Type special characters on a Mac with the Option key
Hold Option and press a key, and your Mac types a character that is not printed on it: Option-G gives ©, Option-2 gives ™, Option-8 gives a bullet (•), and Option-Shift-8 gives the degree sign (°). Every letter, number and punctuation key has an Option character and an Option-Shift character, so a standard Mac keyboard can type close to a hundred symbols without opening any menu.
The exact characters depend on your input source. The tables here are for the U.S. and ABC layouts, which share the same Option characters; other layouts move some of them, and the last sections show how to find yours.
The Option characters worth remembering
These are the ones people reach for most. Hold the keys in the third column together.
| Character | Name | Keys |
|---|---|---|
| © | Copyright | ⌥G |
| ® | Registered | ⌥R |
| ™ | Trademark | ⌥2 |
| • | Bullet | ⌥8 |
| ° | Degree | ⌥⇧8 |
| … | Ellipsis | ⌥; |
| € | Euro | ⌥⇧2 |
| £ | Pound | ⌥3 |
| ¢ | Cent | ⌥4 |
| ¥ | Yen | ⌥Y |
| ≠ | Not equal | ⌥= |
| ± | Plus or minus | ⌥⇧= |
| ≤ and ≥ | Less or equal, greater or equal | ⌥, and ⌥. |
| ÷ | Division | ⌥/ |
| ∞ | Infinity | ⌥5 |
| π | Pi | ⌥P |
| √ | Square root | ⌥V |
| µ | Micro | ⌥M |
| “ and ” | Curly double quotes | ⌥[ and ⌥⇧[ |
| ‘ and ’ | Curly single quotes | ⌥] and ⌥⇧] |
| ¡ and ¿ | Inverted marks | ⌥1 and ⌥⇧/ |
| Apple logo | ⌥⇧K |
Two more are worth knowing, though they do not appear in the table. Option-Hyphen types the en dash, the short dash used between numbers in a range. Option-Shift-Hyphen types the em dash, the long dash used to break off a thought.
The Apple logo is a special case. It only shows as the logo on Apple devices with Apple’s fonts; elsewhere it can turn into an empty box or disappear, so keep it out of emails and web pages.
Accents with Option: dead keys
Five Option combinations type nothing at first. They are dead keys: they wait for the next letter and put an accent on it.
- Press Option-E. In most apps the accent appears highlighted in your text, waiting.
- Let go, then press the letter. Option-E then e gives é; Option-E then a gives á.
The five are:
- Option-E: acute accent, as in é
- Option-` (the key left of 1): grave accent, as in è
- Option-I: circumflex, as in ê
- Option-U: umlaut, as in ü
- Option-N: tilde, as in ñ
For a capital, hold Shift when you press the letter, not with the Option key. To type the accent on its own, press Space after the dead key.
Press and hold: the accent menu
For the occasional accented letter, there is a slower but easier way. Press and hold a letter key, such as e. After a moment, a menu of accented versions appears, each with a number under it. Press the number, or click the character, or move with the arrow keys and press Space.
The menu only appears for keys that have accented forms, and Apple notes that it is not available in every app. Type accents on a Mac compares dead keys and the accent menu in more depth.
See every Option character on your own layout
You do not need to memorize a table. macOS can show you what each key types.
The Keyboard Viewer. Turn on the Input menu (System Settings > Keyboard, click Edit… next to Input Sources, then turn on “Show Input menu in menu bar”), click it in the menu bar and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. Hold Option and every key shows its Option character; add Shift for the second set. Dead keys get an orange outline. Find any character with the Keyboard Viewer walks through it.
Typebar. Typebar puts a full keyboard on screen for recordings and for learning shortcuts. Hold ⌥ for a moment and the keys relabel with the characters each one types, on the keyboard shape and layout you actually use. It is handy when you are teaching someone where © lives, because they see it on the board while you type it.
The Character Viewer. For anything not on the keyboard, press Control-Command-Space or Globe-E, or choose Edit > Emoji & Symbols, and search by name. Type an emoji, symbol or arrow on a Mac covers it.
Other layouts move things around
The Option characters belong to the input source, not the keyboard. A few examples of how they differ:
- On the British layout, Shift-3 is £, so Option-3 types # instead, and Option-2 types €.
- On layouts for other languages, such as French or German, letters with accents often have keys of their own, and Option reaches different symbols.
Whatever your layout, the Keyboard Viewer and Typebar both follow the input source you have selected, so they show your characters rather than the U.S. ones.
When Option does not type a character
A few situations get in the way:
- An app uses the combination as a shortcut. Apps can assign Option-letter shortcuts, and when one does, the shortcut wins over the character in that app.
- Terminal is set to use Option as Meta. In Terminal’s settings, under Profiles and then Keyboard, “Use Option as Meta key” makes Option work as the Meta key for the command line instead of typing characters. Turn it off to get the characters back.
- Smart dashes are on. With “Use smart quotes and dashes” on (in the same Edit… sheet as the Input menu setting), many apps turn two hyphens into a long dash as you type. That is handy, but if you want two hyphens, turn it off.
Typebar is $9 once, and you can try everything free for 24 hours.
Questions
How do I type the degree symbol on a Mac?
Press Option-Shift-8 for °. Option-K gives ˚, a ring accent that looks similar but is a different character, so use Option-Shift-8 for temperatures and angles.
How do I type the euro sign?
Option-Shift-2 on the U.S. and ABC layouts, and Option-2 on the British layout.
Why does Option-E not type anything?
It is a dead key. It waits for the next letter and adds an acute accent to it. Press a letter to finish, or Space for the accent alone.
Do Option characters work in every app?
In almost every app that takes text. The exceptions are apps that use the same combination as a shortcut, and Terminal when Option is set to work as Meta.