A Beginners Guide to Using Unicode Characters
Guide Overview
The purpose of this guide is to teach you how to use Unicode Special Characters.
Unicode is the standard for the consistent use of text and "Special" characters.
Almost all systems support Unicode.
As of this writing, Unicode supports 143,859 different characters and symbols.
This tutorial will show you how to enter some commonly used Unicode characters using the keyboard.
It will also provide reference to lookup and copy characters that you would not normally use.
Tools Needed
- A working LInux System
- A Text Editor (such as Mousepad or Nano) and/or
- A Word Processor (such as LibreOffice Writer)
This tutorial was tested using Xubuntu 20.04LTS, but should be common to all current Linux installations.
Introduction
Some older Windows users may remember how to use the <alt> key to enter special characters. Linux does not use that system. It uses Unicode, and requires a different set of key strokes.
Computer programmers and machine code writers are all aware of what Unicode is. They embed special characters in their code, and enable their programs to recognize and display them.
We use Unicode characters all the time, without knowing it. When you press a key on your keyboard, it sends a code to Linux, and that code is displayed as a character on your screen.
Because Bleeping Computer is primarily an English Language forum, we all use the Latin character set. That character set may change slightly, depending on our region, but alphanumeric keys are all common.
If you are using a US keyboard, then you have the $ key right there, as an upper case No. 4.
So, how does one of our American cousins write £ instead? Or vice versa?
Read on, to find out.
Instructions
Step 
- Key Strokes
The keystroke for entering a Unicode character, in Linux is simple.
Press and hold the left control and left shift keys.
<lctl>+<lshift>
Then press the letter U, followed by the code.
Open your text editor, (I use mousepad, but they should all accept the same codes.)
You can also use the Nano text editor in a terminal window.
If you are using the number pad on the right side of your keyboard, make sure that the NumLock key is on.
NOTE: Mousepad does not respond to the keypad on my notebook, when entering the code, but LibreOffice Writer and Nano do.
Press and hold the left control and left shift keys.
Then press the letter U, followed by the numbers 0123.
Release the keys.
The following character will appear: ģ
That is the lower case g with the cedilla accent. To get the upper case, use 0122.
This will appear: Ģ
NOTE: Try it without the leading 0. It works in Nano, Mousepad, and LibreOffice for me. And also when I typed this tutorial online!
Step 
- Common Characters and Symbols
With over 143,000 characters, Unicode also utilises alpha as well as numeric codes.
Here are some common codes you might use:
U+24 will give us the Dollar symbol: $
U+A2 will give us the American cent symbol: ¢
U+A3 will give us the British Pound symbol: £
U+A9 will give us the Copyright symbol: ©
U+B0 will give us the Degree symbol: °
BC, BD, and BE will give us the vulgar fractions, ¼, ½, and ¾.
NOTE: If you use these constantly, then you will remember them. I do a lot of drawings for my workshop, and all of them are in fractional inches. I no longer have to look them up, because I use them so often.
You can look up more on your system. Almost all systems have a "Character Map" installed in the main menu.
However, the Unicode database is continually expanding.
For an up to date list, check out unicode.org.
Wikipedia also has good list, sorted by languages.
Step 
- Uncommon and Complicated Characters and Symbols
As I mentioned above, the symbol for degrees is U+B0.
That is fine, if my instructions are to cut a piece of plank at 45°.
But what about temperature? Easy. Celsius and Fahrenheit both have their own symbol.
U+2103 will give us the symbol ℃, as a single character.
U+2109 does the same for Fahrenheit, ℉.
You can do vulgar fractions, like 1-15/16".
There is currently no Unicode for 15/16.
You can however, string codes together to make a ¹⁵⁄₁₆ character appear on the screen.
To do that you use the superscript numbers, the fractional slash, and the subscript numbers together.
NOTE: The Fractional Slash is NOT the same character as the Fore slash!
I can enter the following codes:
B9, 2075, 2044, 2081, and 2086.
They are ¹, ⁵, ⁄, ₁, and ₆, respectively. If I do not put a space between them, then the system will display it as a single character.
I can have 1¹⁵⁄₁₆" as three characters, instead of eight!
Step 
- Now for some fun stuff
Emoji symbols are part of Unicode.
Here is 1F600 😀
Here is 1F648, 1F649, and 1F64A, together 🙈🙉🙊
NOTE: This last bit may not work in your editor. It does work in the online editor, so I can show it to you.
Now, enter this code in you editor: 1F1E6
You get this symbol 🇦.
This is a regional symbol.
Here is 1F1E8, 🇨.
Look what happens when I put the two regional symbols together, without a space:
1F1E8 🇨 and 1F1E6 🇦 make 🇨🇦!
See what you can do with these codes!
1F1E6 🇦 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER A
1F1E7 🇧 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER B
1F1E8 🇨 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER C
1F1E9 🇩 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER D
1F1EA 🇪 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER E
1F1EB 🇫 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER F
1F1EC 🇬 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER G
1F1ED 🇭 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER H
1F1EE 🇮 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER I
1F1EF 🇯 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER J
1F1F0 🇰 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER K
1F1F1 🇱 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER L
1F1F2 🇲 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER M
1F1F3 🇳 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER N
1F1F4 🇴 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER O
1F1F5 🇵 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER P
1F1F6 🇶 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER Q
1F1F7 🇷 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER R
1F1F8 🇸 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER S
1F1F9 🇹 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER T
1F1FA 🇺 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER U
1F1FB 🇻 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER V
1F1FC 🇼 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER W
1F1FD 🇽 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER X
1F1FE 🇾 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER Y
1F1FF 🇿 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER Z
That's it. Have fun with it.
If you have any questions, please leave a message in the Linux & Unix forum.
Cheers to 🇦🇺, 🇨🇦, 🇬🇧, 🇺🇸!
Naught 
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