Windows 10: Are Alt Codes and Unicode universal or not?

I have been finding really inconsistent information most of which is a decade old.I am having a really difficult time trying to type "special" characters. The obvious solution to me is to use Alt Codes or Unicode. However from application to application I get inconstant results. Even between 365 programs. Some codes give me the wrong character and some give me nothing. Alt codes are a MS invention so I get that outside of their products I should expect varying results. But within their own programs? And Unicode I thought was completely universal but it seems less consistent than alt codes. The

:)

 

Type a Unicode Character

You can convert numbers from decimal to hex to octal to binary. But those are the numbers used as Unicode code points. They're the "serial numbers" for characters.

But the alt codes are a different. They're not related to the Unicode code points. There is no numerical conversion from Unicode codes to alt codes.

Alt codes predate Unicode by a decade or so. Alt codes are just arbitrary numbers that Microsoft assigned. So you have to look up the key codes. Do a google search to find a complete list.

 

Unicodes and language packs


Several work arounds can be found at http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/0...rs-in-windows/

1. as I suggested above, U+(hexcode) Alt-X
2. edit a registry key and hold down the Alt key while entering the code on the numeric keypad
3. download the free utility called UnicodeInput, which pops up with the Alt-+ key

None of these are useful on my Surface Pro virtual keyboard which is missing both the Alt key numeric keypad *Sad

 

Little Alt Code Utility

It does do that, mlee. All buttons have tooltips with the alt code and a description listed in it.

The masculine ordinal number in Spanish, Italian and Portugese? I'm not even sure what it is for ... lol