Is it possible to type μ on the bash command line without copying and pasting?












5














This may seem a bit of a strange question, but it occurred to me that when typing a command such as the following, I always have to copy and paste the character from Wikipedia.



echo '5 μs' >> /tmp/Output


Is there a way to input such a character directly using an escape sequence on keyboard shortcut on a standard English keyboard?



For example, in Vim, one can do C-k,m* to produce this character.






command-line keyboard-shortcuts keyboard input-method







share|improve this question
























  • Standard (UK) English keyboard with Compose enabled. à á å ä æ § ¥ € £ ß µ. And many others.
    – roaima
    Dec 11 at 10:02












  • Note that the character actually used here in the question title and body is U+00B5, the SI prefix in μs.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 13:46










  • Both M-x set-input-method RET greek and C-x RET C- greek will set emacs to a greek keyboard where the usual place for m is the greek letter μ (and alpha is a beta is b, etc.).
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 13:50










  • @JdeBP Actually the question characters are U+03bc (the Greek ones), not U+00b5 (the micro ones). But the use is obviously micro as in micro-seconds. So, the question is actually conflicting on this issue. Anyway, we've got solutions for everything now.
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 14:15










  • I did copy and paste the question text to check. The characters came out as U+00B5 here.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 17:29
















5














This may seem a bit of a strange question, but it occurred to me that when typing a command such as the following, I always have to copy and paste the character from Wikipedia.



echo '5 μs' >> /tmp/Output


Is there a way to input such a character directly using an escape sequence on keyboard shortcut on a standard English keyboard?



For example, in Vim, one can do C-k,m* to produce this character.






command-line keyboard-shortcuts keyboard input-method







share|improve this question
























  • Standard (UK) English keyboard with Compose enabled. à á å ä æ § ¥ € £ ß µ. And many others.
    – roaima
    Dec 11 at 10:02












  • Note that the character actually used here in the question title and body is U+00B5, the SI prefix in μs.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 13:46










  • Both M-x set-input-method RET greek and C-x RET C- greek will set emacs to a greek keyboard where the usual place for m is the greek letter μ (and alpha is a beta is b, etc.).
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 13:50










  • @JdeBP Actually the question characters are U+03bc (the Greek ones), not U+00b5 (the micro ones). But the use is obviously micro as in micro-seconds. So, the question is actually conflicting on this issue. Anyway, we've got solutions for everything now.
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 14:15










  • I did copy and paste the question text to check. The characters came out as U+00B5 here.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 17:29














5












5








5


1





This may seem a bit of a strange question, but it occurred to me that when typing a command such as the following, I always have to copy and paste the character from Wikipedia.



echo '5 μs' >> /tmp/Output


Is there a way to input such a character directly using an escape sequence on keyboard shortcut on a standard English keyboard?



For example, in Vim, one can do C-k,m* to produce this character.






command-line keyboard-shortcuts keyboard input-method







share|improve this question















This may seem a bit of a strange question, but it occurred to me that when typing a command such as the following, I always have to copy and paste the character from Wikipedia.



echo '5 μs' >> /tmp/Output


Is there a way to input such a character directly using an escape sequence on keyboard shortcut on a standard English keyboard?



For example, in Vim, one can do C-k,m* to produce this character.






command-line keyboard-shortcuts keyboard input-method




command-line keyboard-shortcuts keyboard input-method






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 11 at 10:41









Tomasz

9,18852965




9,18852965










asked Dec 11 at 1:05









merlin2011

1,69131423




1,69131423












  • Standard (UK) English keyboard with Compose enabled. à á å ä æ § ¥ € £ ß µ. And many others.
    – roaima
    Dec 11 at 10:02












  • Note that the character actually used here in the question title and body is U+00B5, the SI prefix in μs.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 13:46










  • Both M-x set-input-method RET greek and C-x RET C- greek will set emacs to a greek keyboard where the usual place for m is the greek letter μ (and alpha is a beta is b, etc.).
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 13:50










  • @JdeBP Actually the question characters are U+03bc (the Greek ones), not U+00b5 (the micro ones). But the use is obviously micro as in micro-seconds. So, the question is actually conflicting on this issue. Anyway, we've got solutions for everything now.
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 14:15










  • I did copy and paste the question text to check. The characters came out as U+00B5 here.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 17:29


















  • Standard (UK) English keyboard with Compose enabled. à á å ä æ § ¥ € £ ß µ. And many others.
    – roaima
    Dec 11 at 10:02












  • Note that the character actually used here in the question title and body is U+00B5, the SI prefix in μs.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 13:46










  • Both M-x set-input-method RET greek and C-x RET C- greek will set emacs to a greek keyboard where the usual place for m is the greek letter μ (and alpha is a beta is b, etc.).
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 13:50










  • @JdeBP Actually the question characters are U+03bc (the Greek ones), not U+00b5 (the micro ones). But the use is obviously micro as in micro-seconds. So, the question is actually conflicting on this issue. Anyway, we've got solutions for everything now.
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 14:15










  • I did copy and paste the question text to check. The characters came out as U+00B5 here.
    – JdeBP
    Dec 11 at 17:29
















Standard (UK) English keyboard with Compose enabled. à á å ä æ § ¥ € £ ß µ. And many others.
– roaima
Dec 11 at 10:02






Standard (UK) English keyboard with Compose enabled. à á å ä æ § ¥ € £ ß µ. And many others.
– roaima
Dec 11 at 10:02














