How to put signs on the keyboard. Additional characters on the keyboard

Often when you first get acquainted with a personal computer, the user has a question about what signs on the keyboard there are and how to enter them. Within the framework of this article, each group of keys will be described in detail, indicating its purpose. A method for entering non-standard characters using ASCII codes will also be described. This material is of greatest interest for those who work with a text editor, for example, Microsoft Word or another similar application (OpenOffice Writer).

Functional set

Let's start with the function keys. There are 12 of them on the keyboard. They are located in the uppermost row. Their purpose depends on the open application at the current time. Typically, at the bottom of the screen, a hint is displayed, and this is the most frequently performed operation in this program (for example, creating a directory in Norton Commander is "F7").

Keys and register

A special group of keys are keys. They control the mode of operation of the other part of the keyboard. The first one is "Caps Lock". It changes the case of letters. By default, lowercase characters are entered. If we press this key once, we will already have capital letters when you press the keys . This is the most simple and convenient way of putting the characters on the keyboard with different registers. The second key is "Num Lock". It is used to switch the numeric keypad. When it is off, it can be used for navigation. But when you turn it on it works like a regular calculator. The last key of this group is "Scroll Lock". It is used in tabular processors. When its position is inactive, it goes to cells, and when turned on, the sheet scrolls.

Control

Separately, it is worth considering the control keys. First of all, these are arrows. They move the cursor one position to the left, to the right, up and down. There is also page navigation: "PgUp" (page up) and "PgDn" (page down). To go to the beginning of the line, use "Home", at the end - "End". To the control keys belong "Shift", "Alt" and "Ctrl". Their combination switches the keyboard layout (this depends on the settings of the operating system).

When the "Shift" is held down, the register of entered characters is changed and the possibility of entering auxiliary symbols appears. For example, find out how to type the characters on the keyboard from this set. Enter "%". To do this, hold down "Shift" and "5". The set of auxiliary symbols depends on the active keyboard layout at the current time. That is, in the English layout there are only signs available, and in Russian - others.

Pay attention to the notation that is on the keyboard. Removing the symbol on the left is "Backspace", and on the right is "Del". «Enter» - go to a new line. Another special key is Tab. In the table, it provides a jump to the next cell, and at the end adds a new line. For the text, pressing it causes an "increased" indentation between the characters. And in the file manager, clicking on it causes a transition to another panel.

Basic set

The basic character set on the keyboard depends on the active layout at the current time. It can be Russian or English. Switching between them is carried out by means of combinations "Alt" + "Shift" on the left or "Ctrl" + "Shift". The selected combination is defined in the operating system settings. You can find out the active combination by selecting. That is, we press the first one and look at the status of the language bar (located in the lower right corner of the screen). If there was a change of language, then this is the combination we need (for example, from "En" to "Ru" or vice versa). By default, the first one is set.

The letters on the keyboard are located in its central part and are divided into three rows. The more often a symbol is used, the closer it is to the center, the less often - the further it is from it. That is, the letters are distributed not by alphabet, but by mathematical statistics. At first, it is difficult to get used to such a principle of organizing signs distribution, but the more you work, the more you get used to and understand that it is really convenient. Another nuance that needs to be considered. For short-term switching between uppercase and uppercase letters it is better to use "Shift", and for long dialing - "Caps Lock".

Numeric keyboard

Another mandatory component of such input devices is the numeric keypad. It is located on the right side of it. It has two modes of operation: input and navigation. In the first case, the characters on the keyboard are typed (these are numbers and basic mathematical operations). This is useful when working with a large number of numbers. And in the second variant, the cursor navigation keys and page navigation are duplicated. That is, the arrows to move the marker, "PgUp", "PgDn", "Home" and "End" - all this is present here.

Switching between them is done using the "Num Lock" key. When its status is off (the LED is inactive), navigation works, and when enabled, the digital dialing. If necessary, you can set the desired mode of operation after loading the personal computer in the BIOS (this is better for advanced users, since newcomers with this operation may have problems).

Punctuation marks

Punctuation marks on the keyboard are mostly concentrated near the right "Shift" key. This is a period and a comma. Also in the English version of the layout there is a question mark. The remaining characters (colon, dash, hyphen, interrogative and exclamation marks) are located on the main numeric keypad, which is located immediately below the function keys. To enter them, briefly hold down "Shift" and with it the corresponding button.

About what does not exist

But what about the signs that are not on the keyboard? Can I get them somehow? The answer to this question is positive. There are two ways to type these characters. The first one involves the use of the text editor Word. After its launch, go to the "Insert" toolbar and select "Symbol" there. In the opened list, select "Other". Then a special input window will open. Here, use the navigation keys to find the desired character and press "Enter".

Additional characters on the keyboard can be typed in one more way - using ASCII codes. This works in all Windows applications - the main plus. Minus it - the use of large code, which you need to remember. First, we figure out the digital code of the required sign on the official website of Microsoft Corporation or in any other source where there is a corresponding table and remember it. Then go to the application we need.

Be sure to turn on "Num Lock", hold down "Alt" and on the numeric keypad on the right we type in the code found in the previous step. In the end, you need to release the "Alt" and after that the desired symbol must necessarily appear. For example, to enter "♥" a combination of "Alt" + "9829" is used. It is convenient to use for non-standard The design of text messages in the chat or pages in social networks. After all, it is much more convenient to remember a non-standard record than usual. And this solution is just conducive to this.

Results

Within the framework of this material, all the signs on the keyboard that are available today have been described. The purpose of all keys is specified and practical examples of work are given. Also shown is a technique that allows you to go beyond the usual set of characters using ASCII codes. All this in total will help a novice user to thoroughly understand the operation of the keyboard and understand the basic principles of the functioning of a personal computer.