On a Mac, press and hold a character key and a list of accent characters will appear. There are also dead key combinations using the option key to enter special characters directly.
If you’re like me and wondered what a dead key is…
A dead key is a special kind of modifier key on a mechanical typewriter, or computer keyboard, that is typically used to attach a specific diacritic to a base letter.[1] The dead key does not generate a (complete) character by itself, but modifies the character generated by the key struck immediately after.
On Windows, you can open the emoji picker with Win+. or Win+, (depending on locale iirc).
Then just switch to the symbols tab by clicking the omega symbol and chose å
Alternatively, you can install PowerToys, which includes a quick accentuator tool.
I mostly just had the alt+whatever codes memorized when I was typing French or German, but I didn’t always have a numpad when I was using laptops away from home. I just ended up using charmap and never realized newer windows had any replacement (although I’m on mac for work and also use linux for both work and some home stuff now as well so not spending as much time in Windows).
Because you would need to know the code for å in all kb layouts, on all OS’s, even in a bare terminal with no way to just open the emoji picker, with or without special keys and no clipboard. Of course, tab completion or globs may help you, but not in all cases.
Try to select blåhaj.txt in a dir with blåhaj.txt and blahaj.txt present. Easy, ls blhaj.txt | grep -i blahaj.txt. Now with blåhaj.txt and bløhaj.txt. Not as easy anymore, but doable with tail -n1 or head -n1. Now do it consistently in a script. So you again need to single out the right string, or single char, and >> it into the script so you have the special char. Then you have a component that does not like certain special chars, so you need to escape it. All because one decided to use special chars as a file name/identifier. Using [a-zA-Z0-9-_.:;,] would be so easy.
So, you create a file with the name containing å. Then you send it to another person. They want to handle it via the command line. Because it’s more efficient. So that person needs to know said information.
Most people never type a full file name on the command line, they normally just use file name completion.
And if they happen to have a lot of files that are only distinguished by some single character, what would be so difficult about typing that one character then?
We have Unicode these days: blåhaj
How do I type that on a desktop without a numpad and without putting “å” into my clipboard?
Use a Scandinavian layout.
Compose key
US international layout, or make a custom layout (KbdEdit is multiplatform but there’s free Linux programs to do it too)
Hold the
Combinekey (Linux-only, user-configurable, usuallyRCtrl) and press “a” twice. OrCombine+a+*.Or get a laptop with a numpad. I am so used to
Alt+numthat I’d donate to someone to implement it in the Linuxlibinput, and I’m not alone.You are not alone. I am here with you.
Depends on your computing platform.
I see another reply has already covered Linux.
On a Mac, press and hold a character key and a list of accent characters will appear. There are also dead key combinations using the option key to enter special characters directly.
If you’re like me and wondered what a dead key is…
—Wikipedia
On Windows, you can open the emoji picker with Win+. or Win+, (depending on locale iirc). Then just switch to the symbols tab by clicking the omega symbol and chose å
Alternatively, you can install PowerToys, which includes a quick accentuator tool.
Failing that win+r and type
charmap. You can browse symbols there.charmap.exe? Holy shit. Windows 95 called, but I didn’t have a 33.6k modem ready to answer.
I mostly just had the alt+whatever codes memorized when I was typing French or German, but I didn’t always have a numpad when I was using laptops away from home. I just ended up using charmap and never realized newer windows had any replacement (although I’m on mac for work and also use linux for both work and some home stuff now as well so not spending as much time in Windows).
₽øɢĝê̌ℝ§
It’s annoying to type in the terminal tho.
No, it isn’t. Why would it be?
Because you would need to know the code for å in all kb layouts, on all OS’s, even in a bare terminal with no way to just open the emoji picker, with or without special keys and no clipboard. Of course, tab completion or globs may help you, but not in all cases.
Try to select blåhaj.txt in a dir with blåhaj.txt and blahaj.txt present. Easy, ls blhaj.txt | grep -i blahaj.txt. Now with blåhaj.txt and bløhaj.txt. Not as easy anymore, but doable with tail -n1 or head -n1. Now do it consistently in a script. So you again need to single out the right string, or single char, and >> it into the script so you have the special char. Then you have a component that does not like certain special chars, so you need to escape it. All because one decided to use special chars as a file name/identifier. Using [a-zA-Z0-9-_.:;,] would be so easy.
WTF!? Why would you ever need to know that!?
So, you create a file with the name containing å. Then you send it to another person. They want to handle it via the command line. Because it’s more efficient. So that person needs to know said information.
Most people never type a full file name on the command line, they normally just use file name completion.
And if they happen to have a lot of files that are only distinguished by some single character, what would be so difficult about typing that one character then?
The fact they couldn’t type that one character, on the command line, without those special chars.