AltGr key - WikiHQ

thumb|The AltGr key is the first key to the right of the space bar.

AltGr (also Alt Graph) is a modifier key found on computer keyboards. It is primarily used to type characters that are used less frequently in the language that the keyboard is designed for, such as foreign currency symbols, typographic marks and accented letters.

The AltGr key is used to access a third and a fourth grapheme for most keys. Most are accented variants of the letters on the keys, but some are additional symbols and punctuation marks. For example, when the US-International keyboard mapping is active, the key can be used to insert four different characters:

→ c (lowercase — first level)
→ C (uppercase — second level)
→ © (copyright sign — third level)
→ ¢ (cent sign — fourth level)

Some languages, such as Bengali, use this key when the number of letters of their alphabet is too large for a standard keyboard. On keyboard layouts that do not include an AltGr key, such as US keyboards, the key position is labelled as a right-hand Alt key. When a relevant keyboard mapping is chosen in the operating system, this key will function separately as AltGr (despite being marked identically to the left-hand Alt key). In macOS, the Option key has functions similar to the AltGr key.

History

IBM states that AltGr is an abbreviation for alternate graphic.

thumb|right|250px|[[Sun Microsystems keyboard, which labels the key as Alt Graph]]

A key labelled with some variation of "Alt Graphic" was on many computer keyboards before the Windows international layouts. On early home computers the alternate graphemes were primarily box-drawing characters.

Function by default national keyboard

In most of the keyboard diagrams the symbol one gets when holding down AltGr is in blue in the lower-right of the corner. If different, the symbol for Shift+AltGr is shown in the upper-right.

Bangladesh

none|thumb|upright 1.5|Jatiya layout (Alt Gr activated characters in blue)

Belgium

thumb|left|upright 1.5|Belgian keyboard under Linux (Ubuntu 9.10)

The Windows version of the Belgian keyboard may only support a subset of these characters. Several of the AltGr combinations are themselves dead keys, which are followed by another letter to produce an accented version of that letter.

Brazil

none|thumb|upright 1.5|ABNT complying keyboard layout (Alt Gr activated characters in blue)

<br />

none|thumb|upright 1.5|ABNT2 complying keyboard layout (Alt Gr activated characters in blue)

Some notes

The combination results in the (obsolete) symbol ₢ for the former Brazilian currency, the Brazilian cruzeiro.
The , , combinations are useful as a replacement for the "/?" key, which is physically absent on non-Brazilian keyboards.
Some software (e.g. Microsoft Word) will map to ® and to ™.

Finland

thumb|upright 1.5|The original design for the Finnish Multilingual Keyboard, [[dead keys in red; Icelandic and Faroese Ð/ð is on the D key, the Sámi Đ/đ available using the AltGr diacritic on L]]

The new Finnish keyboard standard of 2008 (SFS 5966) was designed for easily typing 1) Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian; 2) Nordic minority languages and 3) European Latin letters (based on MES-2, with emphasis on contemporary proper nouns), without needing engravings different from those on existing standard keyboards of Finland and Sweden. AltGr and dead diacritic keys are extensively used, although letters of Finnish and Swedish are mostly provided as normal keys.

France

On AZERTY keyboards, AltGr enables the user to type the following characters:

none|thumb|upright 1.5|French AZERTY keyboard

Germany

On German keyboards, AltGr enables the user to type the following characters, which are indicated on the keyboard:

none|thumb|upright 1.5|German keyboard layout "T1" according to DIN 2137-1:2012-06

Windows 8 introduced the ability of pressing to produce ẞ (capital ß). Even though this is usually not indicated on the physical keyboard—potentially due to a lack of space, since the ß-key already has three different levels ( → "ß", → "?", and, as shown above, → "\")—, it can be seen in the Windows On-Screen Keyboard by selecting the necessary keys with the German keyboard layout selected. Some newer types of German keyboards offer the assignment → capital ß.

Greece

thumb|right|upright 1.5|A Greek keyboard layout

Some of these key combinations also result in different characters if the polytonic layout is used.

Israel

Hebrew

On Hebrew keyboards, AltGr enables the user to type the Hebrew vowels and pronunciation marks.

