Compose Keys
A compose key is a special type of modifier key that tells the operating system to use two or more subsequent keystrokes to compose a character not found on the keyboard.
This document provides basic information about using Compose Keys on X11, specifically in a Debian environment.
On Debian 5.0 (Lenny) and 6.0 (Squeeze), /usr/share/X11/locale/compose.dir
describes which files are used for which locales, e.g. enUS.UTF-8/Compose is
used for enGB.UTF-8, so /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose defines the
characters that can be typed using the compose and dead keys.
E.g. <Multi_key> <comma> <c> is defined as 'ç' ccedilla.
Common Combinations
Some common combinations preceeded with the compose key:
Sequence Character Description
--------------- --------- --------------------------------------------------
space space nobreakspace # NO-BREAK SPACE
. . … ellipsis # HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
. minus · periodcentered # MIDDLE DOT
. equal • enfilledcircbullet # BULLET
! ^ ¦ brokenbar # BROKEN BAR
p ! ¶ paragraph # PILCROW SIGN
s o § section # SECTION SIGN
x o ¤ currency # CURRENCY SIGN
? ! ‽ U203D # INTERROBANG
plus minus ± plusminus # PLUS-MINUS SIGN
colon minus ÷ division # DIVISION SIGN
^ 1 ¹ onesuperior # SUPERSCRIPT ONE
^ 2 ² twosuperior # SUPERSCRIPT TWO
^ 3 ³ threesuperior # SUPERSCRIPT THREE
1 4 ¼ onequarter # VULGAR FRACTION ONE QUARTER
1 2 ½ onehalf # VULGAR FRACTION ONE HALF
3 4 ¾ threequarters # VULGAR FRACTION THREE QUARTERS
- - period – U2013 # EN DASH
- - - — U2014 # EM DASH
? ? ¿ questiondown # INVERTED QUESTION MARK
o e œ oe # LATIN SMALL LIGATURE OE
a e æ ae # LATIN SMALL LETTER AE
apostrophe < ‘ U2018 # LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
apostrophe > ’ U2019 # RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
quotedbl < “ U201c # LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
quotedbl > ” U201d # RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
quotedbl comma „ U201e # DOUBLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK
e equal € EuroSign # EURO SIGN
c bar ¢ cent # CENT SIGN
c slash ¢ cent # CENT SIGN
L minus £ sterling # POUND SIGN
Y equal ¥ yen # YEN SIGN
o o ° degree # DEGREE SIGN
o c © copyright # COPYRIGHT SIGN
o r ® registered # REGISTERED SIGN
t m ™ U2122 # TRADE MARK SIGN
grave a à agrave # LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE
acute a á aacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE
apostrophe a á aacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE
asciicircum a â acircumflex # LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH CIRCUMFLEX
asciitilde a ã atilde # LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH TILDE
quotedbl a ä adiaeresis # LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS
o a å aring # LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE
comma c ç ccedilla # LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA
cedilla c ç ccedilla # LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA
grave e è egrave # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE
acute e é eacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE
apostrophe e é eacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE
asciicircum e ê ecircumflex # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH CIRCUMFLEX
quotedbl e ë ediaeresis # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH DIAERESIS
grave i ì igrave # LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH GRAVE
acute i í iacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH ACUTE
apostrophe i í iacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH ACUTE
asciicircum i î icircumflex # LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH CIRCUMFLEX
quotedbl i ï idiaeresis # LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH DIAERESIS
d h ð eth # LATIN SMALL LETTER ETH
asciitilde n ñ ntilde # LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE
grave o ò ograve # LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH GRAVE
acute o ó oacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH ACUTE
apostrophe o ó oacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH ACUTE
asciicircum o ô ocircumflex # LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH CIRCUMFLEX
asciitilde o õ otilde # LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH TILDE
quotedbl o ö odiaeresis # LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS
slash o ø oslash # LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE
s s ß ssharp # LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S
grave u ù ugrave # LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE
acute u ú uacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH ACUTE
apostrophe u ú uacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH ACUTE
asciicircum u û ucircumflex # LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH CIRCUMFLEX
quotedbl u ü udiaeresis # LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS
acute y ý yacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE
apostrophe y ý yacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE
t h þ thorn # LATIN SMALL LETTER THORN
quotedbl y ÿ ydiaeresis # LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH DIAERESIS
Using
e.g. Choosing 'Menu is Compose', then to produce a 'ç' on most english keyboard layout, you type the menu key, then type the comma ',' key, then type the 'c' key.
Unicode Input
http://www.enotes.com/topic/Unicode_input
Emacs
M-x ucs-insert
-- Frank Dean - 12 Aug 2011
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