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mystdeim
Asked: 2016-07-18 22:22:44 +0800 CST

How to print special character? [duplicate]

  • 772

For example I want to print long dash

I read that it's possible to do with numpad and code of Unicode of character, so I tried doing Alt+Shift+u + code, but without success.

16.04

2 Answers

  1. You want Ctrl and not Alt. This

    ctrl+shift+U then 2014enter

    is giving me —. Note that the output depends on your locale settings.

    • 5

  2. As stated in Ubuntu help page the proper way is the following:

    1. Press Ctrl + Shift + u
    2. Type in hexadecimal code for Unicode character you want to print
    3. Press enter

    Alternative approach is to use printf (or echo -e) command in terminal and copy the output. For example, to print copyright sign do

    $ printf "\u00a9"                                                              
©
$ echo -e "\u00a9"                                                              
©

    Python can do the same, except you need to prepend u in the beginning of hexadecimal string. For instance,

    $ python -c 'print u"\u00a9"  '                                                
©

    Command line ways can be useful in conjunction with xclip program, which basically copies stuff you give it to clipboard. For example, I could do :

     printf "\u00a9"  | xclip -sel clip
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