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Re: Keyboard problems - no "dead keys" - in Linux version of Mathematica

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg60085] Re: Keyboard problems - no "dead keys" - in Linux version of Mathematica
• From: Jean-Marc Gulliet <jeanmarc.gulliet at gmail.com>
• Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 06:43:17 -0400 (EDT)
• Organization: The Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K.
• References: <derog9$s9g$1@smc.vnet.net> <detuqs$ca1$1@smc.vnet.net>
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

albert wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> 
>> I can't use accent characters like 'à ', 'á', 'é'. Normally I insert them
>> using '´' and 'a' (the ´ can be seen as a "dead key"). But in Mathematica
>> when I type this sequence I get only "´a". In other programs (Firefox,
>> OpenOffice, etc...) the keyboard works right, therefore it is not a X
>> server configuration problem.
> 
> 
> My guess is that mathematica does this on purpose, it seems reasonable if
> you bear in mind that it is an editor for a programming language and you
> will use the ' and ` characters standing for themselves a lot more than for
> producing 'à ', 'á', 'é' . Whether it is good habit for an application to
> override these kind of user configurations is another question...
> 
> 
>> Any hints?
> 
> 
> anyway, there are 'shortcuts' for all the characters (and many more) that
> are enclosed by Escape-Characters. Try the following key-sequences in the
> FrontEnd:
> 
> Escape  a  `  Escape
> Escape  a  '  Escape
> Escape  e  ^  Escape
> Escape  o  "  Escape
> Escape  g  Escape
> Esacpe d s R Escape
> Escape  b  u  Escape
> Escape  < - Escape
> ....
> 
> this is not perfectly convenient when writing long texts in e.g. french or
> german, but one can get used to it. _And_ it makes available special
> characters of a wide wide range. I think there is a listing of these
> shortcuts somewhere in the Help-Browser, but it is usually more convenient
> to open the palette 'Complete Characters'. If you put the mouse-pointer
> above any of the characters you will see the corresponding
> keyboard-shortcut in the status-bar.
> 
> hope that helps,
> 
> Albert
> 
Hi Albert,

I think that what you have in mind, a comprehensive listing of extended 
Latin characters, can be found in section 3.10.3 under the subsection 
"Extended Latin Letters."

http://documents.wolfram.com/mathematica/book/section-3.10.3

The Mathematica Book, 5th Edition (Printed Version), on pages 998-999

The Mathematica Book (Online Help) "Advanced Mathematics in Mathematica" 
-> "Mathematical and Other Notations" -> "Letters and Letter-like Forms"

Best regards,
/J.M.