Now that you mention it, the character that I use for "pipe" (VERTICAL LINE)
is in fact represented on my (US) keyboard by the BROKEN BAR, though I
hadn't noticed this before. But US keyboards don't have the Alt-Gr key, so
we don't have the third alternative you mention. Our ` character is
unshifted; when shifted it produces ~.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
"Peter Jamieson" wrote in message
...
Yes, this key is a mystery.
FWIW the ` key is used by Word in a programming context, for want of a
better expression - it's used by some database driver/provider versions to
quote stuff such as table names in SQL SELECT statements, e.g. if you
insert an Excel .xls worksheet using a DATABASE field, or record a
MailMerge OpenDataSource.
I don't know about the US keyboard, but the UK version typically has three
characters on it:
a. at the top is a ¬ (Unicode 0x00AC NOT SIGN) which you do get when you
shift.
b. at the bottom left is a ` (Unicode 0x0060 GRAVE ACCENT) which the
unshifted key gives you
c. at the bottom right is a character that looks like | (Unicode 0x007C
VERTICAL LINE ). The only key combination that seems to get you this is
Alt-Gr+the key, but what is inserted is actually ¦ (Unicode 0x00A6 BROKEN
BAR).
On the UK keyboard there is usually a key to the left of the Z key with a
backsash \ at the bottom and a ¦ (Unicode 0x00A6 BROKEN BAR) but
shift+this key actually gives you | (Unicode 0x007C VERTICAL LINE ).
Confusing when at least one of these is used for the Unix "Pipe"
character. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_bar)
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
On 06/03/2010 18:16, Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
No, they are not. There is no ´ (acute accent) key per se; the ' key is
used for apostrophes/single quotes and (when shifted) double quotes, and
it is part of the setup key for letters with an acute accent. The ` key,
when shifted, gives ~. It's actually rather a mystery why this key is
present at all. I do use a tilde (so-called, though it's too low to be
an accent over a letter) instead of an en dash or round bullet sometimes
to separate items in display text, and of course it's used in URLs, but
I see no practical use of the ` at all except as part of the setup key
for letters with a grave accent.