Special symbols

When drawing text into the Picture window or into the TextGridEditor, you can use backslash trigraphs to display various kinds of special symbols. You can usually also type the characters themselves, if your computer has an input method for them.

European symbols

To get the symbol "â" (a-circumflex), you can type \a^, i.e., a sequence of backslash + a + circumflex (this is three characters in total, hence the term trigraph). In this way, you can get a hundred non-ASCII symbols that are used in the alphabets of many European languages:

• â \a^ ê \e^ î \i^ ô \o^ û \u^ Â \A^ Ê \E^ Î \I^ Ô \O^ Û \U^
• à \a è \e ì \i ò \o ù \u À \A È \E Ì \I Ò \O Ù \U
• ä \a" ë \e" ï \i" ö \o" ü \u" Ä \A" Ë \E" Ï \I" Ö \O" Ü \U" ÿ \y" Ÿ \Y"
• á \a' é \e' í \i' ó \o' ú \u' Á \A' É \E' Í \I' Ó \O' Ú \U' ý \y' Ý \Y'
• ć \c' ń \n' ś \s' ź \z' Ć \C' Ń \N' Ś \S' Ź \Z'
• ő \o: ű \u: Ő \O: Ű \U:
• ã \a~ ñ \n~ õ \o~ Ã \A~ Ñ \N~ Õ \O~
• č \c< ď \d< ě \e< ǧ \g< ň \n< ř \r< š \s< ť \t< ž \z<
• Č \C< Ď \D< Ě \E< Ǧ \G< Ň \N< Ř \R< Š \S< Ť \T< Ž \Z<
• đ \d- Đ \D-
• å \ao ů \uo Å \Ao Ů \Uo
• ą \a; ę \e; Ą \A; Ę \E;
• ç \c, ş \s, ţ \t, Ç \C, Ş \S, Ţ \T,
• æ \ae ø \o/ Æ \Ae Ø \O/
• ł \l/ ß \ss þ \th ż \z! Ł \L/ Þ \Th Ż \Z!
• ¡ \!d ¿ \?d
• € \eu euro, £ \Lp pound sterling, ¥ \Y= yen, ƒ \fd florin, ¢ \c/ cent
• § \SS section, ¶ \|| pilcrow (paragraph)
• © \co copyright, ® \re registered, ™ \tm trademark
• ª \a_ feminine ordinal, º \o_ masculine ordinal
• « \<< left-pointing guillemet, » \>> right-pointing guillemet

Mathematical symbols

• · \.c middle dot, × \xx multiplication, ÷ \:- division, ∕ \/d division slash
• ° \dg degree, ′ \'p prime (minute), ″ \"p double prime (second)
• − \-m minus, – \-- en-dash, ± \+- plus-minus
• ≤ \<_ less than or equal to, ≥ \>_ greater than or equal to, ≠ \=/ not equal to
• ¬ \no logical not, ∧ \an logical and, ∨ \or logical or
• ∀ \At for all, ∃ \Er there exists, ∴ \.3 therefore
• ∝ \oc proportional to, ≡ \=3 defined as (or congruent modulo), ≈ \~~ approximately equal to
• √ \Vr square root
• ← \<-, → \->, ↔ \<>
• ⇐ \<=, ⇒ \=>, ⇔ \eq
• ↑ \^|, ≅ \=~ congruent to, ↓ \_|
• ↗ \NE, ↘ \SE, ↙ \SW, ↖ \NW
• ∞ \oo infinity, ⊥ \Tt up tack (perpendicular to)
• ∅ \O| empty set, ∩ \ni intersection, ∪ \uu union, ⊂ \c= subset of, ∈ \e= element of
• ∂ \dd partial differential
• ⊗ \ox circled times, ⊕ \o+ circled plus
• ∑ \su summation, ∫ \in integral

Greek letters

To get ευρηκα, you type \ep\up\ro\et\ka\al.

 alpha α \al Α \Al
 beta β \be Β \Be
 gamma γ \ga Γ \Ga
 delta δ \de Δ \De
epsilon ε \ep Ε \Ep
 zeta ζ \ze Ζ \Ze
  eta η \et Η \Et
 theta θ \te Θ \Te ϑ \t2
 iota ι \io Ι \Io
 kappa κ \ka Κ \Ka
lambda λ \la Λ \La
  mu μ \mu Μ \Mu
  nu ν \nu Ν \Nu
  xi ξ \xi Ξ \Xi
omicron ο \on Ο \On
  pi π \pi Π \Pi ϖ \o2
  rho ρ \ro Ρ \Ro
 sigma σ \si Σ \Si ς \s2
  tau τ \ta Τ \Ta
upsilon υ \up Υ \Up
  phi φ \fi Φ \Fi ϕ \f2
  chi χ \ci Χ \Ci
  psi ψ \ps Ψ \Ps
 omega ω \om Ω \Om

Hebrew letters

To get an alef, you type \?+. On Windows, you have to install international support to get the left-to-right order correct.

 alef א \?+
 bet ב \B+
gimel ג \G+
dalet ד \D+
  he ה \H+
 vav ו \V+
zayin ז \Z+
 het ח \X+
 tet ט \Y+
 yod י \J+
 kaf כ \K+ ך \K%
lamed ל \L+
 mem מ \M+ ם \M%
 nun נ \N+ ן \N%
samekh ס \S+
 ayin ע \9+
  pe פ \P+ ף \P%
tsadi צ \C+ ץ \C%
 qof ק \Q+
 resh ר \R+
 shin ש \W+
 tav ת \T+
hiriq אִ \?+\hI
segol אֶ \?+\sE tsere אֵ \?+\cE
qamats אָ \?+\qA patah אַ \?+\pA
holam אֹ \?+\hO
qubuts אֻ \?+\qU
dagesh or maliq ּ \dq

Combinations:

vav holam \vO
shuruq \sU

Phonetic symbols

See Phonetic symbols

Miscellaneous

 \ \bs backslash, • \bu bullet
 ♣ \cl (club), ♦ \di (diamond), ♥ \he (heart), ♠ \sp (spade)
 ☞ \pf pointing finger, ❀ \f5 flower-five

See also

Text styles

Links to this page


© Paul Boersma 1997,1999,2003,2006,2007,2008,2025