Note that the character actually used here in the question title and body is U+00B5, the SI prefix in μs.
– JdeBP
Dec 11 at 13:46




Note that the character actually used here in the question title and body is U+00B5, the SI prefix in μs.
– JdeBP
Dec 11 at 13:46












Both M-x set-input-method RET greek and C-x RET C- greek will set emacs to a greek keyboard where the usual place for m is the greek letter μ (and alpha is a beta is b, etc.).
– Isaac
Dec 11 at 13:50




Both M-x set-input-method RET greek and C-x RET C- greek will set emacs to a greek keyboard where the usual place for m is the greek letter μ (and alpha is a beta is b, etc.).
– Isaac
Dec 11 at 13:50












@JdeBP Actually the question characters are U+03bc (the Greek ones), not U+00b5 (the micro ones). But the use is obviously micro as in micro-seconds. So, the question is actually conflicting on this issue. Anyway, we've got solutions for everything now.
– Isaac
Dec 11 at 14:15




@JdeBP Actually the question characters are U+03bc (the Greek ones), not U+00b5 (the micro ones). But the use is obviously micro as in micro-seconds. So, the question is actually conflicting on this issue. Anyway, we've got solutions for everything now.
– Isaac
Dec 11 at 14:15












I did copy and paste the question text to check. The characters came out as U+00B5 here.
– JdeBP
Dec 11 at 17:29




I did copy and paste the question text to check. The characters came out as U+00B5 here.
– JdeBP
Dec 11 at 17:29










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes


















12














Yes, there are at least this four (five?) ways:





  1. AltGr

    Make your keyboard layout English (international AltGr dead keys).

    Then the right Alt key is the AltGr key. Pressing AltGr-m will generate a µ. Many other keys also generate other characters: AltGr-s for ß, and Shift-AltGr-s for §.



    There is a separate keyboard layout for the console (the true consoles at AltCtrlF1 up to F6) and one for the GUI in X. Changing either depends on your distro (CentOS, Fedora, Debian, etc.) and Display manager (gnome, kde, xfce, etc.). For example, installing xfce4-xkb-plugin will allow a button on a panel to configure the keyboard and switch between several keyboard layouts for X in XFCE.




  2. Compose

    Make some key the Compose key. Then, presing Compose, releasing it, pressing /, releasing it, and then u will generate a µ.



    Defining a Compose key is usually done with xkb or with a keyboard layout applet.

    For example, in Gnome usually available at Region & Language section, or maybe, Switch Keyboard Layout Easily.



  3. Unicode

    There is a generic way to type any Unicode character (if your console supports it). Yes any codepoint of the 1,111,998 possible characters (visible if your font(s) could draw them). Press, as one chord (at the same time) ShiftCtrlu, release them (Probably, an underlined u̲ will appear), then type b5 which is the Unicode codepoint (always in Hex) for the character. And to end, type space or enter (at least).



  4. Readline

    In a bash prompt (as you tagged the question) is possible to use readline to generate a µ (mu).



     bind '"eu": "µ"'


    Or add the line:



     "eu": "µ"


    to ~/.inputrc, read it with Alt-x Alt-r or start a new bash shell (execute bash) and when you type:



    Alt-u



    An µ will appear.



  5. Input method

    Probably too much for a short answer like this.




A mistake:
Technically, the character requested in the question was Unicode U3bc while this answer has provided solutions for Ub5. Yes, they are different, my mistake, sorry.



 $ unicode $(printf 'U3bcUb5')

 U+03BC GREEK SMALL LETTER MU

 UTF-8: ce bc UTF-16BE: 03bc Decimal: μ Octal: 1674

 μ (Μ)

 Uppercase: 039C

 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)

 Unicode block: 0370..03FF; Greek and Coptic

 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)



 U+00B5 MICRO SIGN

 UTF-8: c2 b5 UTF-16BE: 00b5 Decimal: µ Octal: 265

 µ (Μ)

 Uppercase: 039C

 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)

 Unicode block: 0080..00FF; Latin-1 Supplement

 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)

 Decomposition: <compat> 03BC


And technically, the only valid solutions are number 3 and 4. In 3 the Unicode number could be changed from b5 to 3bc to get even this Greek character. In 4 just copy the correct character and done.



Not in my defense, but




  1. Both b5 and 3bc have as Uppercase 39c. So, both are the lowercase of MU.

  2. Both look very, very similar (probably the same glyph from the font):


enter image description here



Alternatives.





  1. AltGr



    Its quite possible and already done by changing the AltGr-g (with xkb) to:



     key <AC05>  { [         g,          G,       dead_greek,   dead_greek ]};


    And then typing AltGr-g m to get a true greek-mu.




  2. Compose



    The Compose table is incorrect, even the Greek Compose file (/usr/share/X11/locale/el_GR.UTF-8/Compose) lists:



     <Multi_key> <slash> <u>                 : "µ"   mu
    
 <Multi_key> <u> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu
    
 <Multi_key> <slash> <U>                 : "µ"   mu
    
 <Multi_key> <U> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu


    Those compositions as Greek, which they are not.



    The correct solution for compose is to include an ~/.XCompose for greek and reboot.




