How can I find the Alt KeyCode for a glyph with the Windows system tools?
Solution 1:
Full description of Windows Alt+x codes
based on Short details on Alt codes (the best article I have seen as yet although incomplete).
For a given (decimal) number x between 1 and 65535, Alt code resultant character always depends on range (1..31,32..127, 128..255, 256..65535) and may but needn't depend on:
- Number format, leading zero(es) presence: Alt+x versus Alt+0x
-
Application Unicode facility:
- Legacy (code-page based, non-Unicode), e.g.
cmd,powershell,notepad, … - Unicode, e.g. Wordpad (
write), Sticky Notes (StikyNot), search box inexplorer, …
- Legacy (code-page based, non-Unicode), e.g.
- System Locale: determines which ANSI, OEM and MAC codepages and associated bitmap font files are used as defaults for the system.
-
Input Locale, a pair consisting of language a user wants to input and the method of input (narrowed down to keyboard here):
- Language;
- Keyboard layout.
Range specific rules - Alt+x
from to result: x-th character from … 1 31 … string ☺☻♥♦♣♠•◘○◙♂♀♪♫☼►◄↕‼¶§▬↨↑↓→←∟↔▲▼ 32 127 … OEM/ANSI code page (identical for all locale in this range)128 255 … OEM code page default for System Locale256 65535 Legacy: apply above rules to x % 256 (see Modulo operation) Unicode: … Unicode table
Range specific rules - Alt+0x
from to result: x-th character from … 01 031 … Unicode table (control characters); check Alt+09 Character Tabulation 032 0127 … ANSI/OEM code page (identical for all locale in this range)0128 0255 Legacy: … ANSI code page default for Keyboard layout regardless of Language Unicode: … ANSI code page default for Language regardless of Keyboard layout0256 065535 Legacy: apply above rules to x % 256 (including leading zero) Unicode: … Unicode table (regardless of leading zero)
An universal method - Alt++U
This method works regardless of any of your language settings, but is the most cumbersome to type:
- Press and hold down the Alt key.
- Press the + (plus key on the numeric keypad).
- Type the hexidecimal unicode value.
- Release the Alt key.
Alas, this appears to require the following registry setting:
reg query "HKEY_Current_User\Control Panel\Input Method" -v EnableHexNumpad
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method EnableHexNumpad REG_SZ 1
If you don't have above registry setting already then use the following command from an open cmd prompt or from Run dialogue (WinKey+R):
reg add "HKEY_Current_User\Control Panel\Input Method" -v EnableHexNumpad -t REG_SZ -d "1" -f
Notes
I found and double checked previously described rules using next testing Input Locales (see the test_Get-Culture.ps1 script below):
Language L.tag KbdID Keyboard layout
-------- ----- -------- ---------------
English en-GB 00000809 United Kingdom
English en-GB 00000405 Czech
Czech cs 00000405 Czech
Czech cs 00020409 United States-International
Modern Greek el 00000408 Greek
Russian ru 00000419 Russian
Turkish tr 0000041F Turkish Q
Turkish tr 00000426 Latvian
Estonian et 0000041B Slovak
Estonian et 0001041F Turkish F
Slightly impractical language an keyboard layout combinations, isn't it? However, above range specific rules seem to be ready to script them…
Alt KeyCode Finder
param([string[]] $InObject = @([char] 0x0))
Function GetAsciiCode ([char] $gacChar, [int] $gacCode) {
if ($gacCode -le 0) {
$gacAChar = [byte[]] 0
$gacPInto = [byte[]] 0
$gacPI437 = [byte[]] 0
} else {
$gacEUnic = [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncoding(1200)
$gacET437 = [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncoding(437)
$gacETarg = [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncoding($gacCode)
$gacAChar = $gacEUnic.GetBytes($gacChar)
$gacPInto = [system.text.encoding]::Convert($gacEUnic,$gacETarg,$gacAChar)
$gacPFrom = [system.text.encoding]::Convert($gacETarg,$gacEUnic,$gacPInto)
$gacPI437 = [system.text.encoding]::Convert($gacEUnic,$gacET437,$gacAChar)
if ( -not ( $gacChar -eq $gacEUnic.GetString($gacPFrom) -or $gacPInto -le 31 ))
{ $gacPInto = [byte[]] 0 }
<#
if ($gacChar -eq '§') {
Write-Host "abc- " -NoNewline
Write-Host $gacCode, AChar, $gacAChar, PInto, $gacPInto, PFrom, $gacPFrom, PI437, $gacPI437 -NoNewline
