Cool ALT Key Codes
July 2, 2008 
9 Comments
When I wrote about keyboard shotcuts for special French characters, I thought I’d spend some time on researching other ALT key codes as well.
A number of them I already knew; as a Dutchie I am using some ALT codes quite a lot, for special characters like ë (ALT+137), ï (ALT+139) and of course the almighty Euro sign € (ALT+0128).
But as I want to use this blog as a personal resource as well I want to “jot down” a number of other useful ALT codes too.
Some ALT Shortcut Key Codes That I (Plan To) Use
| Keyboard Combination | Sign for | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Currencies | ||
| Alt + 0162 | Cent sign | ¢ |
| Alt + 0128 | Euro sign | € |
| Alt + 0163 | Pound Sterling sign | £ |
| Alt + 0165 | Yen sign | ¥ |
| Number related | ||
| Alt + 0137 | Promille sign | ‰ |
| Alt + 0176 | Degree sign | ° |
| Alt + 0177 | Plus minus sign | ± |
| Alt + 0185 | Superscript one sign | ¹ |
| Alt + 0178 | Superscript two sign | ² |
| Alt + 0179 | Superscript three sign | ³ |
| Alt + 0188 | One Quarter sign | ¼ |
| Alt + 0189 | One Half sign | ½ |
| Alt + 0190 | Three Quarters sign | ¾ |
| Special Characters | ||
| Alt + 0153 | Trademark sign | ™ |
| Alt + 0167 | Section/paragraph sign | § |
| Alt + 0169 | Copyright sign | © |
| Alt + 0171 | Left angle quote sign | « |
| Alt + 0187 | Right angle quote sign | » |
I will devote a separate post to foreign language ALT codes.
More On Special Codes and Shortcuts:
- Special functions for the Windows key
- Foreign language ALT codes: French, Spanish, German and other special characters
the shortcut for pound sterling does not work on my Sony Vaio laptop – can you help? Thanks.
I don’t own a Sony Vaio laptop, so I don’t know what the issue might be. Some Googling brought me to this page, though: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=159790:
You probably need to use the NumLk to engage the embedded numeric keypad. It is a toggle: Press once to enable the embedded numeric keypad (the numbers on keys such as j, k and l) then hold down Alt, type your 1, 3, 8, release Alt and then press NumLk again to disengage. You should have a light, next to the CapsLock light, to show when NmLk is enabled.
We emailed back and forth, and David has found a solution:
Other things from our conversation that may be worth your while:
Make sure to hold the ALT key while typing the number…
You can also use ascii codes alt+156 (more ascii codes on http://www.cdrummond.qc.ca/cegep/informat/Professeurs/Alain/files/ascii.htm
and credit goes to wilmer of pro.z for finding the solution
http://www.proz.com/forum/windows_operating_systems/141239-pound_sterling_sign_on_a_sony_vaio_laptop.html
http://www.proz.com/profile/599172
Hi Asknardo,
I use Alt Codes alot because I work with Spanish and German languages. Its a lot easier then swopping keyboards thats for sure.
As a quick reference here are the most common four number and three number Windows Alt Codes. A List of All Windows Common Alt Codes
At Record PC they have a few other articles about Alt Codes.
Thanks for the reference, Chris. There is a lot of Alt codes related info on your pages!
- Nardo
how do yhu make the skulls, toxic signs and peace signsusing the alt symbols…. most of the websites have the piks for them but do not give yhu the numbers to use them with… if you know how to maek them please let me know, b/c they look really AWSOME:) thnx, JayKay:)
Hi JayKay,
I think that the symbols you are referring to are actually Facebook codes – not ALT key codes. You can find a whole bunch of them here. Questions about ALT codes for skull and peace sign are being asked there as well, and apparently there are none… Just copy/paste then!