  3. Unicode



    Works as posted, with unicode number 3bc




  4. Readline



    Works as posted, change the effective character to any wanted.








share|improve this answer























  • Method 3 unicode, does not work for me.
    – ctrl-alt-delor
    Dec 11 at 7:59










  • Older debian didn't have this option. Which distro and which console? konsole, gnome-terminal, terminator, etc ? @ctrl-alt-delor
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 8:02










  • I just want to know why do method 3 work. It doesn't seem to be related to X's keyboard layout or Xcb.
    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    Dec 11 at 8:30










  • No it is not related to keyboard, xkb, input method, or desktop shortcut. It is an option that some (many, it seems now) programs provide/support, something like using some specific set of colors to match TTY colors. Not long ago some terminals didn't have it, yet. Most do now. @神秘德里克
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 8:37








  • 2




    On the note of the two characters, they are typographically equivalent, but the Unicode standard is encoding a semantic difference. The lower codwpoint is a mathematical symbol, while the upper one is a letter from the Greek alphabet. The semantic difference usually doesn't matter, but it might if the text is being processed beyond just displaying it on screen.
    – Austin Hemmelgarn
    Dec 11 at 16:23



















4














If you enable your compose key, you can print this symbol with the compose/u sequence, like so: µ



The full range of symbols available, and their respective key sequences, is documented on the Ubuntu wiki.






share|improve this answer























  • Your answer gives µ (micro, U+00B5), not what was asked in the question, μ (mu, U+03BC).
    – Sparhawk
    Dec 11 at 11:51










  • @Sparhawk Guilty; but I can't tell them apart.
    – jasonwryan
    Dec 11 at 15:11










  • Compose * m if you use something like github.com/kragen/xcompose/blob/master/dotXCompose
    – Mikel
    Dec 11 at 15:41





















3














Using input methods



CIN-file input methods are usable in X11 and in my user-space virtual terminals. One of the commonly-collected ones, greek.cin, has the mu character. One simply enters m (lower case) and it is the only conversion.



One can modify greek.cin to add micro, providing a second conversion, although visually it will be quite confusing, making it hard to select the correct one during conversion selection, if they both map from m. A better conversion would map micro to U+00B5:



micro    μ


Using the ISO 9995 common secondary group



Your X11 keyboard map or your virtual terminal might not implement this, but if it does there is a standard country-independent key sequence (of two key chords) for the mu character defined by ISO/IEC 9995: ⇨ Group 2 Select B07





  • ⇨ Group 2 Select is conventionally the chord ⇧ Level 2 Shift+⇮ Level 3 Shift because the USB HID specification and others lack a code for a proper ⇨ Group 2 Select key and such a key does not exist on most keyboards.


  • ⇮ Level 3 Shift is usually engraved ⌥ Option or ⇮ AltGr on 105/106/107/109-key keyboards or ⎇ Alt on 104-key keyboards.

  • B07 is the standard ISO/IEC 9995 notation for a physical position on row "B" and column "07", and the key there is usually engraved M.


Where implemented, this so-called common secondary group of ISO/IEC 9995 is not supposed to vary by the selected country's layout, and is always available.



However, there is no common secondary group sequence for the micro prefix character.



Using whatever chord is defined in your keyboard layout



The specifics of keyboard layouts are beyond the scope of this answer, and there are plenty of answers here dealing with them.



Précis:



There is a keyboard layout for X11 applications, there is a possibly related keyboard layout for kernel virtual terminals (if your operating system has such), and there is are keyboard layouts for user-space virtual terminals (if you are using such). Layouts generally provide such characters as a chord with ⇧ Level 2 Shift or ⇮ Level 3 Shift in conjunction with a main keypad key.



Some X11 keyboard maps furthermore define (as an optional addendum) a compose key which begins key sequences (of multiple key chords) that map to such characters. In the conventional X11 composition set, as documented by David Monniaux years ago, the mu character is the sequence Compose M U or the sequence Compose / U. Note that it is conflated with the micro prefix character.



Consult your VT and X11 keyboard maps for information about what chord is mapped, if any. Check your configuration for whether you have enabled the compose key option in X11.



Examples:



The ch, de, it, nl, and no virtual terminal keyboard maps in FreeBSD provide the mu character as the chord ⇮ Level 3 Shift+B07 (M):



% sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/de.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10009.1]

#                                                         alt

# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock

# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state

# ------------------------------------------------------------------

  050   'm'    'M'    cr     cr     0xb5   0xb5   cr     cr      C

%


But other maps either do not have it or define a different chord. In the fr keyboard map it is ⇧ Level 2 Shift+C12 (EUROPE1):



% sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/fr.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10011.1]

#                                                         alt   

# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock

# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state

# ------------------------------------------------------------------

  043   '*'    0xb5   nop    nop    '#'    '~'    nop    nop     O

%


And it is not mapped in the uk keyboard map at all. Nor do any of them have the micro prefix character.



Other methods



Other methods are specific to application input handling libraries or to particular terminal emulators, whereas input methods and X11/VT keyboard maps are not application-specific.



Some terminal emulators provide other ways of entering characters, by their Unicode code points. Readline can of course be configured to map input sequences to this character, as also can ZLE. And you have already mentioned VIM in the question.



Further reading




  • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). "terminal resources". nosh Guide. Softwares.

  • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Typing the motto of Vietnam on an ISO 9995-3 keyboard. nosh toolset. Softwares.

  • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Japanese input methods in nosh user-space virtual terminals. nosh toolset. Softwares.

  • Where are default compose-key bindings stored?

  • Changing the keyboard layout/mapping on both the console (tty) and X in an X/console agnostic way?