Write-Host " -def"
}
#>
}
switch ($gacPInto.Count) {
2 { # double-byte character set (DBCS) recognized
[int32] $gacPInNo = $gacPInto[1]+$gacPInto[0]*256
# [int32] $gacPInNo = 0
}
1 { # single-byte character set (SBCS) recognized
[int32] $gacPInNo = $gacPInto[0]
}
default { [int32] $gacPInNo = 0 }
}
Return @($gacPInNo, $gacPI437[0])
}
<#
language groups : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb688174
input method (IME): Get-WinUserLanguageList
language examples : https://www.microsoft.com/resources/msdn/goglobal/default.mspx
code pages & LCIDs: [System.Globalization.CultureInfo]::GetCultures(
[System.Globalization.CultureTypes]::AllCultures)|
Format-Custom -Property DisplayName, TextInfo
#>
$KbdLayouts = @(
# Basic Collection (installed on all languages of the OS)
@('0409', 437, 1252, 'en-US', 1, 'US & Western Eu'),
@('0809', 850, 1252, 'en-GB', 1, 'US & Western Eu'),
@('0405', 852, 1250, 'cs-CZ', 2, 'Central Europe'),
@('0425', 775, 1257, 'et-EE', 3, 'Baltic'),
@('0408', 737, 1253, 'el-GR', 4, 'Greek'),
@('0419', 866, 1251, 'ru-RU', 5, 'Cyrillic'),
@('041f', 857, 1254, 'tr-TR', 6, 'Turkic'),
# East Asian collection: double-byte character sets (DBCS):
#@('0411', 0, 932, 'ja-JP', 7, 'Japanese'), # (Japan), DBCS
#@('0412', 0, 949, 'ko-KR', 8, 'Korean'), # (Korea), DBCS
#@('0404', 0, 950, 'zh-TW', 9, 'Trad. Chinese'),# (Taiwan), DBCS
#@('0804', 0, 936, 'zh-CN', 10, 'Simpl.Chinese'),# (China), DBCS
# Complex script collection (always installed on Arabic and Hebrew localized OSes)
@('041E', 0, 874, 'th-TH', 11, 'Thai'), # (Thailand)
@('040D', 862, 1255, 'he-IL', 12, 'Hebrew'), # (Israel)
@('0C01', 720, 1256, 'ar-EG', 13, 'Arabic'), # (Egypt)
@('042A', 0, 1258, 'vi-VN', 14, 'Vietnamese'), # (Vietnam)
# unknown supported code page
#@('0445', 0, 0, 'bn-IN', 15, 'Indic'), # Bengali (India)
#@('0437', 0, 0, 'ka-GE', 16, 'Georgian'), # (Georgia)
#@('042B', 0, 0, 'hy-AM', 17, 'Armenian'), # (Armenia)
@('0000', -1, -1, 'xx-xx', 99, 'dummy entry')) # (last array element - not used)
#@(LCID, OEM-CP, ANSI-CP, IMEtxt, GroupNo, GroupTxt)
$currentLocale = Get-WinSystemLocale
$currentIME = "{0:x4}" -f $currentLocale.KeyboardLayoutId
$currentOCP = (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage").OEMCP
$currentACP = (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage").ACP
$currentHead = 'IME ' + $currentIME + '/' + $currentLocale.Name +
"; CP" + $currentOCP + "; ANSI " + $currentACP
$currHeadColor = "Cyan"
$currCharColor = "Yellow"
# write header $InObject
Write-Host $("{0,2} {1,7} {2,7} {3,12}{4,7}{5,7}" -f `
"Ch", "Unicode", "Alt?", "CP IME", "Alt", "Alt0") -NoNewline
Write-Host $(" {0}" -f $currentHead) -ForegroundColor $currHeadColor
[string] $sX = ''
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $InObject.Length ; $i++) {
[char] $sAuX = [char] 0x0
[string] $sInX = $InObject[$i]
if ($sInX -eq '') { [string] $sInX = [char] 0x00 }
Try { [int] 0 + $sInX | Out-Null
[char] $sAuX = $sInX | Invoke-Expression
}
Catch { [string] $sAuX = ''} #Finally {#$sInX += $sAuX }
if ($sAuX -eq '') { $sX += $sInX } else { $sX += $sAuX }
}
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $sX.Length ; $i++) {
[char] $Ch = $sX.Substring($i,1)
$ChInt = [int] $Ch
$ChModulo = $ChInt%256
$altPDesc = "…$ChModulo…"
Try {
# Get-CharInfo module downloadable from http://poshcode.org/5234
# to add it into the current session: use Import-Module cmdlet
$Ch | Get-CharInfo |% {
$ChUCode = $_.CodePoint
$ChCtgry = $_.Category
$ChDescr = $_.Description
}
}
Catch {
$ChUCode = "U+{0:x4}" -f $ChInt
if ( $ChInt -le 0x1F -or ($ChInt -ge 0x7F -and $ChInt -le 0x9F))
{ $ChCtgry = "Control" } else { $ChCtgry = "" }
$ChDescr = ""
}
Finally { $ChOut = $Ch }
$altPCode = "$ChInt" # possible Alt+ code
$altRCode = "" # effective Alt+ code
$altRZero = "" # effective Alt+0 code
if ( $ChCtgry -eq "Control" ) { # possibly non-printable character
$ChOut = ''
$altPCode = ""
if ($ChInt -gt 0) { $altRZero = "0$ChInt" }
} else {
$ChOut = $Ch # supposedly printable character
if ($ChInt -le 127) {
$altRZero = "0$ChInt"
$altRCode = "$ChInt"
}
}
Write-Host "" # for better output readability?
