term% cat index.txt KEYBOARD(6) Games Manual KEYBOARD(6)
NAME
keyboard - how to type characters
DESCRIPTION
Keyboards are idiosyncratic. It should be obvious how to type ordinary
ASCII characters, backspace, tab, escape, and newline. In Plan 9, the
key labeled Return or Enter generates a newline (0x0A); if there is a
key labeled Line Feed, it generates a carriage return (0x0D); Plan 9
eschews CRLFs. All control characters are typed in the usual way; in
particular, control-J is a line feed and control-M a carriage return.
On the PC and some other machines, the key labeled Caps Lock acts as an
additional control key.
The delete character (0x7F) may be generated by a different key, one
near the extreme upper right of the keyboard. On the Next it is the
key labeled (not the asterisk above the 8). On the SLC and Sparcsta‐
tion 2, delete is labeled Num Lock (the key above Backspace labeled
Delete functions as an additional backspace key). On the other key‐
boards, the key labeled Del or Delete generates the delete character.
The view character (0x80), used by 8½(1) and sam(1), causes windows to
scroll forward. It is generally somewhere near the lower right of the
main key area. The scroll character is generated by the VIEW key on
the Gnot, the Alt Graph key on the SLC, and any of the three arrow keys
â, â, and â on the other terminals.
Characters in Plan 9 are runes (see utf(6)). Any 16-bit rune can be
typed using a compose key followed by several other keys. The compose
key is also generally near the lower right of the main key area: the
NUM PAD key on the Gnot, the Alternate key on the Next, the Compose key
on the SLC, the Option key on the Magnum, and either Alt key on the PC.
After typing the compose key, type a capital and exactly four hexadeci‐
mal characters (digits and to to type a single rune with the value rep‐
resented by the typed number. There are shorthands for many charac‐
ters, comprising the compose key followed by a two- or three-character
sequence. There are several rules guiding the design of the sequences,
as illustrated by the following examples. The full list is too long to
repeat here, but is contained in the file in a format suitable for
grep(1) or look(1).
A repeated symbol gives a variant of that symbol, e.g., ??
yields ¿.
ASCII digraphs for mathematical operators give the corresponding
operator, e.g., <= yields â¤.
Two letters give the corresponding ligature, e.g., AE yields Ã.
Mathematical and other symbols are given by abbreviations for
their names, e.g., pg yields ¶.
Chess pieces are given by a w or b followed by a letter for the
piece (k for king, q for queen, r for rook, n for knight, b for
bishop, or p for pawn), e.g., wk for a white king.
Greek letters are given by an asterisk followed by a correspond‐
ing latin letter, e.g., *d yields Î'.
Cyrillic letters are given by an at sign followed by a corre‐
sponding latin letter or letters, e.g., @ya yields Ñ.
Script letters are given by a dollar sign followed by the corre‐
sponding regular letter, e.g., $F yields â±.
A digraph of a symbol followed by a letter gives the letter with
an accent that looks like the symbol, e.g., ,c yields ç.
Two digits give the fraction with that numerator and denomina‐
tor, e.g., 12 yields ½.
The letter s followed by a character gives that character as a
superscript, e.g., s1 yields ¹.
Sometimes a pair of characters give a symbol related to the su‐
perimposition of the characters, e.g., cO yields ©.
A mnemonic letter followed by $ gives a currency symbol, e.g.,
l$ yields £.
Note the difference between à (ss) and µ (micron) and the Greek β and
μ.
FILES
/lib/keyboard
sorted table of characters and keyboard sequences
SEE ALSO
intro(1), ascii(1), tcs(1), 8½(1), sam(1), cons(3), utf(6)
KEYBOARD(6)