DEC Compose Key

The Compose key is used with the VT220/VT220-7 and VT320/VT320-7 emulations to create multinational characters that do not exist on the keyboard. By pressing the Compose key and a two-stroke key sequence, characters can be created such as a British pound sign (£) or an a-umlaut (Ä).

Press the Compose key before the two-character sequence; the order of the two-character sequence is irrelevant.

When a valid two-stroke sequence is sent after the Compose key, the Compose sequence is turned off, and the special character is sent to the computer. If an improper sequence is sent, the Compose sequence aborts, a warning bell sounds, and no characters are sent to the computer.

The following table lists the keystrokes required to create nonstandard characters. The first column describes the desired character. The second column describes the necessary keystrokes.

COMPOSITE CHARACTER

KEY SEQUENCE

(quotation mark)
“ (space)
#
(number sign)
++

(apostrophe)
’ (space)
@
(commercial at)
aa or AA
[
(opening bracket)
((
\
(backslash)
// or /<
]
(closing bracket)
))
^
(circumflex accent)
^ (space)

(single quote)
’ (space)
{
(opening brace)
(-
|
(vertical line)
/^
}
(closing brace)
)-
~
(tilde)
~ (space)
¡
(inverted !)
!!
¢
(cent sign)
c/ or C/ or


c| or C|
£
(pound sign)
l- or L- or


l= or L=
¥
(yen sign)
y- or Y- or


y= or Y=

(section sign)
so or SO


or s! or S!
¤ (\x0F)
(currency sign)
xo or XO or


x0 or X0
© (\xE8)
(copyright sign)
co or CO or


c0 or C0
ª
(feminine ordinal indicator)
a- or A-
«
(angle quotation mark left)
<<
°
(degree sign)
0^
±
(plus/minus sign)
+-
µ (\x75)
(micro sign)
/u or /U

(paragraph sign)
p! or P!

(middle dot)
.^
º
(masculine ordinal indicator)
o- or O-
»
(angle quotation mark right)
>>
¿
(inverted ?)
??
À (\x85)
(A grave)
A`
 (\x83)
(A circumflex)
A^
à (\x41)
(A tilde)
A~
Ä
(A umlaut)
“A
Å
(A ring)
A*
Æ
(A E ligature)
AE
Ç
(C cedilla)
C,
È (\x8A)
(E grave)
E`
É
(E acute)
E’
Ê (\x88)
(E circumflex)
E^
Ë (\x89)
(E umlaut)
E”
Ì (\x8D)
(I grave)
I`
Í (\xA1)
(I acute)
I’
Î (\x8C)
(I circumflex)
I^
Ï (\x8B)
(I umlaut)
I”
Ñ
(N tilde)
N~
Ò (\x95)
(O grave)
O`
Ó (\xA2)
(O acute)
O’
Ô (\x93)
(O circumflex)
O^
Õ (\x4F)
(O tilde)
O~
Ö
(O umlaut)
O”
Π(\x4F)
(O E ligature)
OE
Ù (\x97)
(U grave)
U`
Ú (\xA3)
(U acute)
U’
Û (\x96)
(U circumflex)
U^
Ÿ (\x9B)
(Y umlaut)
Y”
ß
(German small sharp s)
ss

(a grave)
a`
á
(a acute)
a’
â
(a circumflex)
a^
ã (\x61)
(a tilde)
a~
ä
(a umlaut)
a”
å
(a ring)
a*
æ
(a e ligature)
ae
ç
(c cedilla)
c,
è
(e grave)
e`
é
(e acute)
e’
ê
(e circumflex)
e^
ë
(e umlaut)
e”
ì
(i grave)
i`
í
(i acute)
i’
î
(i circumflex)
i^
ï
(i umlaut)
i”
ñ
(n tilde)
n~
ò
(o grave)
o`
ó
(o acute)
c’
ô
(o circumflex)
o^
õ (\x6F)
(o tilde)
o~
ö
(o umlaut)
o”
œ (\x6F)
(o e ligature)
oe
ø (\x9B)
(o slash)
o/
ù
(u grave)
u`
ú
(u acute)
u’
û
(u circumflex)
u^
ü
(u umlaut)
u”
ÿ
(y umlaut)
y”