~ ` Key
 

Guys, I was wondering what the little sign on the ~ key is for. I mean this one:

`

In many languages such as French, Italian and Spanish we use these sort of accents (that one looks like a grave accent, to call it by its name really), but if you have an English/American keyboard you will need some special characters to be able to type e and a with that sort of accent on. So, if it is the grave accent, here are two questions:

a- where have they put its opposite accent on the keyboard?
b- how do I get it on the actual vowel? Because if I type "proble`me" it is not the same as the accent of the e where it should be.

It looks like one of the signs that we use in phonetics and not the grave accent. Anyone knows? Thanks!

Hi hon,

I'm not sure if this is what you mean

To get the accents, you need to use the Option key (Alt) with the letter you wish to accent, e.g.:

Option + E = ´ (example: Option + e, release Option and press e = é)
Option + ` = ` (example: Option + a, release Option and press a = à)
Option + i = ^ (example: Option + i, release Option and press i = î)
Option + u = ¨ (example: Option + u, release Option and press o = ö)
Option + c = ç

Hope this helps if this is indeed what you meant :flower: It's quite inituitive after a while.

There are others such as Option + r = ® and Option + g = ©.

:flower:

Just to add, to type problème, you'd type:

probl (option + `) eme

Vicky

~ means home directory.

hey could be worse, you could be using IRC and not find the # key hahaha like i did (alt + 3 if you didnt know)

~ means tilde, it represents the home directory in Terminal. You don't get to the home directory by pressing the ~-key.

Actually, to avoid all those accent troubles (I need to type in English, German and French) I use a Swiss keyboard...where the most used accented vowels are accessible immediately. :cool:

Though to type ~, I need to press Option-n and space... :oneye:

Chappies and Vicky especially, thanks, this is exactly what I need. I also considered changing the keyboard for writing in all those languages that need the accents, but the shortcuts above will do just fine. Maybe I should change the keyboard because I cannot see half of the letters on the keys anymore?! ;-)

No problem, glad I could help :flower: Sounds like you could do with a new keyboard though!

Vicky

deleted, ed724

I guess Vicky is right, Stephanella, you need a new keyboard... :cool:
You could get a new English one for your iBook and an external Swiss keyboard for the foreign typing.
Or, if you want a new challenge, try a French one (AZERTY instead of QWERTY), it'll drive you nuts... :p