Emacs: Unicode Tutorial
First see: Unicode Basics: Character Set, Encoding, UTF-8, Codepoint
Set default file encoding
Insert a Unicode character by name
Alt+x insert-char 【Ctrl+x 8 Enter】, then the name of the Unicode. For example, try to insert →. Its name is “RIGHTWARDS ARROW”.
Note: insert-char was ucs-insert
in emacs 24.3 or before.
[see Emacs 24.1 Features (released 2012-06)]
Insert a Unicode Char by Char ID in Hexadecimal
Alt+x insert-char 【Ctrl+x 8 Enter】, then the hexadecimal of the Unicode.
For example, try to insert →. Its hexadecimal value is “2192”.
Insert a Unicode Char by Char ID in Decimal
Alt+x insert-char 【Ctrl+x 8 Enter】, then type “#10r” followed by the decimal codepoint.
e.g. #10r8594
For example, try to insert →. Its coidpoint in decimal is “8594”.
Find a Character's Name and Codepoint
- Emacs: describe-char, Find a Character Unicode Name, Codepoint, Encoding, Font Used, Cursor Position
For a mode to make this easier, see xub Unicode Browser mode for Emacs.
Use abbrev to insert Unicode char
Use Abbrev with Completion to Insert Unicode Char
Set a key to insert unicode char
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Insert letter with accent marks é
- é → Ctrl+x 8 ' e
- à → Ctrl+x 8 ` a
- î → Ctrl+x 8 ^ i
- ñ → Ctrl+x 8 ~ n
- ü → Ctrl+x 8 " u
To see all characters you can type this way, press Ctrl+x 8 Ctrl+h. Example: ¿ ¡ ¢ £ ¥ ¤ § ¶ ® © ª «» × ÷ ¬ ° ± µ ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ Ç ÈÉÊË ÌÍÎÏ ÐÑ ÒÓÔÕÖ ØÙÚÛÜÝÞß àáâãäåæç èéêë ìíîï ðñòóôõö øùúûüýþÿ.
If you need to type these chars often,
Alt+x set-input-method then type “latin-9-prefix”. That will allow you to type these chars without typing Ctrl+x 8 first.
(Emacs's “latin-9-prefix” corresponds to the char set ISO 8859-9)
list-input-methods- List all input methods. There about 263 builtin in emacs.
Find out current input method
- current-input-method
- Variable. Value is buffer's input method. [see Emacs: Show Variable Value, List Variables]
