HowTo: Lookup Special Character names
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg95335] HowTo: Lookup Special Character names
- From: "Q.E.D." <aoe at netzero.net>
- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:06:44 -0500 (EST)
Entering ?\[P*] gives a formated reference list of
all Special Character names such as \[Pi] which match.
?\[*Phi] matches \[CapitalPhi], \[CurlyPhi] and \[Phi].
This capability is new for version 7. It is not mentioned on
the reference page for the Information function.
This is better than having to search thru the reference
page guide/ListingOfNamedCharacters which only lists
884 of the 947 that \[*] reports.
Evaluate following input to see the 63 which are not documented on
the reference page guide/ListingOfNamedCharacters.
Information["\[" <> # <> "]"] & /@ {"Akuz", "Andy", "CapitalOE",
"Check*Box", "COMPATIBILITY*", "Divides", "DoubleDot", "KeyBar",
"Klingon*", "Minus", "Mod*Key", "NumberComma", "OE", "ShiftKey",
"Short*", "Spooky", "Stepper*", "TripleDot", "UnknownGlyph",
"Villa"};
Note that some are infix operators with built-in evaluation rules:
m \[Divides] n is by default interpreted as Divisible[n,m].
x \[ShortDownArrow] y is by default interpreted as ShortDownArrow[x,y].
x \[ShortUpArrow] y is by default interpreted as ShortUpArrow[x,y].
Just six, \[CheckedBox], \[Divides], \[DoubleDot], \[ShortDownArrow],
\[ShortUpArrow] and \[TripleDot] have ref/Characters/ reference pages.
Only \[CapitalOE], \[Minus] and \[OE] are new in version 7.
Of the documented ones, \[DifferenceDelta], \[DiscreteRatio],
\[DiscreteShift], \[Equivalent], \[Formal*](A-Z),
\[FormalCapital*](A-Z), \[Function*] and \[Xnor] are new in version 7.
According to the ref/Characters/ reference pages the \[Formal*]
special character are used to represent a formal parameter that
will never be assigned a value. The others are prefix or infix
operators with built-in evaluation rules:
\!\(\*SubscriptBox[\(\[DiscreteRatio]\),\(k\)]y\) is by default
interpreted as DiscreteRatio[y,k].
\!\(\*SubscriptBox[\(\[DifferenceDelta]\),\(k\)]y\) is by default
interpreted as DifferenceDelta[y,k].
\!\(\*SubscriptBox[\(\[DiscreteShift]\),\(k\)]y\) is by default
interpreted as DiscreteShift[y,k].
x \[Equivalent] y is by default interpreted as Equivalent[x,y].
x \[Xnor] y is by default interpreted as Xnor[x,y].
x \[Function] y is by default interpreted as Function[x,y].
Q.E.D.