Computer Keyboard Symbols

Don't you get astonished to see your friends do something on the keyboard of the computer and change something on a file or a window with few magic shortcuts, which you used to do otherwise in a tedious way, or could not do at all. Well, shortcut is the word for it. We must be working on a computer for we don't know how many hours everyday, but do we know about these symbols? Let alone symbols, most of us don't even know the use of several keys on the keyboard including the function (Fn) keys. So let's find out about few keyboard shortcuts.

List of Computer Keyboard Symbols

Most of these symbols are not of native English language, but then with the combination of few keys you would be able to get them on your screen. Few of these are mostly used for denoting currencies. The combination requires you to press the numbers while pressing the ALT key. For this you will have to first switch the NUM lock on, and use the number keys which are on the right hand side of the keyboard. Mentioned below is the list of a few keyboard shortcuts to get those symbols which are not printed on the keyboard.

Symbol Shortcuts

• ALT + 0, 1, 6, 2 - (¢) Cents
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 9 - (½) One-half
• ALT + 0, 1, 6, 9 - (©) Copyright
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 3 - (™) Trademark
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 4 - (®) Registered
• ALT + 0, 1, 3, 3 - (...) Ellipsis
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 0 - ( - ) "N" Dash
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 1 - ( - ) "M" Dash
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 2 - ( ¶ ) (Pilcrow) Paragraph
• ALT + 0, 1, 6, 3 - (£) Pound
• ALT + 0, 1, 2, 8 - ( € ) Euro
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 8 - (²) Square Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 9 - (³) Cube Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 8 - (¼) One-fourth Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 8, 9 - (½) Half Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 9, 0 - (¾) Three-fourth Sign
• ALT + 0, 2, 1, 5 - (×) Multiplication Sign
• ALT + 2, 2, 7 - (π) Pi Sign
• ALT + 2, 2, 8 - (Σ) Sum
• ALT + 2, 4, 6 - (÷) Division Sign
• ALT + 2, 5, 1 - (√) Square root Sign
• ALT + 0, 1, 7, 6 - (°) Degrees
• ALT + 0, 1, 3, 7 - (‰) per mille/per thousand
• ALT + 0, 2, 2, 4 - à accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 3, 2 - è accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 3, 6 - ì accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 4, 2 - ò accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 4,1 - ñ accent
• ALT + 0, 1, 5, 4 - š accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 4, 9 - ù accent
• ALT + 0, 2, 5, 3 - ý accent
• ALT + 2, 6 - (→) Right arrow
• ALT + 2, 7 - (←) Left arrow
• ALT + 2, 4 - (↑) Up arrow
• ALT + 2, 5 - (↓) Down arrow
• ALT + 1 - (☺) White Smiley
• ALT + 2 - (☻) Black Smiley
• ALT + 3 - (♥ ) Heart
• ALT + 4 - (♦ ) Diamond
• ALT + 5 - (♣ ) Club
• ALT + 6 - (♠ ) Spade

Function Keys

Function keys (Fn) are from F1 to F12. Let's find out their significance and use. Depending upon the computer operating system you're using, their function may change or differ. They are in a line at the top of the keyboard.

• F1 - The F1 key is the help key. When pressed, it opens the help screen. If windows and F1 keys are pressed, it opens the Microsoft Windows help and support center.
• F2 - F2 key is basically used for renaming a particular file or a folder.
• F3 - The F3 key will open up a search window for you to search for any particular file or folder.
• F4 - This key will help you to open the 'address' window and through which you can navigate where you want to search for a file or document.
• F5 - I think this is the most used by computer users, including me. It is basically pressed for refreshing the screen.
• F6 - By pressing the F6 key, the address bar window in the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, becomes editable, and lets you to put in the address.
• F7 - The F7 key helps to run a spell check through your document, to check for any errors.
• F8 - With the help of the F8 key, you can enter the Windows startup menu.
• F9 - For Windows users, this key is of no use. But then, if used on MS Word it will help update the selected fields.
• F10 - By pressing the F10 key on an open document, one can activate the Menu bar and then choose respective menus. This happens on the Microsoft Windows.
• F11 - If you want to enlarge the size of your internet browser, you can do so by pressing the F11 key.
• F12 - In Microsoft Word, pressing the F12 key will open the 'Save as' window.

Just below the Function key row, you would see a row which has numbers and symbols printed on them. If you want to simply type a number, then you will just need to press the respective number key. But then, if you don't want the number but want the symbol to come instead, then you can do so by pressing the shift key and respective number key, and the symbol will come up on the screen.

Control Shortcuts

• Ctrl + W - Close Tab
• Ctrl + T - New Tab
• Ctrl + N - New Window
• Ctrl + 9 - Last Tab
• Ctrl + TAB - Next Tab
• Ctrl + F - Find
• Ctrl + X - Cut
• Ctrl + C - Copy
• Ctrl + P - Paste
• Ctrl + '+' - Zoom In
• Ctrl + '-' - Zoom Out
• Ctrl + '0' - Normal View

Keyboard Symbols for Mac

For people who must have worked on both Windows and Mac, will know how different the symbols and the shortcuts are on both of these individual platforms. For a very few people, who would be working alternately on these two machines, it would be a little difficult in the beginning to remember and know about the symbols. However, it may not be the case with Mac devotees. Mentioned below is the list of a few Apple computer keyboard symbols.

• Shift + 4 - $
• Option + 3 - £
• Option + F - ƒ
• Option + 4 - ¢
• Option + Y - ¥
• Option + Shift + 2 - €
• Option + G - ©
• Option + O - ø
• Option + 7 - ¶
• Option + E + A - á
• Option + E + E - é
• Option + E + I - í
• Option + E + O - ó
• Option + E + U - ú

Today almost everything is being computerized, as we have already started saying that we live in a digital world. Knowing about keyboard symbols is fun and helpful to learn at the same time. Hope this was of help. Cheers!