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In Mac OS X there are ways to input punctuation marks by combination of some keystrokes. For example, Alt + ; inputs a precomposed ellipsis character (…, U+2026). Alt + [ opens a curly double quote character (“, U+201C). Is there any way to input such punctuation marks in simple combination of keystrokes in Ubuntu?

The following is a list of characters I want to use:

  • ‘ (U+2018): Single quote opening
  • ’ (U+2019): Single quote closing
  • “ (U+201C): Double quote opening
  • ” (U+201D): Double quote closing
  • … (U+2026): Precomposed ellipsis
  • — (U+2014): Em dash
  • – (U+2013): En dash
irrational John
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minhee
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  • See http://askubuntu.com/questions/358/how-can-i-type-special-characters-like-e – belacqua May 03 '12 at 22:50
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    That's ok, but what if I have switched my alternate keyboard? Then I have to switch keyborad, e.g. Alt+Shift, enter Control+Shift+U, 2026, Enter and then switch back to my alternate keyboard (again Alt+Shift). Too much in order to enter a single character. I would rather prefer the ability to define my own key sequences. Forgot to say that the reason to switch keyboards is that Control+Shift+U is entered like Control+Shift+Θ when Greek keyboard is on. –  Apr 05 '14 at 12:04
  • @user265585 http://askubuntu.com/questions/131044/how-can-i-input-punctuation-marks-like-ellipsis#comment396499_131077 below, and moreover: please note the linked question(s) to the right. – Graham Perrin Jul 04 '15 at 01:25

2 Answers2

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I think what you are looking for is in the Unicode composition section of the Ubuntu documentation for the ComposeKey. The next bit is based on the instructions in that section.

Another means to enter non-keycap characters is to enter them as a Unicode character number.

  • Press ShiftCtrl+U.

    Release U while continuing to hold down ShiftCtrl.

    Enter the four hexadecimal digit (0123456789abcdef) number for the Unicode character code point. (An underlined u followed by the number will display as you type.)

    Release ShiftCtrl.

  • Another alternative is to press (and release) ShiftCtrl+U. An underlined u is displayed.

    Enter the hexadecimal Unicode character code point

    Press Return.

I used the instructions above to create this string: ‘some text’ … (Ta-Da!)

For whatever its worth, I found this by looking at this answer to the question "How can I type special characters like ë?".

This question was at the top of the list of links "Related" to your question. The Related links list is always present in the right hand sidebar of any question on a Stack Exchange site.

Community
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irrational John
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0

Here is how to type those characters using the compose key:

  • ‘ (U+2018): compose key, then ', <
  • ’ (U+2019): compose key, then ', >
  • “ (U+201C): compose key, then ', <
  • ” (U+201D): compose key, then ", >
  • … (U+2026): compose key, then ., .
  • — (U+2014): compose key, then -, -, -
  • – (U+2013): compose key, then -, -, .
François Romain
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