Why does [ALT+224] return Ó instead of alpha?
Solution 1:
As you have already discovered, the characters resulting from character codes between 0
and 255
depend entirely on the encoding that is used.
Windows doesn't use neither extended ASCII nor ANSI (usually Windows-1252); it actually depends on the application.
For example, Alt + (2, 2, 4) gives on my machine:
-
α
in Notepad and on the command prompt. -
à
in Google Chrome's omnibox, butα
in its console and this very text area. -
In Notepad++,
a
with ANSI,α
with UTF-8.
For a more consistent behavior, just use Unicode character codes:
The key combination Alt + (9, 4, 5) – or Alt + (+, 3, B, 1) if you set the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method\EnableHexNumpad
to 1
– should result in a α
in every application that supports that character.
Sadly, that isn't the case:
-
The decimal char code results in
▒
in IE's address bar, while the hexadecimal one just beeps. -
The decimal char code results in
▒
in Notepad++ with ANSI and¦
with UTF-8. -
The hexadecimal char code results in
a
in Notepad++ with ANSI andα
with UTF-8.
Summary
-
Set
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method\EnableHexNumpad
to1
. -
Use Alt + (9, 4, 5) or Alt + (+, 3, B, 1) in applications with full Unicode support.
-
Fall back to trial and error in applications that lack full Unicode support.
Solution 2:
I found a solution that worked for me.
Initially, the "Current language for non-Unicode programs" was set to "English (United Kingdom)" on the computer in Region → Administrative settings
; however, when I changed it to "English (United States)" and restarted the computer.
I finally started to get "α" when I hit Alt 224. No more "Ó". I've attached an image of the settings location.