How to insert characters by ascii code?

J_Szucs · 07-28-2003, 09:15 AM

Is it possible to insert characters on the command line or in vi by ascii code?

I badly need it, since I cannot enter some important characters from the keyboard when i login with ssh into a remote site. (That site uses a localised charset) It is peculiar that presently I have to concatenate files on the system just because the other file contains the character I need, and once the character is in the right file, I can somehow copy it in the right places inside the file.

J_Szucs · 07-28-2003, 04:30 PM

I thought it is a lame question, but it turned out to be a hard one.

So is there a guru knowing how to insert the 'less than' character that does not appear to be on your keyboard? (the case of an english keyboard with ISO-8859-2 codepage).

Should I scp the file to a windows partition, bootup Windows, insert the character then boot into Linux again, login to the remote site and scp the file to its place, or is there a slightly simpler solution in the Linux world?
(like ALT+60 in windows)

Tinkster · 07-28-2003, 07:20 PM

Hmmm ... there's always yudit :) ... a nice
unicode editor.

Cheers,
Tink

J_Szucs · 07-29-2003, 08:18 AM

I do not need unicode, but a pure ascii or iso 8859-2 'less than' sign in unix.
The last time I needed it in a regexp in a bash script. It took 10 minutes until I found it in an other file and inserted that character into my script, since I cannot type it from my keyboard.
I cannot type it in windows either, but there I can insert it by ALT 60.
I do not believe I cannot do the same in unix. But it looks like that.

rmartine · 07-29-2003, 02:34 PM

There is probably a way to remap the keyboard to assign the "<" symbol to some useless unused key... ala the windows key.

Try checking this link out

http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/linux/sunsite...ole-HOWTO.html

I hope this is at least related to what you were asking about.

Good Luck

homestead1000 · 07-29-2003, 06:20 PM

I'm not sure what you really want to do but I'd suggest this as a start.

http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/...-HOWTO-12.html

J_Szucs · 07-29-2003, 06:51 PM

Well, I happened to meet and more or less read that howto before, but I found it too complicated and hoped that there was a more simple way.
It turned out that there was no simple way, so I modified the keymap (hu.map.gz), to have the 'less' sign.
It works OK in terminal mode, but not under X. (I know I have to read some more hours...)
I will have to do it all over again any time I re-install or upgrade my system (just one more item on the long todo list).

ligne · 11-05-2003, 03:39 PM

has anyone figured out a way of using the ASCII codes that doesn't involve modifying the keymap? (unfortunately, i don't really have enough spare keys to get all the ones i want/need: ÄÀÈÉÖÜÙÔÇßàäçèéêëòöüù

). copying the relevant characters across from KCharSelect or whatever is also rather too clumsy and awkward for day-to-day use...

any help or suggestions would be very gratefully received! this is really a rather annoying little problem for me.

--matt

DaneM · 09-12-2013, 10:40 PM

I know this is an ancient thread, but since Google put it near the top when I was trying to figure out how to enter ASCII symbols by number code, I figured I should post the solution here.

CTRL + SHIFT + u
Then type a number and press ENTER.

Hope this helps someone! :-)

NeXuS_2006 · 09-14-2013, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneM

I know this is an ancient thread, but since Google put it near the top when I was trying to figure out how to enter ASCII symbols by number code, I figured I should post the solution here.

CTRL + SHIFT + u
Then type a number and press ENTER.

Hope this helps someone! :-)

This was really frustrating to me a couple weeks ago. The trickiest part is to press CTRL + SHIFT + u, and then release only u, type the code, then release CTRL+SHIFT. Its a magical experience

DaneM · 09-14-2013, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeXuS_2006

This was really frustrating to me a couple weeks ago. The trickiest part is to press CTRL + SHIFT + u, and then release only u, type the code, then release CTRL+SHIFT. Its a magical experience

Indeed, this is the proper technique! Thanks for clarifying, NeXuS_2006.

DavidMcCann · 09-14-2013, 11:10 AM

This is a Gnome thing, or rather it depends on having GTK_IM_MODULE using its built-in features. I use Gnome, but use xim input (to enable me to use ~/.XCompose) so it doesn't work for me.

jcchile · 06-16-2017, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeXuS_2006

This was really frustrating to me a couple weeks ago. The trickiest part is to press CTRL + SHIFT + u, and then release only u, type the code, then release CTRL+SHIFT. Its a magical experience

This was the best tip ever.

BUT it seems to me still there's something missing... maybe to activate some "hidden" levels, as described here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ComposeKey

Can anyone give extra light on this please?

onebuck · 06-16-2017, 09:23 PM

Please refrain from resurrecting necro threads.

DavidMcCann · 06-17-2017, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcchile

BUT it seems to me still there's something missing... maybe to activate some "hidden" levels, as described here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ComposeKey
Can anyone give extra light on this please?

Ctrl-Sh-U doesn't work in every environment. It's actually the least convenient way to insert characters — after all, how many codes do you know? For special characters,
1. Use Compose, after setting a compose key.
2. Check if your character is in your keyboard driver, available from AltGr.
3. Use the character picker in the menu.
4. Use the character picker in a word-processor menu.
5. If your GUI supports it, put a character palette on the panel and populate it with the characters you need.