Can't Type Tilde character in Mac OS X

Hi this is a new problem that I did not have a few weeks ago.

I have a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard running on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The problem is that I cannot type a tilde. Instead when I press the tilde I get this character:

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

I cannot for the life of me figure this out, except that I vaguely remember I can asked to redetect the Mac keyboard layout for this keyboard and I think i chose the wrong one.

Now I get this weird character when pressing tilde. How can I fix this? Or how can I redetect this keyboard layout? Thanks.

Brock Woolf

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 1 556

1What keyboard (Input Source) is selected in "Language and Text" in your System Preferences? Of note the character you're printing can normally be inserted using Option-6 (the section character) – Chealion – 2009-11-02T01:57:44.790

3On some Apple keyboards, a backtick/tilde key is left from "Z", on others it's left from "1" (and the other position is then "§/±"). And there's probably more options here. So: where is it on your Logitech keyboard? – Arjan – 2009-11-03T11:07:33.223

Makes me wonder: can you somehow still switch between application windows? (Command-Tab to switch between applications, Command-tilde to switch between the windows of an application)? – Arjan – 2009-11-03T11:24:40.893

I'm experiencing something very strange with my Mac and keyboard combo. It's a Canadian-French keyboard. In OS X, the OS insists on priting § and ± instead of ` (backtick) and ~ (tilde). However, inside of my Virtualbox VMs, they act perfectly fine. Totally mysterious behaviour! I gotta swap keyboards, soon! XD Oh, and, I've tried a variety of US and Canadian "language/keyboard" settings. Haven't been able to get the US mapping to work on this keyboard at all, except inside of VMs for some reason! – starlocke – 2013-08-12T20:54:41.700

Arjan: No i cannot command-tilde between windows. The character output doesnt work in any form for me. – Brock Woolf – 2009-12-01T16:56:06.373

@Chealion: Option-6 gives me: § - Nice try though – Brock Woolf – 2009-12-01T16:56:51.083

Answers

Don't know if you are still reading this but if you download a program called Ukelele, you can make custom keyboard maps.

Then you need to put the keyboard map into ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/, log off and then back in.

Once you have done this you can choose your custom keyboard layout and you will be able to use the ~ key without any problem (I'm using a Logitech illuminated keyboard using the default Logitech-UK keymap that comes with Ukelele and everything works).

Charlie

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation:

On a keyboard with that "<>|" button between the left shift and Z, holding down Shift and pressing that button works on my end. Neither Alt-5 nor Alt-N do the trick on my end.

Teekin

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 365

I am using a Dutch keyboard with US layout, and this worked. – qed – 2014-07-17T22:19:41.747

On Swiss German keyboard with US layout the combination is ⇧+<> – klimat – 2019-03-29T21:08:43.623

Phew, that worked! I'm using a Danish keyboard and US layout. – Dmytro Shevchenko – 2013-06-15T21:54:52.903

If someone else is still interested in how to swap the § key with ~, I use Karabiner to do that and it's pretty easy to use. Just look for that option which is included in the default ones among others.

enter image description here

It can also be used to remap other keys if you want. For example, you can use hjkl keys to emulate the arrow keys (vim users will love it).

Erwin Gaitán Ospino

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 261

+1 This solution worked straight away for me, it is the simplest solution ever, thanks!. On the other hand, using Ukelele didn't work for me, the keyboard layout bundle is not recognized. – Clint Eastwood – 2015-07-28T15:05:58.530

Usually ~ character is associated with "n" letter. So you can do ~ using "Option + n" keys.

When you do not know how to type a char, you should try the keyboard viewer in the last tab of the "langage and text" icon of the prefs panel.

Luka

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 254

Protest ;-) There's no "Alt" in OS X. See http://superuser.com/questions/25005/forward-delete-using-apple-keyboard/25022#25022 ;-) (Option-N followed by n or N can be used to get ñ and Ñ. But indeed, Option-N followed by space yields just ~. Still, Brock's keyboard layout does not match the actual keyboard.)

