3 keyboard \- how to type characters
5 Keyboards are idiosyncratic.
6 It should be obvious how to type ordinary
9 backspace, tab, escape, and newline.
10 In Plan 9, the key labeled
16 if there is a key labeled
19 it generates a carriage return
22 All control characters are typed in the usual way;
23 in particular, control-J is a line feed and control-M a carriage return.
24 .\" On the PC and some other machines, the key labeled
27 .\" acts as an additional control key.
29 .\" The delete character
31 .\" may be generated by a different key,
32 .\" one near the extreme upper right of the keyboard.
33 .\" On the Next, it is the key labeled
35 .\" (not the asterisk above the 8).
36 .\" On the SLC and Sparcstation 2, delete is labeled
43 .\" functions as an additional backspace key).
44 .\" On the other keyboards, the key labeled
48 .\" generates the delete character.
56 causes windows to scroll forward.
57 The up arrow scrolls backward.
59 Characters in Plan 9 are runes (see
61 Any rune can be typed using a compose key followed by several
63 The compose key is also generally near the lower right of the main key area:
72 key on the Magnum, and either
75 To type a single rune with the value specified by
76 a given four-digit hexadecimal number,
80 and then the four hexadecimal digits (decimal digits and
84 For a longer rune, type
86 twice followed by five digits,
89 three times followed by six digits.
90 There are shorthands for many characters, comprising
91 the compose key followed by a two- or three-character sequence.
92 The full list is too long to repeat here, but is contained in the file
94 in a format suitable for
98 To add a sequence, edit that file and then rebuild
101 There are several rules guiding the design of the sequences, as
102 illustrated by the following examples.
104 A repeated symbol gives a variant of that symbol, e.g.,
109 digraphs for mathematical operators give the corresponding operator, e.g.,
113 Two letters give the corresponding ligature, e.g.,
117 Mathematical and other symbols are given by abbreviations for their names, e.g.,
121 Chess pieces are given by a
125 followed by a letter for the piece
142 Greek letters are given by an asterisk followed by a corresponding latin letter,
147 Cyrillic letters are given by an at sign followed by a corresponding latin letter or letters,
152 Script letters are given by a dollar sign followed by the corresponding regular letter,
157 A digraph of a symbol followed by a letter gives the letter with an accent that looks like the symbol, e.g.,
161 Two digits give the fraction with that numerator and denominator, e.g.,
165 The letter s followed by a character gives that character as a superscript, e.g.,
168 These characters are taken from the Unicode block 0x2070; the 1, 2, and 3
169 superscripts in the Latin-1 block are available by using a capital S instead of s.
171 Sometimes a pair of characters give a symbol related to the superimposition of the characters, e.g.,
175 A mnemonic letter followed by $ gives a currency symbol, e.g.,
179 Note the difference between ß (ss) and µ (micron) and
182 Under X Windows, both the Alt key and the ``Multi key''
183 can begin a compose sequence in a Plan 9 program.
185 It is also possible to configure X Windows to use the
186 same keystroke mappings as the Plan 9 programs.
187 First, generate an XCompose sequence list by using
191 mklatinkbd -x $PLAN9/lib/keyboard >$HOME/.XCompose
194 Second, configure a ``Multi key'' by running
197 xmodmap -e 'keysym Super_L = Multi_key'
202 typically denotes the Windows key on recent keyboards.)
204 Third, set these environment variables so that GTK- and QT-based programs
205 will use the compose sequences:
208 export GTK_IM_MODULE=xim
209 export QT_IM_MODULE=xim
212 Finally, start a new GTK- or QT-based program:
218 In that terminal, typing the key sequence
222 should be interpreted as the Greek letter
225 If using the GNOME Window Manager, put the
229 commands into the file
231 to run them automatically at startup.
235 sorted table of characters and keyboard sequences
