Yeah, for sure, but without easy way to access it from the keyboard, most don't bother wasting time inserting it.

Smart tools like LibreOffice and above indeed help with it, but in other scenarios, especially common browser usage that's not the case. Compose key is really useful for that, but it's not widely known outside of Linux.

▲

layer8 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

On macOS and Windows there are keyboard shortcuts for en/em dashes, but I also prefer the Compose key.

▲

macintux 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

MacOS makes it simple: option + - for en-dash, option + shift + - for em-dash.

▲

shmerl 9 hours ago | parent [-]

I see. What other combos does it support?

▲

layer8 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There are lots: https://mackeeper.com/blog/special-characters-mac-keyboard/#...

	▲	shmerl 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, looks like they developed separately from Compose combos.

▲

macintux 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Option is used extensively for non-Ascii characters, a comprehensive list would be quite long.

A few of the easier to remember:

option + 0 for degrees º

option + u for to place an umlaut over the next typed character (when it's a valid combination, anyway) ëüä

option + c for cedilla ç

▲

shmerl 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Interesting. Kind of reinventing Compose key combos. I wonder why they didn't just reuse Compose ones from FreeBSD.

	▲	macintux 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		This dates back to the beginning of the Mac, so it's almost 10 years older than FreeBSD. (I'm unfamiliar with other UNIX compose key tooling that may have predated it.)

▲

michael_michael 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I use µ for microns or micrometers µm. Option + m.

Also if you need ad-hoc bullets, just reach for option + 8.

• Like this.

The difficulty in accessing symbols like these is one of my (I'm sure correctable) hang-ups when using Linux — Arch, btw.