In addition, there are several combinations for special characters:

→ <big>€</big>
→ <big>₪</big>
→ <big>°</big>
→ <big>֫</big>
→ <big>ֽ</big>
→ <big>×</big>
→ <big>LRM</big>
→ <big>RLM</big>

→ <big>־</big>
→ <big>–</big>
→ <big>÷</big>
&lrm; → <big>”</big>
&lrm; → <big>“</big>
&lrm; → <big>„</big>
&lrm; → <big>’</big>

&lrm; → <big>‘</big>
&lrm; → <big>‚</big>
→ <big>׳</big>
→ <big>״</big>
&lrm; → <big>׆</big>

Yiddish

Using a Hebrew keyboard, one may write in Yiddish as the two languages share many letters. However, Yiddish has some additional digraphs not otherwise found in Hebrew, which are entered via AltGr:

&lrm; →
&lrm; →
&lrm; →

Italy

On Italian keyboards, AltGr enables the user to type the following characters:

→ <big>€</big>
→ <big>€</big>
→ <big>@</big>
→ <big>#</big>

→ <big>[</big>
→ <big>]</big>
→ <big>{</big>
→ <big>}</big>

There is an alternate layout, which differ just in disposition of characters accessible through AltGr and includes the tilde and the curly brackets.

Latvia

The following letters can be input in the Latvian keyboard layout using AltGr:

Lowercase letters

→ <big>ā</big>
→ <big>č</big>
→ <big>ē</big>
→ <big>ģ</big>
→ <big>ī</big>
→ <big>ķ</big>
→ <big>ļ</big>
→ <big>ņ</big>
→ <big>ō</big>
→ <big>ŗ</big>
→ <big>š</big>
→ <big>ū</big>
→ <big>ž</big>

Uppercase letters

→ <big>Ā</big>
→ <big>Č</big>
→ <big>Ē</big>
→ <big>Ģ</big>
→ <big>Ī</big>
→ <big>Ķ</big>
→ <big>Ļ</big>
→ <big>Ņ</big>
→ <big>Ō</big>
→ <big>Ŗ</big>
→ <big>Š</big>
→ <big>Ū</big>
→ <big>Ž</big>

North Macedonia

On Macedonian keyboards, AltGr enables the user to type the following characters:

→ <big>€</big>
→ <big>Ђ</big>
→ <big>ђ</big>
→ <big>[</big>

→ <big>]</big>
→ <big>Ћ</big>
→ <big>ћ</big>
→ <big>@</big>

→ <big>{</big>
→ <big>}</big>
→ <big>§</big>

Netherlands

Digits row
→ ¹ and ¡
→ ²
→ ³
→ £ and ¤
→ €
→ ¼
→ ½
→ ¾
→ ‘
→ ’
→ ¥
→ × and ÷

Top letters row
→ ä and Ä
→ å and Å
→ é and É
→ ®
→ þ and Þ (Icelandic and Old English thorn)
→ ü and Ü
→ ú and Ú
→ í and Í
→ ó and Ó
→ ö and Ö
→ «
→ »
→ ¬ and ¦

Middle letters row (Home row)
→ á and Á
→ ß (German eszett aka sharp s) and §
→ ð and Ð (Icelandic eth)
→ ø and Ø
→ ¶ and °
→ ´ and ¨

Bottom letters row
→ æ and Æ
→ © and ¢
→ ñ and Ñ
→
→ ç and Ç
→ ¿

Nordic countries and Estonia, except Iceland

The keyboard layouts in the Nordic countries Denmark (DK), Faroe Islands (FO), Finland (FI), Norway (NO) and Sweden (SE) as well as in Estonia (EE) are largely similar to each other. Generally the AltGr key can be used to create the following characters:

→ <big>@</big>
→ <big>£</big>
→ <big>$</big>
→ <big>€</big>
→ <big></big>

→ <big>{</big>
→ <big>[</big>
→ <big>]</big>
→ <big>}</big>
→ <big>~</big> (excluding EE)

Other AltGr combinations are peculiar to just some of the countries:

→ <big>\</big> (EE, FI, SE)
→ <big>|</big> (EE, FI, SE)
→ <big>\</big> (DK, FO)
→ <big>|</big> (DK, FO)
→ <big>´</big> (NO)
→ <big>~</big> (FO)
→ <big>¨</big> (FO)

→ <big>^</big> (FO)
→ <big>€</big> (NO, DK, FO, SE, sometimes FI)
→ <big>š</big> (EE, sometimes FI)
→ <big>ž</big> (EE, sometimes FI)
→ <big>§</big> (EE)
→ <big>½</big> (EE)

Finnish multilingual

The Finnish multilingual keyboard standard adds many new characters to the traditional layout via the AltGr key, as shown in the image below (the blue characters can be written with the AltGr key; several dead key diacritics, shown in red, are also available as an AltGr combination).