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    3 Answers
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    3 Answers
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    12














    Yes, there are at least this four (five?) ways:





    1. AltGr

      Make your keyboard layout English (international AltGr dead keys).

      Then the right Alt key is the AltGr key. Pressing AltGr-m will generate a µ. Many other keys also generate other characters: AltGr-s for ß, and Shift-AltGr-s for §.



      There is a separate keyboard layout for the console (the true consoles at AltCtrlF1 up to F6) and one for the GUI in X. Changing either depends on your distro (CentOS, Fedora, Debian, etc.) and Display manager (gnome, kde, xfce, etc.). For example, installing xfce4-xkb-plugin will allow a button on a panel to configure the keyboard and switch between several keyboard layouts for X in XFCE.




    2. Compose

      Make some key the Compose key. Then, presing Compose, releasing it, pressing /, releasing it, and then u will generate a µ.



      Defining a Compose key is usually done with xkb or with a keyboard layout applet.

      For example, in Gnome usually available at Region & Language section, or maybe, Switch Keyboard Layout Easily.



    3. Unicode

      There is a generic way to type any Unicode character (if your console supports it). Yes any codepoint of the 1,111,998 possible characters (visible if your font(s) could draw them). Press, as one chord (at the same time) ShiftCtrlu, release them (Probably, an underlined u̲ will appear), then type b5 which is the Unicode codepoint (always in Hex) for the character. And to end, type space or enter (at least).



    4. Readline

      In a bash prompt (as you tagged the question) is possible to use readline to generate a µ (mu).



       bind '"eu": "µ"'


      Or add the line:



       "eu": "µ"


      to ~/.inputrc, read it with Alt-x Alt-r or start a new bash shell (execute bash) and when you type:



      Alt-u



      An µ will appear.



    5. Input method

      Probably too much for a short answer like this.




    A mistake:
    Technically, the character requested in the question was Unicode U3bc while this answer has provided solutions for Ub5. Yes, they are different, my mistake, sorry.



     $ unicode $(printf 'U3bcUb5')
    
 U+03BC GREEK SMALL LETTER MU
    
 UTF-8: ce bc UTF-16BE: 03bc Decimal: μ Octal: 1674
    
 μ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0370..03FF; Greek and Coptic
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    

    
 U+00B5 MICRO SIGN
    
 UTF-8: c2 b5 UTF-16BE: 00b5 Decimal: µ Octal: 265
    
 µ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0080..00FF; Latin-1 Supplement
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    
 Decomposition: <compat> 03BC


    And technically, the only valid solutions are number 3 and 4. In 3 the Unicode number could be changed from b5 to 3bc to get even this Greek character. In 4 just copy the correct character and done.



    Not in my defense, but




    1. Both b5 and 3bc have as Uppercase 39c. So, both are the lowercase of MU.

    2. Both look very, very similar (probably the same glyph from the font):


    enter image description here



    Alternatives.





    1. AltGr



      Its quite possible and already done by changing the AltGr-g (with xkb) to:



       key <AC05>  { [         g,          G,       dead_greek,   dead_greek ]};


      And then typing AltGr-g m to get a true greek-mu.




    2. Compose



      The Compose table is incorrect, even the Greek Compose file (/usr/share/X11/locale/el_GR.UTF-8/Compose) lists:



       <Multi_key> <slash> <u>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <u> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <slash> <U>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <U> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu


      Those compositions as Greek, which they are not.



      The correct solution for compose is to include an ~/.XCompose for greek and reboot.




    3. Unicode



      Works as posted, with unicode number 3bc




    4. Readline



      Works as posted, change the effective character to any wanted.








    share|improve this answer























    • Method 3 unicode, does not work for me.
      – ctrl-alt-delor
      Dec 11 at 7:59










    • Older debian didn't have this option. Which distro and which console? konsole, gnome-terminal, terminator, etc ? @ctrl-alt-delor
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:02










    • I just want to know why do method 3 work. It doesn't seem to be related to X's keyboard layout or Xcb.
      – 炸鱼薯条德里克
      Dec 11 at 8:30










    • No it is not related to keyboard, xkb, input method, or desktop shortcut. It is an option that some (many, it seems now) programs provide/support, something like using some specific set of colors to match TTY colors. Not long ago some terminals didn't have it, yet. Most do now. @神秘德里克
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:37








    • 2




      On the note of the two characters, they are typographically equivalent, but the Unicode standard is encoding a semantic difference. The lower codwpoint is a mathematical symbol, while the upper one is a letter from the Greek alphabet. The semantic difference usually doesn't matter, but it might if the text is being processed beyond just displaying it on screen.
      – Austin Hemmelgarn
      Dec 11 at 16:23
















    12














    Yes, there are at least this four (five?) ways:





    1. AltGr

      Make your keyboard layout English (international AltGr dead keys).

      Then the right Alt key is the AltGr key. Pressing AltGr-m will generate a µ. Many other keys also generate other characters: AltGr-s for ß, and Shift-AltGr-s for §.



      There is a separate keyboard layout for the console (the true consoles at AltCtrlF1 up to F6) and one for the GUI in X. Changing either depends on your distro (CentOS, Fedora, Debian, etc.) and Display manager (gnome, kde, xfce, etc.). For example, installing xfce4-xkb-plugin will allow a button on a panel to configure the keyboard and switch between several keyboard layouts for X in XFCE.




