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SoftTimur
Asked: 2012-04-27 04:20:34 +0800 CST

How do I type [ and \ with a Mac keyboard?

  • 772

I am using a Mac with an Apple Wireless Keyboard - French.

I have installed Ubuntu as virtual machine by VMware Fusion. The keyboard setting of Ubuntu is as follows:

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And the preview is not exactly as Apple Wireless Keyboard - French:

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In Mac, we can type \ and [ by:

  • \ = Option ⌥ + Shift ⇧ + :
  • [ = Option ⌥ + Shift ⇧ + 5

However, it doesn't work under Ubuntu. Could anyone tell me how to type \ and [ under Ubuntu? Also, is there a keyboard other than French, that I currently set, which fits better my Mac keyboard?

keyboard keyboard-layout mac macbook vmware-fusion

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I'm setting on a macBook pro - same keyboard pretty much!

    I've switched my layout to My Language [Macintosh] - now i can make:

    [ ] ← RightAlt8 & RightAlt9
    { } ← RightAlt7 & RightAlt0
    \ ← RightAlt+

    So it's pretty much the best solution i found, as it makes it manageable by doing it as windows normally do, but it's sorta off from the normal mac way.

    On a side note i have my Cmd button mapped with Ctrl and made some changes so it functions almost like Cmd button in OS X. - This way i lost the Super key but it's more to my liking ;)

    • 5

  2. For a single occasion I would resort to Unicode: Ctrl+Shift+u, 005bReturn for left bracket and Ctrl+Shift+u, 005cReturn for backslash.

    For a long-term answer we'd want a single keypress, but I'm just not sure how to get your layers of software to align.

    • 1

  3. Did you gave a try to Keyboard-configuration?

    In my case (Ubuntu 12.04 server on MacBookPro 10.9 within VirtualBox 4.3.8 (ok, not Fusion, but similar conditions right?), here is what I did:

    sudo apt-get install keyboard-configuration sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

    keyboard-configuration choices for MackBookPro French keyboard:

1. MacBook / MacBookPro (Intl)
2. French
3. French (yes, again)
4. Right Alt (AltGr)
5. No Compose Key

    Seems keyboard settings works fine and are keep after reboot.

    I may have to tests some other parameter value for 2. 3.and 5.

    It took me 5 minutes to find out the right parameters for you: hope it will be that fast for you

    • 0

  4. Pressing Command + \ should work.

    • 0