Almost all applications support Spanish accents. Guidelines for typing and using accents are given below. If you need to refer to additional characters, look under the Accents section.

Page Contents

1. Accent Codes
2. Language Codes (Spain and Latin America)
   1. Language Code:es

Windows ALT Codes

In Windows, combinations of the ALT key plus a numeric code from the number keypad can be used to type a non-English character in any Windows application.

See the detailed instructions on the ALT Code How To for complete information on implementing the code. Additional options for entering accents in Windows are also listed in the Accents section of this Web site.

Spanish ALT Codes

Quick Examples

1. To input capital Á (ALT+0193), hold down the ALT key then type 0193 (all four digits) on the numeric keypad. The ALT codes do not work with the row of number keys on the top.
2. To input lowercase á (ALT+0225), change the code from 0193 to 0225.

See the ALT Code How To for complete information on implementing the code.

Windows International Keyboard Codes

In order to use these codes you must activate the U.S. international keyboard.

Once the U.S. International keyboard has been activated, you can use the codes below.

Windows Spanish Keyboard

If you wish to simulate a non U.S. keyboard, follow the instructions for
Activating Keyboard Locales to activate and switch Microsoft keyboards.

Macintosh Accent Codes

The Option codes below work in any Mac application. Delphi windows 10 version.

Spanish Web Pages

If you are developing Web pages with Spanish content, the following information can make sure that the content is properly displayed.

Historical Encodings

Unicode (utf-8) is the preferred encoding for Web sites. However, the following historic encodings may still be encountered.

• iso-8859-1 (Latin 1),
• iso-8859-15 (adds support for the euro (€)
• win-1252

If possible, you should transition to Unicode.

Language Tags (Spain and Latin America)

Language Tags allow browsers and other software to process text more efficiently. They are also important for optimal screen reader accessibility.

Below are some common codes that might be used in the Hispanophone world.

Spanish and Major Dialects

The code es for Spanish is sufficient for most uses, but other dialectal codes could be useful in some situations

• es (Spanish),
• es-ES (Castillian/ Spain)
• es-MX (Latin American/Mexico)
• es-AR (Argentinian)
• Other country codes (ISO 3166-1-alpha-2)

Historical Stages

• osp (Old Spanish)

Spain Minority Languages

• eu (Basque),
• an (Aragaonese)
• au (Asturian/Leon)
• ca (Catalan)
• ga (Galician)
• ly (Ladino/Judeo-Spanish)

Latin American Minority Languages

The codes below represent macrolanguages. For codes relating to specific regions, see the Ethnologue.

• ay (Aymara)
• ayr (Aymara Altiplano)
• gn (Guaraní/Tupi)
• qu (Quechua)
• zap (Zapotec)

See the Ethnologue for additional language codes by country.

HTML Entity Codes

Although typing accented letters directly into Web pages is possible, the following codes may needed in some Web platforms to ensure that a Spanish character is correctly displayed.

Use these codes to input accented letters in HTML. For instance, if you want to type señor you would type señor.

The numbers in parentheses are the numeric codes assigned in Unicode encoding. For instance, because ñ is number 241, señor can also be used to input señor. These numbers are also used with the Windows Alt codes listed above.

Spanish HTML Entity Codes

Note: Older browsers may not the suport single angle codes (‹ / › for ‹ and ›).

Links

Linux/Unix

Most content in Spanish.

Selected Minority Languages

Aymara

Aymara is an Andean language spoken in Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile. It is distinct from the Quechua language spoken by the Incan elite.

Basque (Euskara)

A non-related language spoken in the border between France and Spain.

Catalan/Valencian

See the Catalan page for more information.

Galician

A Romance language related to Spanish and Portuguese spoken on the northwestern portion of Spain north of Portugal.

Guaraní

Guaraní is widely spoken in Paraguay and is an official language there. Guaraní is part of the Guaraní-Tupi language family found in Eastern South America including Brazil.

• Guaraní (University of Mainz) – in Spanish

Ladino/Judeo-Spanish

A form of Spanish as spoken by the medieval Jewish community. Most Ladino speakers were expelled from Spain in the late 1490s, but settled elsewhere in the Middle East.

Quechua

This was formerly the language of the Inca Empire and modern versions of Quechua are still spoken in pars of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.

Zapotec

This is actually a set of related languages from Oaxaca Mexico and nearby regions.

This page list codes for accented letters and other characters. In order to use these codes, your computer should have a separate numeric keypad on the right. If it does not, then another method of inputting accents is recommended.

Page Content

For information on how to type the codes, please read the detailed instructions.

1. Letters with Accents – (e.g.ó, ò, ñ)
2. Other Foreign Characters – (e.g. ç, ¿, ß)
3. Currency Symbols – (e.g. ¢, £, ¥)
4. Math Symbols – (e.g. ±, °, ÷)
5. Other Punctuation – (e.g. &, ©, §)
6. Other Accents and Symbols:Character MapOther Page
7. Non-Numeric Accent Codes:Activate International KeyboardOther Page

Letters with Accents

This list is focused on Western European languages. See the individual Language pages for additional codes.

Example

To input the acute a á (0225), hold down the ALT key, type 0225 on the numeric keypad, then release the ALT key.

If you are having problems inputting these codes, please review the instructions for using the codes at the bottom of this Web page.

Additional Codes

Other Foreign Characters

Currency Symbols

Math Symbols

Fractions

These codes produce fractions which are spaced on one line.

Superscript and Subscript

Check these references for other methods to implement superscript/subscript and extra fractions

Additional Math Codes

See the Unicode Math Chart for additional codes for math symbols. Note that they only work in Microsoft Office and that you should use the non-Hex code. For instance an entry &‌#8731; for the cube root symbol (∛) would correspond to ALT+8731 in Word.

Other Punctuation

These incude copyright symbols and special section marks.

Using the Codes

Windows assigns a numeric code to different accented letters, other foreign characters and special mathematical symbols. For instance the code for lower case á is 0225, and the code for capital Á is 0193. The ALT key input is used to manually insert these letters and symbols by calling the numeric code assigned to them.

To Use the Codes

1. Place your cursor in the location where you wish to insert a special character.
2. Activate the numeric key pad on the right of the keyboard by pressing Num Lock (upper right of keyboard). The Num Lock light on the keyboard will indicate that the numeric key pad is on.
   NOTE: You must use the numeric key pad; if you use the number keys on the top of the keyboard, the characters will not appear. If you are on a laptop or computer without a separate numeric keypad one of the other methods is recommended.
3. While pressing down the ALT key, type the four-digit code on the numeric key pad at the right edge of the keyboard. The codes are 'case sensitive.' For instance, the code for lower-case á is ALT+0225, but capital Á is ALT+0193.
   NOTE: If you have the International keyboard activated, you will only be able to input codes with the ALT key on the left side of the keyboard.
4. Release the ALT key. The character will appear when the ALT key is released.
   NOTE: You must include the initial zero in the code. For example to insert á(0225) you must type ALT+0225, NOT ALT+225.

Links to External Reference Pages