Write-Host ("{0,2} {1,7} {2,7} {3,12}{4,7}{5,7}" -f `
$ChOut, $ChUCode, $altPCode, $altPDesc, $altRCode, $altRZero) -NoNewline
Write-Host (" {0}" -f $ChDescr) -ForegroundColor $currCharColor
$altRCode = ""
if ($ChInt -gt 127) {
for ($j = 0; $j -le ($KbdLayouts.Length -1) ; $j++) {
$altPCode = ""
$altRCode = ""
$altRZero = ""
[int] $ACP = $KbdLayouts[$j][2] # ANSI code page
$aaCode = GetAsciiCode $Ch $ACP
$xxCode = $aaCode[0]
if ($xxCode -eq 0) {} else { $altRZero = "0$xxCode" }
[int] $OCP = $KbdLayouts[$j][1] # OEM code page
$ooCode = GetAsciiCode $Ch $OCP
$yyCode = $ooCode[0]
if ($yyCode -eq 0) { } else { $altPCode = "$yyCode" }
if (($altPCode + $altRZero) -ne "") { # locale-dependent line
$ChOut = ""
$ChUCode = ""
if ($OCP -le 0) { $altPDesc = '' # not valid OEM CP
} else { $altPDesc = ('CP' + [string]$OCP)
}
$altPDesc += ($KbdLayouts[$j][3].PadLeft(6))
#if ($KbdLayouts[$j][0] -eq $currentIME -or $yyCode -le 128) {
if ($OCP -eq [int]$currentOCP -or $yyCode -le 128) {
if ($yyCode -eq $ooCode[1]) { $altRCode = $altPCode }
}
if ($ooCode[1] -ge 1 -and $ooCode[1] -le 31 -and $altRCode -eq "") {
$altRCode = $ooCode[1]
}
if ($ACP -gt 0) {
$alt0Desc = '(ANSI' + ([string]$ACP).PadLeft(5) +
') ' + $KbdLayouts[$j][5].PadRight(16)
} else {
$alt0Desc = ''
}
if ($OCP -eq [int]$currentOCP -and $altRCode -eq "") {
$altRCode = $altPCode
}
$line = "{0,2} {1,7} {2,7} {3,12}{4,7}{5,7} {6}" -f `
$ChOut, $ChUCode, $altPCode, $altPDesc, $altRCode, $altRZero, $alt0Desc
if ($OCP -eq [int]$currentOCP) {
Write-Host $line -ForegroundColor $currHeadColor
} else {
Write-Host $line
}
}
}
}
}
# write footer
Write-Host `r`n($InObject -join ",") -ForegroundColor $currCharColor
if ($sX -eq '') { # simple help
$aux = $MyInvocation.InvocationName
"Usage : $aux [<string>]`r`n"
"Column : description of character base line"
Write-Host " : -description of locale-dependent lines" -NoNewline
Write-Host " (coloured for system defaults)" -ForegroundColor $currHeadColor
"-------"
"Ch : a character itself if printable"
"Unicode: character code (Unicode notation)"
"Alt? : character code (decimal) = Alt+ code if <=127 or > 255 (unicode apps)"
" : -Alt+ code if following CP and IME corresponds to system default OEM-CP"
"CP : -OEM code page corresponding to an input method"
"IME : …character code modulo 256… (note surrounding ellipses)"
" : -keyboard layout (input method) (text)"
"Alt : -effective ALT+ code complying with system default OEM-CP request"
"Alt0 : -effective ALT+0 code for an IME corresponding to ANSI-CP"
Write-Host "IME : Unicode name of a character " -NoNewline
Write-Host "(only if activated Get-CharInfo module)" -ForegroundColor $currCharColor
" -(ANSI codepage) Laguage group name`r`n"
#Write-Host ""
}
Does not apply to "Unicode only" languages such as Hindi and Georgian.
Sample output: mycharmap 0xfd,ěìμм,291. Most characters chosen to show different Alt+0236 results in different input locales.
Appendix1: mycharmap.bat script:
@powershell Import-Module D:\PShell\Get-CharInfo_1.1.ps1;D:\PShell\SU\1024763.ps1 %*
Appendix2: test_Get-Culture.ps1 script:
### test_Get-Culture.ps1 ###
"{0,20} {1,5} {2,8} {3}" -f "Language", "L.tag", "KbdID", "Keyboard layout"
"{0,20} {1,5} {2,8} {3}" -f "--------", "-----", "--------", "---------------"
$gcWULL = Get-WinUserLanguageList
$gcWULL | ForEach-Object {
$gcU=$_
$gcUIMT=$gcU.InputMethodTips
Write-Output $gcUIMT | ForEach-Object {
$cLx=$_.Substring(5)
$cLz=Get-Item -LiteralPath "HKLM:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts\$cLx"
$cLy=$cLz.GetValue("Layout Text", $gcU.LanguageTag)
"{0,20} {1,5} {2,8} {3}" -f ($gcU.EnglishName).Replace(' (1453-)',''), $gcU.LanguageTag, $cLx, $cLy
}
}