[R] tilde on a spanish keyboard?

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008, Michael R. Head wrote:

> On Tue, 2008-08-12 at 14:11 +0100, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
>> On Tue, 12 Aug 2008, Michael R. Head wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 2008-08-12 at 07:15 -0400, Martin Henry H. Stevens wrote:
>>>> Thanks Henrique. We need to use the tilde in formula statements as in,
>>>> lm(y ~ x)
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas?
>>>
>>> Does windows still let you hold down the right alt-key and type ascii
>>> character codes on the number pad?
>>
>> At least on my machine, only the Alt (left, not AltGr on the right) works.
>> I believe that in some US keyboard layouts AltGr is missing and there are
>> two Alt keys.
>
>>
>> The uses of AltGr in Microsoft keyboard layouts can be found at
>>
>> http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP052590631033.aspx
>
> Cool. This isn't what I was referring to, though.
>
> You are right that standard US keyboards do not have an AltGr key (I've
> never seen such a keyboard in the US, only in Europe and possibly in
> Canada). On DOS for many years (and I believe this carries through with
> Windows) on a US keyboard, you could hold the right Alt key down and
> type in the decimal value of the ASCII code on the numeric keypad for
> whatever character you wished. I don't know if this was/is possible with
> a non-US keyboard.

Let me repeat: no, but holding down any Alt key (usually only one) and 
typing in the decimal value of the ASCII code on the numeric keypad 
(preferably with a leading zero) works AFAIK.  Note that whether a key is 
Alt or AltGr might be decided by the software and not by the etching on 
the keyboard.

This Q was about a Spanish keyboard, not a US one, and I was trying to 
answer the question about a Spanish keyboard.  That's not a unique concept 
(it might not mean 'as sold in Spain' but 'as used in a Spanish-speaking 
locale like Costa Rica or Florida') but all such keyboards my wife or I 
have used have AltGr.

>
> The AltGr key does seem much more handy for entering unkeyed characters.
>
>>> If so, you should be able to hold down Right-Alt and type 1, 2, 6 on the
>>> number pad to get a tilde out of the keyboard.
>>>
>>>> On Aug 12, 2008, at 7:02 AM, Henrique Dallazuanna wrote:
>>>>> You want the tilde on R?
>>>>>
>>>>> If yes, you want do this:
>>>>>
>>>>> plot(1, xlab = "\u0303")
>>>>> plot(1, xlab = "\u00c3")
>>>>> plot(1, xlab = "\u00D1")

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595