    2. Compose

      Make some key the Compose key. Then, presing Compose, releasing it, pressing /, releasing it, and then u will generate a µ.



      Defining a Compose key is usually done with xkb or with a keyboard layout applet.

      For example, in Gnome usually available at Region & Language section, or maybe, Switch Keyboard Layout Easily.



    3. Unicode

      There is a generic way to type any Unicode character (if your console supports it). Yes any codepoint of the 1,111,998 possible characters (visible if your font(s) could draw them). Press, as one chord (at the same time) ShiftCtrlu, release them (Probably, an underlined u̲ will appear), then type b5 which is the Unicode codepoint (always in Hex) for the character. And to end, type space or enter (at least).



    4. Readline

      In a bash prompt (as you tagged the question) is possible to use readline to generate a µ (mu).



       bind '"eu": "µ"'


      Or add the line:



       "eu": "µ"


      to ~/.inputrc, read it with Alt-x Alt-r or start a new bash shell (execute bash) and when you type:



      Alt-u



      An µ will appear.



    5. Input method

      Probably too much for a short answer like this.




    A mistake:
    Technically, the character requested in the question was Unicode U3bc while this answer has provided solutions for Ub5. Yes, they are different, my mistake, sorry.



     $ unicode $(printf 'U3bcUb5')
    
 U+03BC GREEK SMALL LETTER MU
    
 UTF-8: ce bc UTF-16BE: 03bc Decimal: μ Octal: 1674
    
 μ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0370..03FF; Greek and Coptic
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    

    
 U+00B5 MICRO SIGN
    
 UTF-8: c2 b5 UTF-16BE: 00b5 Decimal: µ Octal: 265
    
 µ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0080..00FF; Latin-1 Supplement
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    
 Decomposition: <compat> 03BC


    And technically, the only valid solutions are number 3 and 4. In 3 the Unicode number could be changed from b5 to 3bc to get even this Greek character. In 4 just copy the correct character and done.



    Not in my defense, but




    1. Both b5 and 3bc have as Uppercase 39c. So, both are the lowercase of MU.

    2. Both look very, very similar (probably the same glyph from the font):


    enter image description here



    Alternatives.





    1. AltGr



      Its quite possible and already done by changing the AltGr-g (with xkb) to:



       key <AC05>  { [         g,          G,       dead_greek,   dead_greek ]};


      And then typing AltGr-g m to get a true greek-mu.




    2. Compose



      The Compose table is incorrect, even the Greek Compose file (/usr/share/X11/locale/el_GR.UTF-8/Compose) lists:



       <Multi_key> <slash> <u>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <u> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <slash> <U>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <U> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu


      Those compositions as Greek, which they are not.



      The correct solution for compose is to include an ~/.XCompose for greek and reboot.




    3. Unicode



      Works as posted, with unicode number 3bc




    4. Readline



      Works as posted, change the effective character to any wanted.








    share|improve this answer























    • Method 3 unicode, does not work for me.
      – ctrl-alt-delor
      Dec 11 at 7:59










    • Older debian didn't have this option. Which distro and which console? konsole, gnome-terminal, terminator, etc ? @ctrl-alt-delor
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:02










    • I just want to know why do method 3 work. It doesn't seem to be related to X's keyboard layout or Xcb.
      – 炸鱼薯条德里克
      Dec 11 at 8:30










    • No it is not related to keyboard, xkb, input method, or desktop shortcut. It is an option that some (many, it seems now) programs provide/support, something like using some specific set of colors to match TTY colors. Not long ago some terminals didn't have it, yet. Most do now. @神秘德里克
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:37








    • 2




      On the note of the two characters, they are typographically equivalent, but the Unicode standard is encoding a semantic difference. The lower codwpoint is a mathematical symbol, while the upper one is a letter from the Greek alphabet. The semantic difference usually doesn't matter, but it might if the text is being processed beyond just displaying it on screen.
      – Austin Hemmelgarn
      Dec 11 at 16:23














    12












    12








    12






    Yes, there are at least this four (five?) ways:





    1. AltGr

      Make your keyboard layout English (international AltGr dead keys).

      Then the right Alt key is the AltGr key. Pressing AltGr-m will generate a µ. Many other keys also generate other characters: AltGr-s for ß, and Shift-AltGr-s for §.



      There is a separate keyboard layout for the console (the true consoles at AltCtrlF1 up to F6) and one for the GUI in X. Changing either depends on your distro (CentOS, Fedora, Debian, etc.) and Display manager (gnome, kde, xfce, etc.). For example, installing xfce4-xkb-plugin will allow a button on a panel to configure the keyboard and switch between several keyboard layouts for X in XFCE.




    2. Compose

      Make some key the Compose key. Then, presing Compose, releasing it, pressing /, releasing it, and then u will generate a µ.



      Defining a Compose key is usually done with xkb or with a keyboard layout applet.

      For example, in Gnome usually available at Region & Language section, or maybe, Switch Keyboard Layout Easily.



    3. Unicode

      There is a generic way to type any Unicode character (if your console supports it). Yes any codepoint of the 1,111,998 possible characters (visible if your font(s) could draw them). Press, as one chord (at the same time) ShiftCtrlu, release them (Probably, an underlined u̲ will appear), then type b5 which is the Unicode codepoint (always in Hex) for the character. And to end, type space or enter (at least).



