Insert ASCII or Unicode Latin-based symbols and characters (2024)

FAQs

How to insert ASCII or Unicode Latin based symbols and characters? ›

Inserting ASCII characters

To insert an ASCII character, press and hold down ALT while typing the character code. For example, to insert the degree (º) symbol, press and hold down ALT while typing 0176 on the numeric keypad. You must use the numeric keypad to type the numbers, and not the keyboard.

ASCII and Unicode are two popular encoding schemes. ASCII encodes symbols, digits, letters, etc., whereas Unicode encodes special texts from different languages, letters, symbols, etc.

Inserting Unicode characters

To insert a Unicode character, type the character code, press ALT, and then press X. For example, to type a dollar symbol ($), type 0024, press ALT, and then press X. For more Unicode character codes, see Unicode character code charts by script.

Unicode supports more than a million code points, which are written with a "U" followed by a plus sign and the number in hex; for example, the word "Hello" is written U+0048 U+0065 U+006C U+006C U+006F (see hex chart).

For example, lowercase i would be represented in the ASCII encoding by binary 1101001 = hexadecimal 69 (i is the ninth letter) = decimal 105. Despite being an American standard, ASCII does not have a code point for the cent (¢).

The interesting thing over here is that the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a subset of the UNICODE (Universal Coded Character Set) encoding standard. Therefore there is not any need to convert ASCII to UNICODE as we have same values representing the characters in ASCII and UNICODE.

ASCII (pronounced "az-kee", "ass-key" if American), is a table of characters for computers. It is binary code used by electronic equipment to handle text using the English alphabet, numbers, and other common symbols. ASCII is an abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

In Microsoft Windows

Unicode characters can then be entered by holding down Alt , and typing + on the numeric keypad, followed by the hexadecimal code, and then releasing Alt .

Where can I find Unicode characters? ›

If you are trying to find a specific character in the Unicode Standard, the first place to go is the code charts. The code charts are organized into blocks, which are groupings of related characters.

JavaScript supports Unicode, and you can convert Unicode values to characters using the built-in String. fromCharCode() method. To convert a single Unicode value to a character, you can pass the Unicode value to the String. fromCharCode() method as an argument.

In Microsoft Word (but not other Office applications), you can enter Unicode characters directly from the keyboard by typing their number followed by ALT + X. By convention, ALT + X means to hold the ALT key down while hitting the X key.

Inserting Unicode Characters

Press ALT+X to convert the code to the symbol. If you're placing your Unicode character immediately after another character, select just the code before pressing ALT+X.

Use the right-hand Alt key in combination with the appropriate letter to get one of the more common combinations (for example, Alt+e will result in: é). Press the symbol you want to use and then the letter you want to use it with (for example, if you first press the ~ symbol and then the “n” key, you'll get: ñ).

— Press and hold down the `Alt` key. — Type `0` and the decimal Unicode value on the numeric keypad. — Release the `Alt` key. — You can check your input language through the Start Menu > Settings > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages tab > Detail button.