Accent Codes for the Macintosh

View Windows ALT Codes | View Mac Extended Codes | Mac Character Palette

This page list codes for accented letters and other characters. The list is organized by type. These tables show select codes only, not all possible codes.

This Page

1. Letters with Accents – (e.g. ó, ò, ñ)
2. Other Foreign Characters – (e.g. ç, ¿, ß)
3. Currency Symbols – (e.g. ¢, £, ¥)
4. Math Symbols – (e.g. ±, °, ÷)
5. Other Punctuation – (e.g. &, ©, §)
6. Links to External Resources
7. Extra Accents: Extended Keyboard for OS X – (e.g. Ā, ý, č) New Page
8. Extra Math and Phonetic Symbols: Character Pallete (e.g. ə,ŋ,∀∈,♁,♇ ) New Page

Letters with Accents

This list is organized by Accent type. The sample shows a letter with that accent, and the Notes present any special comments about using that accent.

For the Template, the symbol “V” means any vowel. The format is to hold the first two keys down simultaneously, release, then type the vowel you wish to be accented.

Macintosh Option Codes for Accented Letters

ACCENT	SAMPLE	TEMPLATE	NOTES
Acute	ó Ó	Option+E, V
Circumflex	ô Ô	Option+I, V
Grave	ò Ò	Option+`, V
Tilde	õ Õ	Option+N, V	Only works with “n,N,o,O,a,A“
Umlaut	ö Ö	Option+U, V

Example 1: To input the letter ó, hold down the Option key, then the E key. Release both keys then type lowercase o.

Example 2: To input the letter Ó, hold down the Option key, then the E key. Release both keys then type capital O.

Other Accent Marks

See the Extended Keyboard Page for additional accent marks

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Other Foreign Characters

To insert these characters, press the Option key (bottom of keyboard) then other “code” key to make the symbol appear.

Macintosh Option Codes for Foreign Characters

SYMBOL	NAME	CODE
¡	Upside-down exclamation mark	Option+1
¿	Upside-down question mark	Shift+Option+?
Ç,ç	French C cedille (caps/lowecase)	Shift+Option+C Option+C
Œ,œ	OE ligature (caps/lowecase)	Shift+Option+Q Option+Q
ß	German Sharp/Double S	Option+S
º, ª	Masculine Ordinal Number (Span/Ital/Portuguese) Feminine Ordinal Number	Option+0 Option+9
Ø,ø	Nordic O slash (caps/lowecase)	Shift+Option+O Option+O
Å,å	Nordic A ring (caps/lowecase)	Shift+Option+A Option+A
Æ,æ	AE ligature (caps/lowecase)	Shift+Option+’ (apostrophe key) Option+’
« »	Spanish/French quotation marks	Option+\ Shift+Option+\

Example 1: To input French ç (Option+C), hold down the Option, then the C key. The ç will appear.

Example 2: To input French Ç (Shift+Option+C), hold down the Shift key, then the Option key,then the C key. The ç will appear.

Other Characters

• See the Extended Keyboard Page for additional characters
• See the Character Palette Page for additional phonetic symbols

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Currency Symbols

To insert these characters, press the Option key (bottom of keyboard) then other “code” key to make the symbol appear.

Macintosh Option Codes for Currency Symbols

SYMBOL	NAME	CODE
¢	Cent sign	Option+4
£	British Pound	Option+3
¥	Japanese Yen	Option+Y
€	Euro Sign.	Shift+Option+2 May not be in older fonts.
ƒ	Dutch Florin	Option+F

Other Symbols

See the Character Palette Page for additional currency symbols

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Math Symbols

To insert these characters, press the Option key (bottom of keyboard) then other “code” key to make the symbol appear.

Macintosh Option Codes for Math Symbols

SYMBOL	NAME	CODE
÷	Division sign	Option+/
±	Plus/minus sign	Shift+Option+=
°	The degree symbol	Shift+Option+8
¬	“not” symbol	Option+L
≥	Greater than or equal to	Option+>
≤	Lesser than or equal to	Option+<
√	square root radical sign	Option+V
π	Pi symbol	Option+P
∞	Infinity symbol	Option+5
≈	Approximately	Option+X
Δ	Delta/Difference	Option+J
Σ	Sum Sign	Option+W
∏	Product Pi Symbol	Shift+Option+P
Ω	Ohm sign	Option+Z
µ	Micro	Option+M
∂	Partial Derivative	Option+D
∫	Integral Sign	Option+B
‰	Per Mil (1/1000) Sign	Shift+Option+R

 

Other Symbols

See the Character Palette Page for additional math symbols

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Other Punctuation

To insert these characters, press the Option key (bottom of keyboard) then other “code” key to make the symbol appear.

Macintosh Option Codes for Punctuation

SYMBOL	NAME	CODE
©	Copyright symbol	Option+G
®	Registered	Option+R
™	Trademark	Option+2
¶	Paragraph Symbol	Option+7
•	Dot	Option+8
§	Section Symbol	Option+6
–	en-dash. Option, then minus sign	Option+-
—	em-dash	Shift+Option+-
†	Dagger	Option+T

 

Other Symbols

See the Character Palette Page for additional symbols