Where is my Hash-Key on the UK Mac keyboard?
21:46
Kai.S.J
, Posted in
While My friend from US using my mac, he was a little bit confused by the UK mac keyboard layout and he couldn't found a hash key(#) on it, which was also supprised me. I am not a programmer therefore I don't often use the hash key, and it took me a little while to find out the "hidden" hash key on the keyboard.
I copied and pasted what I found in the internet and added some of my tips in the bottom:
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If you want to type the hash character (‘#’, also called ‘pound’ in some parts of the world) on a UK Apple Mac, you can look everywhere on your keyboard and you won’t find the hash symbol. If you have a PC keyboard plugged into your Mac, you can type ‘#’ but it will show up on the screen as something else, usually as the UK pound sterling symbol (‘£’).
In the pre-computer age there was no hash key on a UK typewriter keyboard, but in the computer age the hash character is heavily used. If you use twitter, you’ll frequently want to enter hashtags. If you’re a software developer, you’ll know that many programming languages use the hash symbol to start a comment.
Some United Kingdom Mac users resort to using copy-and-paste to “steal” a hash-character from some other document and drop it into their current work.
But of course there is a way to access hash symbol. The keyboard combination to conjure up the hash symbol is alt-3. Come to think of it, that makes sense. On a US Mac keyboard, shift-3 gives the hash sign and alt-3 gives the pound sterling sign. Apple has just reversed these for the UK, so that shift-3 gives the pound sterling sign and alt-3 gives the hash sign.
For some strange reason, the hash sign is not printed on the keyboard, even though the keyboard shows some other alt-key combinations such as the Euro symbol (‘€’), and also depicts symbols that are much more obscure than the hash sign (for example, ‘§’ and ‘±’).
The alt-key is the key between the control key and the command key. The command key is the one with the funny cloverleaf symbol. The alt-key is also known as the option-key on a Mac. And finally, you can use the left or right alt-key to prod
If you want to type the hash character (‘#’, also called ‘pound’ in some parts of the world) on a UK Apple Mac, you can look everywhere on your keyboard and you won’t find the hash symbol. If you have a PC keyboard plugged into your Mac, you can type ‘#’ but it will show up on the screen as something else, usually as the UK pound sterling symbol (‘£’).
In the pre-computer age there was no hash key on a UK typewriter keyboard, but in the computer age the hash character is heavily used. If you use twitter, you’ll frequently want to enter hashtags. If you’re a software developer, you’ll know that many programming languages use the hash symbol to start a comment.
Some United Kingdom Mac users resort to using copy-and-paste to “steal” a hash-character from some other document and drop it into their current work.
But of course there is a way to access hash symbol. The keyboard combination to conjure up the hash symbol is alt-3. Come to think of it, that makes sense. On a US Mac keyboard, shift-3 gives the hash sign and alt-3 gives the pound sterling sign. Apple has just reversed these for the UK, so that shift-3 gives the pound sterling sign and alt-3 gives the hash sign.
For some strange reason, the hash sign is not printed on the keyboard, even though the keyboard shows some other alt-key combinations such as the Euro symbol (‘€’), and also depicts symbols that are much more obscure than the hash sign (for example, ‘§’ and ‘±’).
The alt-key is the key between the control key and the command key. The command key is the one with the funny cloverleaf symbol. The alt-key is also known as the option-key on a Mac. And finally, you can use the left or right alt-key to prod
uce the hash symbol.
Via Quezi.com
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My Tips:
I have to mention that UK Mac keyboard is very different from the rest of the world.
and If you are using some keyboard control of any sort software, they may use the symbols instead of the actual words for indication, which sometime make me frustrated.
In UK: Alt key appears as :Alt or⌥ (This symbol MAY NOT SEEN IN WINDOWS)
In US: Alt key appears as: Alt or Option.
For Both: Command key appears as : cmd or ⌘ (, the apple logo on older key board ) (This symbol MAY NOT SEEN IN WINDOWS)
In UK : Tab key appears as: →|
In US: Tab key appears as: Tab
In UK: Cap lock and shift appears as :⇪ and ⇧ respectively (These symbols MAY NOT SEEN IN WINDOWS)
In US: Cap lock and shift appears as actual words
PS: This symbol "⎋ " is referred to "esc" or "escape". (This symbol MAY NOT SEEN IN WINDOWS)
And If some one want to type the "apple logo""" , you just need to type Option+Shift + K at the same time
there are two pictures summarising the two keyboards (click to enlarge the images)
UK verison of Mac keyboard layout
US version of Mac keyboard layout
do you happen to know if the reverse is true and that alt+# on an English international keyboard layout produces the uk pound sterling symbol (where the printed symbol is a hash (or pound) sign)?
Thanks in advance
Yea, if u input alt+# on a U.S or international keyboard, then it will give a £ symbol.
Great, thanks.
ALt + 3 makes a hash. #####