– Arjan – 2009-11-03T11:04:42.683

Sorry, on french layout the "option" is also co-named "alt" – Luka – 2009-11-03T11:12:53.337

I edited the answer to take your comment into account. Thanks ! – Luka – 2009-11-03T11:15:22.177

on french layout the "option" is also co-named "alt" -- yes, on my Macs as well, but that's not used in OS X. Of course, it's not a real issue (let's get world peace first). See that link I gave for some thoughts on "Backspace" and "Alt". I actually hope that French keyboards have a tilde key as well? I can't live without it, like using Command-~ to switch between application windows. – Arjan – 2009-11-03T11:20:37.067

Yes, the alt thing is "Linux and Windows" related, your link is very well documented and interesting. Thanks for the reminder ^^. By the way, the French layout and the Apple-French layout are completely different. The ~ is not on the Apple-French : you need "Option + n" – Luka – 2009-11-03T11:24:45.590

Then how does one switch between application windows on a French keyboard? On other Apple keyboards, one would press Command-tilde. I hope this does not translate to Command-Option-N-space on a French keyboard? – Arjan – 2009-11-03T12:14:47.643

4On my layout option + n produces a ˜, which is different to the tilde, which is ~ – Josh Hunt – 2009-11-03T12:23:46.887

@joshhunt, Your ˜ is http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/02dc/ which on my US keyboard is Shift-Option-N. Using that US layout, Option-N (without holding Shift) does not give me any character yet, but it shows a yellow ~ to indicate I can compose another character with it. Next, pressing N, n, A, a, O, o or space, yield Ñ, ñ, Ã, ã, Õ, õ or ~. (Also, keyboard viewer shows the changed characters after pressing Option-N. Holding down Shift with US Extended changes the character before the cursor, to even create q̃w̃ẽr̃t̃ỹ...̃) I guess things can be very different on some keyboards.

– Arjan – 2009-11-04T12:41:44.157

Try using the keyboard viewer when you want to type commands that use the ~ in the path day in day out - Not an ideal solution. – Brock Woolf – 2009-12-01T16:54:55.160

The correct way to fix your problem is to get your Mac to re-detect your keyboard type.

Open your Keyboard preferences (System preferences → Keyboard) and on the bottom left side you will see a "Change Keyboard Type" button.

Click on it and follow the instructions.

Federico JM

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 59

this should be the accepted answer, and the best for mojave! – Agoston Horvath – 2018-12-13T18:03:21.417

Had the same issue, and this helped! Thanks a lot! – Sergii Bishyr – 2019-03-06T10:22:19.550

On a Mac, tilde can be obtained using the key combination Alt+5.

Let me stress that Alt+5 returns tilde ~, whereas Alt+n returns tilde as character apice ˜.

dario

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 59

1If you want the real tilde, try Alt+n and then press the space bar...your "fake" tilde will be converted to a "real" tilde ;-) – Clint Eastwood – 2015-07-28T15:00:53.270

You're right that Alt+n gives ˜ which is not the true tilde, but Alt+5 gives me ∞. I'm using the UK keyboard layout on an American hardware keyboard. – Timmmm – 2013-12-24T13:41:14.713

With Karabiner-Elements, it can be done by swapping non_us_backslash and grave_accent_and_tilde keys like so:

I needed this setup for my German keyboard which use with both English and German layout.

AndiDog

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 438

This worked for me - I would never have stumbled upon non_us_backslash - the other option key solutions won't work for me as I use both '`' and '~' all the time. – bloke_zero – 2018-07-20T08:47:26.807

What characters you get by typing with ⌥ key, ⌃, or combination of the two (there's also ⇧, remember) depends on which language keyboard you use.

To find out all characters on your keyboard enable Keyboard & Character Viewer in Input Sources inside Language & Text.

With U.S. keyboard type ⇧` (near the left Shift button).

Mantvis

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 41

On my macbook air with Danish keyboard layout, ~ key combination is alt + ^.

Leo

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 21

Works with a Swwedish (external) keyboard connected to a Mac Book Pro. – Johan Karlsson – 2013-10-21T08:29:57.690

Does not work with UK keyboard layout on US hardware keyboard. – Timmmm – 2013-12-24T13:42:34.297

In my case, on OSX 10.9.1 ~ on my German Airbook using US American layout is mapped to Shift and the key directly to its right.

k0pernikus

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 1 140

In my MacBook'07 keyboard I get the ~ by combining "Shift" + "`" (the next key to the right).

user249952

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 9

I set up KeyRemap4MacBook application and type ~ with shift+escape

setting tilde key to shift escape in KeyRemap4MacBook

Maxim Yefremov

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 1 105

And for those amoung us using a mac keyboard with Spanish keyboard layout, ~ key combination is alt + ñ (the Spanish ñ, instead of n).

Fernando San Segundo

Posted 2009-11-01T20:34:53.490

Reputation: 1