Special Characters - The Alt Key Entry Method

The chart below lists many special characters supported by DBT. Although superseded by more convenient methods on most Windows systems, the "Alt-key" method for entering characters that do not appear on the keyboard can still occasionally be quite useful. In the list below, find your character, note the number next to "DOS:" or "Win:" and follow these directions.

Turn on the Num Lock (a key on the numeric keypad on full keyboards). Hold down the Alt key (you might be required to use the left Alt key), and enter a 3 or 4 digit decimal number on the Numeric keypad. Then release the Alt key.

If the number does not start with zero, it is accepted as a character in the old MS-DOS code page, also known as Code Page 437.

If the number starts with zero, it is interpreted as a character in the current Windows 8-bit code page. For the chart below, we assume the use of Code Page 1252 (the most common).

For example, using the chart below you can enter the Euro symbol by keying Alt + 0128.

Note: If there is no DOS or Windows value for a character, a dash (-) appears in the column. (See also, the notes below this chart.)

Alt key entry list

Char

DUSCI

DOS

Windows-1252

Character Description

Ç

D+80

DOS:128

Win:0199

Latin capital letter c with cedilla

ü

D+81

DOS:129

Win:0252

Latin small letter u with diaeresis

é

D+82

DOS:130

Win:0233

Latin small letter e with acute

â

D+83

DOS:131

Win:0226

Latin small letter a with circumflex

ä

D+84

DOS:132

Win:0228

Latin small letter a with diaeresis

à

D+85

DOS:133

Win:0224

Latin small letter a with grave

å

D+86

DOS:134

Win:0229

Latin small letter a with ring above

ç

D+87

DOS:135

Win:0231

Latin small letter c with cedilla

ê

D+88

DOS:136

Win:0234

Latin small letter e with circumflex

ë

D+89

DOS:137

Win:0235

Latin small letter e with diaeresis

è

D+8a

DOS:138

Win:0232

Latin small letter e with grave

ï

D+8b

DOS:139

Win:0239

Latin small letter i with diaeresis

î

D+8c

DOS:140

Win:0238

Latin small letter i with circumflex

ì

D+8d

DOS:141

Win:0236

Latin small letter i with grave

Ä

D+8e

DOS:142

Win:0196

Latin capital letter a with diaeresis

Å

D+8f

DOS:143

Win:0197

Latin capital letter a with ring above

É

D+90

DOS:144

Win:0201

Latin capital letter e with acute

ô

D+93

DOS:147

Win:0244

Latin small letter o with circumflex

ö

D+94

DOS:148

Win:0246

Latin small letter o with diaeresis

ò

D+95

DOS:149

Win:0242

Latin small letter o with grave

û

D+96

DOS:150

Win:0251

Latin small letter u with circumflex

ù

D+97

DOS:151

Win:0249

Latin small letter u with grave

ÿ

D+98

DOS:152

Win:0255

Latin small letter y with diaeresis

Ö

D+99

DOS:153

Win:0214

Latin capital letter o with diaeresis

Ü

D+9a

DOS:154

Win:0220

Latin capital letter u with diaeresis

D+ed5c

-

Win:0128

Euro symbol

¢

D+9b

DOS:155

Win:0162

Cent sign

¥

D+9d

DOS:157

Win:0165

Yen sign

á

D+a0

DOS:160

Win:0225

Latin small letter a with acute

í

D+a1

DOS:161

Win:0237

Latin small letter i with acute

ó

D+a2

DOS:162

Win:0243

Latin small letter o with acute

ú

D+a3

DOS:163

Win:0250

Latin small letter u with acute

ñ

D+a4

DOS:164

Win:0241

Latin small letter n with tilde

Ñ

D+a5

DOS:165

Win:0209

Latin capital letter n with tilde

¿

D+a8

DOS:168

Win:0191

Inverted question mark

¡

D+ad

DOS:173

Win:0161

Inverted exclamation mark

÷

D+f6

DOS:246

Win:0247

Division sign (line between two dots)

×

D+f7

DOS:247

Win:0215

Multiplication sign
(X shape, i.e. cross or "times")

°

D+f8

DOS:248

Win:0176

Degree sign

·

D+f9

DOS:249

Win:0183

Middle dot

Â

D+9c83

-

Win:0194

Latin capital letter a with circumflex


À

D+9c85

-

Win:0192

Latin capital letter a with grave accent

Ê

D+9c88

-

Win:0202

Latin capital letter e with circumflex

 

Ë

D+9c89

-

Win:0203

Latin capital letter e with diaeresis

È

D+9c8a

-

Win:0200

Latin capital letter e with grave accent

Ï

D+9c8b

-

Win:0207

Latin capital letter i with diaeresis

Î

D+9c8c

-

Win:0206

Latin capital letter i with circumflex

 

Ì

D+9c8d

-

-

Latin capital letter i with grave accent

Ô

D+9c93

-

Win:0212

Latin capital letter o with circumflex

 

Ò

D+9c95

-

Win:0210

Latin capital letter o with grave accent

Û

D+9c96

-

Win:0219

Latin capital letter u with circumflex

 

Ù

D+9c97

-

Win:0217

Latin capital letter u with grave accent

Á

D+9ca0

-

Win:0193

Latin capital letter a with acute accent

Í

D+9ca1

-

Win:0205

Latin capital letter i with acute accent

Ó

D+9ca2

-

Win:0211

Latin capital letter o with acute accent

Ú

D+9ca3

-

Win:0218

Latin capital letter u with acute accent

£

D+f523

DOS:156

Win:0163

Pound sign (British pound sterling)

§

D+f527

-

Win:0167

Section sign (Section mark)

±

D+f531

-

Win:0177

Plus-minus sign (plus or minus)

D+f536

-

Win:0182

Pilcrow sign (paragraph mark)

Ã

D+f543

-

Win:0195

Latin capital letter a with tilde

Õ

D+f555

-

Win:0213

Latin capital letter o with tilde

ã

D+f563

-

Win:0227

Latin small letter a with tilde

õ

D+f575

-

Win:0245

Latin small letter o with tilde

If your document is not using the Windows-1252 code page, you can still look up the DOS value for most of these characters. Also, Duxbury can expand this chart if given good input from our users regarding which other code pages are most helpful in their work.