    4. Readline

      In a bash prompt (as you tagged the question) is possible to use readline to generate a µ (mu).



       bind '"eu": "µ"'


      Or add the line:



       "eu": "µ"


      to ~/.inputrc, read it with Alt-x Alt-r or start a new bash shell (execute bash) and when you type:



      Alt-u



      An µ will appear.



    5. Input method

      Probably too much for a short answer like this.




    A mistake:
    Technically, the character requested in the question was Unicode U3bc while this answer has provided solutions for Ub5. Yes, they are different, my mistake, sorry.



     $ unicode $(printf 'U3bcUb5')
    
 U+03BC GREEK SMALL LETTER MU
    
 UTF-8: ce bc UTF-16BE: 03bc Decimal: μ Octal: 1674
    
 μ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0370..03FF; Greek and Coptic
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    

    
 U+00B5 MICRO SIGN
    
 UTF-8: c2 b5 UTF-16BE: 00b5 Decimal: µ Octal: 265
    
 µ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0080..00FF; Latin-1 Supplement
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    
 Decomposition: <compat> 03BC


    And technically, the only valid solutions are number 3 and 4. In 3 the Unicode number could be changed from b5 to 3bc to get even this Greek character. In 4 just copy the correct character and done.



    Not in my defense, but




    1. Both b5 and 3bc have as Uppercase 39c. So, both are the lowercase of MU.

    2. Both look very, very similar (probably the same glyph from the font):


    enter image description here



    Alternatives.





    1. AltGr



      Its quite possible and already done by changing the AltGr-g (with xkb) to:



       key <AC05>  { [         g,          G,       dead_greek,   dead_greek ]};


      And then typing AltGr-g m to get a true greek-mu.




    2. Compose



      The Compose table is incorrect, even the Greek Compose file (/usr/share/X11/locale/el_GR.UTF-8/Compose) lists:



       <Multi_key> <slash> <u>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <u> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <slash> <U>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <U> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu


      Those compositions as Greek, which they are not.



      The correct solution for compose is to include an ~/.XCompose for greek and reboot.




    3. Unicode



      Works as posted, with unicode number 3bc




    4. Readline



      Works as posted, change the effective character to any wanted.








    share|improve this answer














    Yes, there are at least this four (five?) ways:





    1. AltGr

      Make your keyboard layout English (international AltGr dead keys).

      Then the right Alt key is the AltGr key. Pressing AltGr-m will generate a µ. Many other keys also generate other characters: AltGr-s for ß, and Shift-AltGr-s for §.



      There is a separate keyboard layout for the console (the true consoles at AltCtrlF1 up to F6) and one for the GUI in X. Changing either depends on your distro (CentOS, Fedora, Debian, etc.) and Display manager (gnome, kde, xfce, etc.). For example, installing xfce4-xkb-plugin will allow a button on a panel to configure the keyboard and switch between several keyboard layouts for X in XFCE.




    2. Compose

      Make some key the Compose key. Then, presing Compose, releasing it, pressing /, releasing it, and then u will generate a µ.



      Defining a Compose key is usually done with xkb or with a keyboard layout applet.

      For example, in Gnome usually available at Region & Language section, or maybe, Switch Keyboard Layout Easily.



    3. Unicode

      There is a generic way to type any Unicode character (if your console supports it). Yes any codepoint of the 1,111,998 possible characters (visible if your font(s) could draw them). Press, as one chord (at the same time) ShiftCtrlu, release them (Probably, an underlined u̲ will appear), then type b5 which is the Unicode codepoint (always in Hex) for the character. And to end, type space or enter (at least).



    4. Readline

      In a bash prompt (as you tagged the question) is possible to use readline to generate a µ (mu).



       bind '"eu": "µ"'


      Or add the line:



       "eu": "µ"


      to ~/.inputrc, read it with Alt-x Alt-r or start a new bash shell (execute bash) and when you type:



      Alt-u



      An µ will appear.



    5. Input method

      Probably too much for a short answer like this.




    A mistake:
    Technically, the character requested in the question was Unicode U3bc while this answer has provided solutions for Ub5. Yes, they are different, my mistake, sorry.



     $ unicode $(printf 'U3bcUb5')
    
 U+03BC GREEK SMALL LETTER MU
    
 UTF-8: ce bc UTF-16BE: 03bc Decimal: μ Octal: 1674
    
 μ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0370..03FF; Greek and Coptic
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    

    
 U+00B5 MICRO SIGN
    
 UTF-8: c2 b5 UTF-16BE: 00b5 Decimal: µ Octal: 265
    
 µ (Μ)
    
 Uppercase: 039C
    
 Category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
    
 Unicode block: 0080..00FF; Latin-1 Supplement
    
 Bidi: L (Left-to-Right)
    
 Decomposition: <compat> 03BC


    And technically, the only valid solutions are number 3 and 4. In 3 the Unicode number could be changed from b5 to 3bc to get even this Greek character. In 4 just copy the correct character and done.



    Not in my defense, but




    1. Both b5 and 3bc have as Uppercase 39c. So, both are the lowercase of MU.

    2. Both look very, very similar (probably the same glyph from the font):


    enter image description here



    Alternatives.





    1. AltGr



      Its quite possible and already done by changing the AltGr-g (with xkb) to:



       key <AC05>  { [         g,          G,       dead_greek,   dead_greek ]};


      And then typing AltGr-g m to get a true greek-mu.




