | Dagger |
| ALT 0135 | ‡ | Double dagger |
| ALT 0136 | ˆ | Modifier letter circumflex accent |
| ALT 0137 | ‰ | Per mille sign |
| ALT 0138 | Š | Latin capital letter S with caron |
| ALT 0139 | ‹ | Single left-pointing angle quotation mark |
| ALT 0140 | Π| Latin capital ligature OE |
| ALT 0142 | Ž | Latin capital letter Z with caron |
| ALT 0145 | ‘ | Left single quotation mark |
| ALT 0146 | ’ | Right single quotation mark |
| ALT 0147 | “ | Left double quotation mark |
| ALT 0148 | ” | Right double quotation mark |
| ALT 0149 | • | Bullet |
| ALT 0150 | – | En dash |
| ALT 0151 | — | Em dash |
| ALT 0152 | ˜ | Small tilde |
| ALT 0153 | ™ | Trademark sign |
| ALT 0154 | š | Latin small letter s with caron |
| ALT 0155 | › | Single right-pointing angle quotation mark |
| ALT 0156 | œ | Latin small ligature oe |
| ALT 0158 | ž | Latin small letter z with caron |
| ALT 0159 | Ÿ | Latin capital letter Y with diaeresis |
Most people won't need to know or care about the technicalities or history of why these work, but here is a very brief summary.
Different usage requirements and languages need to use different sets of characters. A Code Page defines which characters represent the numbers the computer understands.
The ultimate set of characters recognised globally now is Unicode however not all systems and applications have been updated to use it.
The legacy character sets are still embedded in systems, and also in people's mental muscle memory as ALT Codes.
The set of characters listed in the table above will work as ALT Codes if your system locale is set to English (United States).
The list is a combination of characters from: