1/4, 1/2, 3/4 on a Mac

On a PC I can make a single-character 1/2 by typing ALT + 189. How do I do that on a Mac?

Do you do them in Word on the PC, or somewhere else as well?

I do them here and in emails on the PC. Haven’t seen how to do them on a Mac.

In almost all text editing programs designed to work with OS X you should be able to access special characters thus:

Open Edit menu

Select ‘Special Characters’ - should be at or near the bottom of the menu

This brings up the character palette, in which I believe the symbols you’re after are in the ‘numbers and number symbols’ category - if you can’t see it try changing the drop-down menu in the top left to ‘all characters’.
Ok, just realised I’ve assumed you’re working in OS X. Are you?

I don’t know if this option is turned on by default, but if I press “command+option+T” I get a “character palette” dialog box that allows me to look for special characters to insert in a document. In this window, under “Symbols->Numbers and Symbols” I see several fractions. These fraction characters will work depending on the font.

Forget what I said and go with what Buckler of Swashing said. The keyboard shortcut I mentioned is not implemented everywhere. Look in the Edit menu instead.

Okay, I see the fractions and can insert them into text. But it there an easier way to use them? If I want é I do Option+E+E. If I want ö, then I do Option+U+o. Is there a shortcut way of doing it, like doing ALT+190 on a PC?

Unicode’s Latin-1 Supplement has codes for 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4; the Number Forms include thirds, fifths, sixths, and eighths. There’s also UTF-8 codes, and a set of “glyphs”, but most fonts don’t code for all of them

In OS X, you can open an application called “Font Book.” Select “Special Characters” from the Edit menu, select the “Digits” category, and you can select the fractions and insert them into a document or add them to “favorites.”

I’ve only done a basic google for special character keyboard shortcuts and most lists seem to suggest that there is no keyboard shortcut for this particular set of symbols (one half, one quarter etc). I will keep hunting for a while, as now I’m interested to know myself.

That’s the impression I’m getting. I suppose if I must use a fraction I can do what everyone else has said and use the menu. But I’m unlikely to go to the trouble.

The only things I can think of are:

  • if you use them a lot, put the symbols in a document open in a separate window, then copy/paste them over to your real document when you need them

  • develop a shorthand for each symbol that isn’t a real word, like ‘qrt’ for 1/4 or something, type those in as you go, then do a find/replace on each one when you’re done.

  • get a program like ‘Type it 4 Me’ (I think that’s what it was called) with which you cann assign shortcuts/shorthands which automatically change to whatever you want - you could set it to change the 3 character 1/4 to the single character symbol whenever you type that. I think you had to pay for ‘Type It 4 Me’, but there may be similar types of mac software for free, I haven’t checked.

Here Proofreading Guidelines - DPWiki is a list of keyboard shortcuts for various accented, punctuation, & other special characters for the Mac.

There do not appear to be any keyboard shortcuts for those fractions, though.

The thing to do is use the Unicode hex input method (which is closest to the Windows-style numeric code entry).

These instructions are for OS X 10.4 (but probably work in earlier versions):

To use it, first you have to enable the keyboard. Go to the System Prefs->International (or press the drop-down flag menu in your menu bar, and then down to ‘Open International’).

In the Int’l pref pane, under ‘Input Menu’, find the ‘Unicode Hex Input’ and click the box next to it to enable it (it says U+ in gold and blue).

This keyboard layout works just like a regular (American, that is) keyboard, but if you hit Option+any 4-digit hex number you get the Unicode symbol. That should cover any symbol you want to add. Note that the Windows Alt codes do not correspond meaningfully to Unicode numbers, as far as I know.

The only drawback is that none of the typical methods of making special characters are available with this layout, so if you want to, or you already use a different layout, you can switch in and out of it. Switching input methods can be done using the International pulldown menu (the flag, again) or via a keyboard shortcut.

The International prefs pane will show what keyboard shortcut is enabled, plus a button to set up keyboard shortcuts (⌘-space was the default, but it conflicts with the Spotlight default in 10.4).
Additional fun - In the pref pane Input Menu mentioned above, enable ‘Keyboard Viewer’ and close the prefs. Then pull down the International Menu, and select “Show Keyboard Viewer”. Long-time Mac users will recognize this as the descendant of ‘Key Caps’. It shows a picture of your keyboard, with an image of whatever will be produced when you press that key, in the font selected. Press Option or Shift (or both) and you can see what will be produced. Note that not all fonts will produce the same special symbols when you use option (though most ‘normal’ ones will).

When you’re using the Unicode Hex Input with the Keyboard Viewer, the available keys will be highlighted as well when you press option. Once you’ve typed three characters, the Unicode symbols will appear on the keys. So if you use this, you may only need to memorize the first three digits of the symbol you want.

I tried out panamajack’s suggestion; it works great. I referred to this page to figure out the Unicode Hex for ½,¼, etc.

On this list they’re called “vulgar fractions,” and you just have to enter Opt+the last 4 numbers/letters listed. For instance, VULGAR FRACTION ONE HALF, listed as U000BD, is Opt+00BD on the keyboard.

From what I can tell, I can type otherwise normally in Unicode Hex mode.

This site might be helpful as well. The hex code is determined by the page number (00,01, etc), followed by the row number, then the column number.

Hm. I went to International and checked the box for Unicode Hex Input. But when I try Opt+00bd I don’t get a fraction. I get ºº??. (In case that doesn’t post, that’s two degree or zero-power symbols, an equation symbol that looks like an elongated S, and a Greek-looking symbol that looks like an ‘a’.)

Oops; I forgot to clarify that after you’ve enabled, it you have to switch whatever layout you’re using to the Unicode input. Do this from the pulldown menu (or using the keyboard switch). The hex input symbol (the gold/blue U+) should be showing instead of the flag.

Those symbols are what you get on a normal US keyboard, so that’s almost certainly the reason.

Try using the Keyboard Viewer if you want to be sure while figuring it out. It’ll show exactly what’s going to appear when you hit the keys.

There’s also a unicode chart in the Character Palette, too, if you’re trying to find codes. Go to the ‘View’ pulldown, then ‘Code Tables’, and Unicode will be there.

Not seeing where to find the Unicode input switch. (I guess I should state that I’m using OS X on a PowerBook G4.)

It sounds as if using fractions is a lot harder on a Mac than on a PC. (Strange. I’ve found that it’s usually easier to do things on a Mac.) I guess if I really must use a fraction then command+opt+t is about the easiest.

In your menu bar you should see a flag icon (most likely the US flag), click on that, drop down, choose “Unicode Hex Input” (a purple and yellow “U+” icon). Then the keystrokes will work.

If you don’t see a flag, turn on “Show Input Menu in Menu Bar” in the International prefs where you initially checked Unicode.

Aha! Thanks.

That’s true, but most western european accented letters are much much easier!

In any case, if you find yourself having to memorize a lot of Unicode numeric codes for certain symbols, you can try PopChar:
http://www.macility.com/products/popcharx/
Not free, but very good at what it does.