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Where's the any key?

R

RoadKill

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 4, 2003
101
1
LONDON UK
Well not quite but any help would be appreciated.

I am a recent switcher and have an annoying problem. I am a *nix head and so use the terminal/ssh a hell of a lot.

Editing system files often requires use of the # key (whatever you want to call it, hash is my favourite) only my G4 ibook (UK keyboard) doesn't have one.

Copy and paste is how I've been getting by but it's starting to annoy me.

Does anyone know how I assign a keystroke (pay for solutions are not acceptable) for use in terminal.


12" 800Mhz G4/40GB HD/256 RAM/Combo/AP&BT
 
Re: It's called the Hash key

Fantastic, Thanks for your help. This has been bugging me for two weeks since I got my first apple and I looked everywhere about it.

On a side note, I call it the "hash key" but I have heard others call it different names.
 
Strange

If it is shift-3 then the # would be above the 3 on the keyboard ! Since it's not it should be alt-3 unless you've changed your keyboard settings.

On my iBook the £ is above the 3 hence shift-3 = £
 
Originally posted by stoid
is that any different than shift-3

shift-3
#

alt-3
£

I think you want shift-3
Click to expand...

In the UK keyboard layout those two keys are switched.
 
in case anyone is interested (which i doubt very much) the "hash" or "pound" sign is actually called an octothorpe. it was originally a map-making symbol that stood for a town or small village, because it resembles a village or town square surrounded by 8 square fields, which was apparantly a common arrangement. "octothorpe" is latin for eight fields.

</typographic dorkdom>
 
Originally posted by sonofslim
in case anyone is interested (which i doubt very much) the "hash" or "pound" sign is actually called an octothorpe. it was originally a map-making symbol that stood for a town or small village, because it resembles a village or town square surrounded by 8 square fields, which was apparantly a common arrangement. "octothorpe" is latin for eight fields.

</typographic dorkdom>
Click to expand...

Very intresting, but this is a #, hash or octothorpe, and that £ is a pound. When I first read it it seemed you called the £ and # signs the same thing.
 
Originally posted by Wes
I heard it was a call that Dell customer support get often.
Click to expand...

Ahh, reason I ask is I've got an techno remix of a Simpsons song. Pretty funny, I'm guessing Homer is at a computer and it asks him to press the "any" key and Homer flips out.
 
Originally posted by Wes
Very intresting, but this is a #, hash or octothorpe, and that £ is a pound. When I first read it it seemed you called the £ and # signs the same thing.
Click to expand...

In the States, # is often referred to as the pound sign. I am not sure why.
 
It's from the episode where Homer gets himself fat in order to work at home on a disability. He also tried to get a drink by pressing the "tab" key, too.
 
Originally posted by Vector
In the States, # is often referred to as the pound sign. I am not sure why.
Click to expand...

Because it used to be used to indicate pounds of weight, eg, a 5# bag of sugar. That usage is dying.
 
Originally posted by Vector
In the States, # is often referred to as the pound sign. I am not sure why.
Click to expand...

In Japan, '#' is called the sharp key (just to make my life more difficult.) Makes using phone menus a pain in the rear.
 
Originally posted by sonofslim
in case anyone is interested (which i doubt very much) the "hash" or "pound" sign is actually called an octothorpe. it was originally a map-making symbol that stood for a town or small village, because it resembles a village or town square surrounded by 8 square fields, which was apparantly a common arrangement. "octothorpe" is latin for eight fields.

</typographic dorkdom>
Click to expand...


that's quite interesting, but tell me...just exactly how in the hell did you know that?!?!?
 
The "any" key. Is that from the Simpsons?
Click to expand...

exactly what i thought when i first read the title.

"To start press any key. Where's the ANY key? I see Esk ["ESC"], Catarl ["CTRL"], and Pig-Up ["PGUP"]. There doesn't seem to be any ANY key!"
 
Originally posted by spinner
that's quite interesting, but tell me...just exactly how in the hell did you know that?!?!?
Click to expand...

The Elements of Typographic Style; by Robert Bringhurst
 
sharps...

In Japan, '#' is called the sharp key (just to make my life more difficult.) Makes using phone menus a pain in the rear.
Click to expand...

being the "sharp" key may come from music, where # is used to "sharpen" or make the tone higher by one half step.
 
"Press any key to continue". My, people who make this mistake should be banned from having their genes passed down. ;)
 
Originally posted by kaosfere
Because it used to be used to indicate pounds of weight, eg, a 5# bag of sugar. That usage is dying.
Click to expand...
Of course alot of the telehell phone systems use either the 'star' or 'pound' key.

But either usage makes you want to pound the phone against a hard object, or the system programmers head.
 
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