17

I've tried alt+0198but it doesn't work. I guess that only works in Windows. How do I type it in Ubuntu?

6
  • This site lists the Windows shortcut number for æ as 145, so are we talking about the same character?
    – muru
    Nov 25, 2014 at 18:52
  • @muru I guess I mean 145. I'm not having any luck with your answer by the way :/ ctrl + shift + u + (e,6)
    – Starkers
    Nov 25, 2014 at 18:55
  • 1
    When you press Ctrl-Shift-u, do you see a u with an underline appear?
    – muru
    Nov 25, 2014 at 18:55
  • You have to release Ctrl+Shift+U after you finished typing it. Don't hold it down.
    – Kaz Wolfe
    Nov 25, 2014 at 18:56
  • 4
    There is a bug in Ubuntu Gnome with a workaround that breaks ctrl+shift+u. So the best method is to setup a compose key and use Compose+a+e --- you can set it to ShiftLock, the less useful key in the universe ;-)
    – Rmano
    Nov 25, 2014 at 19:03

7 Answers 7

28

Typing unicode is slightly different in Ubuntu.

The key combination is:

Ctrl+Shift+U, code, Space

However, Windows uses decimal notation while Ubuntu uses Hex notation.

Æ in this case (what 0198 is) is c6 for Ubuntu. So, you'd do:

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+U. Release it.
  2. Type c6 (or 00c6)
  3. Press Space

If you were talking about æ (or 145 on Windows), replace all instances of c6 with e6.

As mentioned by @Graham, you can also use the compose key. By default, it is AltGr or Right Alt. You can use Shift+AltGr followed by A, E to enter an æ. I think holding the other shift as well will give you Æ. On some keyboard layouts, AltGR+A or AltGR+Z (below) will also give æ.

As mentioned by @DevSolar, if you need to use special characters frequently, you can also use keyboard styles such as English (US) English (international AltGr dead keys). These keys will automatically map certain AltGRs to characters. Map of keys

(src)

6
  • 3
    On my keyboard AltGr+a already gives æ.
    – Bakuriu
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:02
  • On my ubuntu with "US-Intl Algr-Deadkeys" Alt-z gives æ
    – sehe
    Nov 26, 2014 at 0:48
  • @Bakuriu. On my keyboard, AltGr+vowel = vowel with acute accent: áéíóú.
    – TRiG
    Nov 26, 2014 at 9:32
  • Visualise the keyboard layout and check if the æ character is present.
    – To Do
    Nov 26, 2014 at 9:54
  • 2
    @MuhammadGelbana Read the instructions in the answer. You do not hold all of them down at the same time. Dec 2, 2014 at 16:12
21

Whatever you have set as the compose key then a then e in sequence will produce æ

This solution is much simpler, as you don't have to know the unicode for the character you wish to type. For example compose key then o then e will produce œ. compose key then c then , (comma) will produce ç and so on.

4
  • 1
    @Whaaaaaat go to system settings> Text Entry> Keyboard Settings. You can change the compose key to what you like from there. For example, I have set the RightWindows key as my compose key.
    – graham
    Nov 25, 2014 at 19:02
  • 4
    This should really be the accepted answer. Once you realize how simple and intuitive the compose key method is, you will wonder why you ever bothered with alt-codes and Unicode-codes in the first place… (← see those three dots rolled into one character? Simply do compose: period, period. Oh and the arrow? Compose: <, -.)
    – JeroenHoek
    Nov 26, 2014 at 12:08
  • 2
    ¡This is a much better solution! ⸘Why is it voted so low‽ ♪ (guess how I made those Unicode characters)
    – Doorknob
    Nov 27, 2014 at 3:56
  • @Graham Yep, especially for accented characters. I've seen Spanish teachers type accented vowels with alt+numpad on Windows, and even Windows has easier ways of doing this (even though they don't have the wonderful compose key that we do :D).
    – Doorknob
    Nov 29, 2014 at 14:16
4

From this Ubuntu Forums post: Press CtrlShiftu and the Unicode number of the character. In this case, æ is 00e6 (or simply e6). e6 is 230 in decimal, so presumably you were talking about the capital letter (Æ), which is c6 (198).

0
4

If you need such characters frequently, one-shot solutions like composing or going through code points don't really cut it. I would suggest you give one of the "international" US key layouts a try.

I'm German, but prefer (*) US keyboards with the "English (US) English (international AltGr dead keys)" key layout -- at least that's what Mint (an Ubuntu derivative) calls it. For X11, that'd be "-xkblayout us -xkbvariant altgr-intl". Windows calls it "US International Alternate".

It leaves the basic mappings (those available via Shift-<key> etc.) alone, but allows easy accent construction by making `, ', ^ and " "dead" when entered with AltGr, plus making many international characters directly available via AltGr:

¡²³¤€¼½¾‘’¥×
äåé®þüúíóö«»¬
áßðø¶ø
æ©ñç¿

Your "æ", for example, would be AltGr-Z. You quickly get used to where those extra characters are, and you don't have to memorize (or look up) character codes.


(*): US layout makes /{[]}\| much easier to reach, which I welcome since I write code most of the day.

3

When one needs some specific unicode char one can open KCharSelect and guess it's name there:

enter image description here

one then can copy-paste that in any application.

3

If you need "Æ" because you actually write in Norwegian sometimes the most simple would be to activate the Norwegian keyboard layout in Ubuntu's OS settings so that you have two available keyboards layouts, English and Norwegian (f. ex.) and you can quickly switch between them. You can probably also set a keyboard shortcut for swithcing between the keyboard layouts.

2

There’s another method: typing using the Meta key

In this case, it’s Meta-f because the ASCII code (and Unicode) of f is 66hex, and the Unicode of æ is U+00E6, and 66hex + 80hex = E6hex.

You will need to either use xterm with Meta key configured correctly, or a BSD with wscons(4) text console (not FreeBSD, which has a different one), or a custom keyboard layout (I made one for Windows (NT 4 and up), one for the Linux text console, and three for X11 (XFree86® (MirBSD), old X.org (e.g. Ubuntu hardy), new X.org (what you probably have)). The Meta key function is on the left Alt key for all these layouts (and BSD wscons) except the WinNT one, where it is on the right Alt key. (Your left Windows key is then usable for the GUI “Alt” key function.) Beware that I also changed the location of the Esc key for my own convenience (but I’m willing to put up variants without that). This is a graphical depiction of the keyboard layout (XFree86® variant, but the others are almost the same): screenshot of kbd-xf86 from CVS

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