AltGr key
The Alt Gr key (also Alt Graph, English alternate graphic -. Alternative graphic or alternative pleading ) lies on a non-English PC keyboard with AT layout, usually to the right of the space bar and change while it is held down, the functions the other keys.
How the Shift key ( Shift), the second level of buttons ( "A" on A) controls, this button is the third assignment, or about Alt Gr E = "€", Alt 2 = " ² " ( German and Austrian keyboards ). With the combination of Alt Gr Q ( German and Austrian keyboards ) or Alt Gr 2 ( Swiss keyboards ), one obtains, for example, the @ sign.
Some layouts can be achieved by joint pressing Alt, Shift, and a character key whose Fourth assignment: how you create the layout of the Polish Ł characters with AltGr ⇧ L. On Windows exists for the German layout, no such assignment Fourth, very well, however, under Linux: There brings the key combination Alt ⇧ , the character x on the screen.
Originally in German-speaking countries PC keyboards had no Alt- Gr key. IBM did not want to provide different reasons of cost, large or electronically different keyboards in different countries, but change only the easily replaceable print of the keycaps. Some characters rarely used in German texts, including the brackets and braces, the vertical line, the backslash and also hardly usual in the pre- email era in German-speaking @ sign, so just missing the German keyboards. Instead, there were, among others, the umlauts and the ß. For word processing and other office applications provided this is not a major problem, but rather for professional programmers because a number of these characters are often used in different programming languages . Therefore local programmers often used its American keyboards or presented to the assignment by software and then typed "blind" the corresponding characters with umlaut keys. The missing trailing backslash but even for non-programmers a problem, as from 1983 in MS- DOS subdirectories were introduced and this character was introduced to separate the directory levels. Although you could always enter by holding Alt and typing the character code on the numeric keypad also signs that were missing on the keyboard, but this was the case of frequently used characters a cumbersome and also little intuitive way, because you had to memorize the character codes.
A way out of this unsatisfactory situation offered itself as an IBM from 1985 introduced its new MF2 keyboard. This was located in the same place, the AltGr key is located on the today, the first time a second Alt key while older keyboards had only offered a single Alt key. For non- English keyboards, this second Alt key to the " AltGr " key was misdeclared to enter more characters with the same number of keys can. This was made possible by the third assignment of certain keys at the same time use the AltGr key. This " Umdeklaration " also explains the similar names of old and AltGr, although the functions of the two buttons are very different.
For Windows systems, the Ctrl Alt to AltGr is usually equivalent; Ctrl Alt E produced on German and Swiss keyboards so also the € sign. The same applies to the obsolete PC/XT- and PC / AT keyboards which do not have AltGr key. However, the required on many systems to log and shut down Ctrl Alt Del ( death grip ) can not be replaced by Alt Del vice versa. However, it is possible to replace the key combination Ctrl Alt Del by the equivalent Ctrl Alt Del, with the latter approach is typing with one hand.
When Apple keyboards this key does not exist. The function is taken over by the dial button but ⌥ (which originally referred the Apple jargon as the "Option" button). If another operating system running on a Mac, this button can be simulated with Ctrl Alt.