    2. Compose



      The Compose table is incorrect, even the Greek Compose file (/usr/share/X11/locale/el_GR.UTF-8/Compose) lists:



       <Multi_key> <slash> <u>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <u> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <slash> <U>                 : "µ"   mu
      
 <Multi_key> <U> <slash>                 : "µ"   mu


      Those compositions as Greek, which they are not.



      The correct solution for compose is to include an ~/.XCompose for greek and reboot.




    3. Unicode



      Works as posted, with unicode number 3bc




    4. Readline



      Works as posted, change the effective character to any wanted.









    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Dec 11 at 13:25

























    answered Dec 11 at 6:04









    Isaac

    11k11648




    11k11648












    • Method 3 unicode, does not work for me.
      – ctrl-alt-delor
      Dec 11 at 7:59










    • Older debian didn't have this option. Which distro and which console? konsole, gnome-terminal, terminator, etc ? @ctrl-alt-delor
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:02










    • I just want to know why do method 3 work. It doesn't seem to be related to X's keyboard layout or Xcb.
      – 炸鱼薯条德里克
      Dec 11 at 8:30










    • No it is not related to keyboard, xkb, input method, or desktop shortcut. It is an option that some (many, it seems now) programs provide/support, something like using some specific set of colors to match TTY colors. Not long ago some terminals didn't have it, yet. Most do now. @神秘德里克
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:37








    • 2




      On the note of the two characters, they are typographically equivalent, but the Unicode standard is encoding a semantic difference. The lower codwpoint is a mathematical symbol, while the upper one is a letter from the Greek alphabet. The semantic difference usually doesn't matter, but it might if the text is being processed beyond just displaying it on screen.
      – Austin Hemmelgarn
      Dec 11 at 16:23


















    • Method 3 unicode, does not work for me.
      – ctrl-alt-delor
      Dec 11 at 7:59










    • Older debian didn't have this option. Which distro and which console? konsole, gnome-terminal, terminator, etc ? @ctrl-alt-delor
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:02










    • I just want to know why do method 3 work. It doesn't seem to be related to X's keyboard layout or Xcb.
      – 炸鱼薯条德里克
      Dec 11 at 8:30










    • No it is not related to keyboard, xkb, input method, or desktop shortcut. It is an option that some (many, it seems now) programs provide/support, something like using some specific set of colors to match TTY colors. Not long ago some terminals didn't have it, yet. Most do now. @神秘德里克
      – Isaac
      Dec 11 at 8:37








    • 2




      On the note of the two characters, they are typographically equivalent, but the Unicode standard is encoding a semantic difference. The lower codwpoint is a mathematical symbol, while the upper one is a letter from the Greek alphabet. The semantic difference usually doesn't matter, but it might if the text is being processed beyond just displaying it on screen.
      – Austin Hemmelgarn
      Dec 11 at 16:23
















    Method 3 unicode, does not work for me.
    – ctrl-alt-delor
    Dec 11 at 7:59




    Method 3 unicode, does not work for me.
    – ctrl-alt-delor
    Dec 11 at 7:59












    Older debian didn't have this option. Which distro and which console? konsole, gnome-terminal, terminator, etc ? @ctrl-alt-delor
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 8:02




    Older debian didn't have this option. Which distro and which console? konsole, gnome-terminal, terminator, etc ? @ctrl-alt-delor
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 8:02












    I just want to know why do method 3 work. It doesn't seem to be related to X's keyboard layout or Xcb.
    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    Dec 11 at 8:30




    I just want to know why do method 3 work. It doesn't seem to be related to X's keyboard layout or Xcb.
    – 炸鱼薯条德里克
    Dec 11 at 8:30












    No it is not related to keyboard, xkb, input method, or desktop shortcut. It is an option that some (many, it seems now) programs provide/support, something like using some specific set of colors to match TTY colors. Not long ago some terminals didn't have it, yet. Most do now. @神秘德里克
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 8:37






    No it is not related to keyboard, xkb, input method, or desktop shortcut. It is an option that some (many, it seems now) programs provide/support, something like using some specific set of colors to match TTY colors. Not long ago some terminals didn't have it, yet. Most do now. @神秘德里克
    – Isaac
    Dec 11 at 8:37






    2




    2




    On the note of the two characters, they are typographically equivalent, but the Unicode standard is encoding a semantic difference. The lower codwpoint is a mathematical symbol, while the upper one is a letter from the Greek alphabet. The semantic difference usually doesn't matter, but it might if the text is being processed beyond just displaying it on screen.
    – Austin Hemmelgarn
    Dec 11 at 16:23




    On the note of the two characters, they are typographically equivalent, but the Unicode standard is encoding a semantic difference. The lower codwpoint is a mathematical symbol, while the upper one is a letter from the Greek alphabet. The semantic difference usually doesn't matter, but it might if the text is being processed beyond just displaying it on screen.
    – Austin Hemmelgarn
    Dec 11 at 16:23













    4














    If you enable your compose key, you can print this symbol with the compose/u sequence, like so: µ



    The full range of symbols available, and their respective key sequences, is documented on the Ubuntu wiki.






    share|improve this answer























    • Your answer gives µ (micro, U+00B5), not what was asked in the question, μ (mu, U+03BC).
      – Sparhawk
      Dec 11 at 11:51










    • @Sparhawk Guilty; but I can't tell them apart.
      – jasonwryan
      Dec 11 at 15:11










    • Compose * m if you use something like github.com/kragen/xcompose/blob/master/dotXCompose
      – Mikel
      Dec 11 at 15:41


















