Use alt key on mac
This isn't meant to imply that the names are interchangeable it's meant to rescue the poor sucker who loads Windows on his Apple just to find it crashes so badly even Ctrl-Cmd-Del doesn’t work.
Use alt key on mac mac#
This was even implemented in the windowing UI itself when the Resize from Any Edge feature was added.Īs for the reason the Mac keyboard often has “Alt” labeled on the ⌥ Option key, it's because the ⌥ Option/Alt and Command/Windows keys are wired backwards between Windows and Mac machines. The Umlaut (Ü): Alt + U (You will then need to type the letter you want under the umlaut). Examples of foreign letters and symbols you can use the Alt key for include: The Scandinavian Ø: Alt + O. Additionally the ⌥ Option key has been used for decades on the Mac to tell the computer to resize a selection while keeping it centered. If you have a keyboard suited for English, using the Alt key on your Mac will save you a lot of time typing accented letters. And while Windows Ctrl-shortcuts generally map to ⌘ (Command) on the Mac, ⌥ is very often used by itself as a modifier, especially in programs where typing is just another sometimes used feature. On the Mac, ⌥ is used to enter international characters and special symbols.
![use alt key on mac use alt key on mac](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DlW5w.jpg)
It also navigates on-screen menus, which keeps it from being used for much else, unless it's accompanied by Ctrl (the most common modifier) or Shift. The actual, functional difference between ⌥ and Alt, then, is thus: On Windows, Alt is used in Ctrl-Alt-Delete, Alt-tab, and Alt-F4. But I would find no khakis, for in the UK, “pants” means “underwear.” Technically, “pants” always refers to a unit of clothing covering the body from the waist down. The best analogy might be if I (an American) went to London, and asked where to buy pants, wanting to pick up some new khakis. One still shouldn't use the term “Alt” to refer to the ⌥ Option key, however, since the buttons perform completely different functions.
Use alt key on mac code#
Or did it mean Alt was the same as ⌥⇧ (Shift)?įrom a purely technical standpoint, ⌥ and Alt do send the same key code back to the system. Wasn't it just another name for Alt? After all, both Alt and ⌥ are labeled on the physical key anyway. One of our members expressed some confusion over the ⌥ Option key. On the off-chance this gets me in some kind of trouble, I'm not going to try to throw him under the proverbial bus by using his name.) Since the Questions board is the closest thing to a general discussion area, I figured this would be the place to post it. (This comes largely from a PM I had with a member who exhorted me to post it on the forum.