    4














    If you enable your compose key, you can print this symbol with the compose/u sequence, like so: µ



    The full range of symbols available, and their respective key sequences, is documented on the Ubuntu wiki.






    share|improve this answer























    • Your answer gives µ (micro, U+00B5), not what was asked in the question, μ (mu, U+03BC).
      – Sparhawk
      Dec 11 at 11:51










    • @Sparhawk Guilty; but I can't tell them apart.
      – jasonwryan
      Dec 11 at 15:11










    • Compose * m if you use something like github.com/kragen/xcompose/blob/master/dotXCompose
      – Mikel
      Dec 11 at 15:41
















    4












    4








    4






    If you enable your compose key, you can print this symbol with the compose/u sequence, like so: µ



    The full range of symbols available, and their respective key sequences, is documented on the Ubuntu wiki.






    share|improve this answer














    If you enable your compose key, you can print this symbol with the compose/u sequence, like so: µ



    The full range of symbols available, and their respective key sequences, is documented on the Ubuntu wiki.







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Dec 11 at 7:56









    ctrl-alt-delor

    10.6k41955




    10.6k41955










    answered Dec 11 at 1:08









    jasonwryan

    49k14134184




    49k14134184












    • Your answer gives µ (micro, U+00B5), not what was asked in the question, μ (mu, U+03BC).
      – Sparhawk
      Dec 11 at 11:51










    • @Sparhawk Guilty; but I can't tell them apart.
      – jasonwryan
      Dec 11 at 15:11










    • Compose * m if you use something like github.com/kragen/xcompose/blob/master/dotXCompose
      – Mikel
      Dec 11 at 15:41




















    • Your answer gives µ (micro, U+00B5), not what was asked in the question, μ (mu, U+03BC).
      – Sparhawk
      Dec 11 at 11:51










    • @Sparhawk Guilty; but I can't tell them apart.
      – jasonwryan
      Dec 11 at 15:11










    • Compose * m if you use something like github.com/kragen/xcompose/blob/master/dotXCompose
      – Mikel
      Dec 11 at 15:41


















    Your answer gives µ (micro, U+00B5), not what was asked in the question, μ (mu, U+03BC).
    – Sparhawk
    Dec 11 at 11:51




    Your answer gives µ (micro, U+00B5), not what was asked in the question, μ (mu, U+03BC).
    – Sparhawk
    Dec 11 at 11:51












    @Sparhawk Guilty; but I can't tell them apart.
    – jasonwryan
    Dec 11 at 15:11




    @Sparhawk Guilty; but I can't tell them apart.
    – jasonwryan
    Dec 11 at 15:11












    Compose * m if you use something like github.com/kragen/xcompose/blob/master/dotXCompose
    – Mikel
    Dec 11 at 15:41






    Compose * m if you use something like github.com/kragen/xcompose/blob/master/dotXCompose
    – Mikel
    Dec 11 at 15:41













    3














    Using input methods



    CIN-file input methods are usable in X11 and in my user-space virtual terminals. One of the commonly-collected ones, greek.cin, has the mu character. One simply enters m (lower case) and it is the only conversion.



    One can modify greek.cin to add micro, providing a second conversion, although visually it will be quite confusing, making it hard to select the correct one during conversion selection, if they both map from m. A better conversion would map micro to U+00B5:



    micro    μ


    Using the ISO 9995 common secondary group



    Your X11 keyboard map or your virtual terminal might not implement this, but if it does there is a standard country-independent key sequence (of two key chords) for the mu character defined by ISO/IEC 9995: ⇨ Group 2 Select B07





    • ⇨ Group 2 Select is conventionally the chord ⇧ Level 2 Shift+⇮ Level 3 Shift because the USB HID specification and others lack a code for a proper ⇨ Group 2 Select key and such a key does not exist on most keyboards.


    • ⇮ Level 3 Shift is usually engraved ⌥ Option or ⇮ AltGr on 105/106/107/109-key keyboards or ⎇ Alt on 104-key keyboards.

    • B07 is the standard ISO/IEC 9995 notation for a physical position on row "B" and column "07", and the key there is usually engraved M.


    Where implemented, this so-called common secondary group of ISO/IEC 9995 is not supposed to vary by the selected country's layout, and is always available.



    However, there is no common secondary group sequence for the micro prefix character.



    Using whatever chord is defined in your keyboard layout



    The specifics of keyboard layouts are beyond the scope of this answer, and there are plenty of answers here dealing with them.



    Précis:



    There is a keyboard layout for X11 applications, there is a possibly related keyboard layout for kernel virtual terminals (if your operating system has such), and there is are keyboard layouts for user-space virtual terminals (if you are using such). Layouts generally provide such characters as a chord with ⇧ Level 2 Shift or ⇮ Level 3 Shift in conjunction with a main keypad key.



    Some X11 keyboard maps furthermore define (as an optional addendum) a compose key which begins key sequences (of multiple key chords) that map to such characters. In the conventional X11 composition set, as documented by David Monniaux years ago, the mu character is the sequence Compose M U or the sequence Compose / U. Note that it is conflated with the micro prefix character.



    Consult your VT and X11 keyboard maps for information about what chord is mapped, if any. Check your configuration for whether you have enabled the compose key option in X11.



    Examples:



    The ch, de, it, nl, and no virtual terminal keyboard maps in FreeBSD provide the mu character as the chord ⇮ Level 3 Shift+B07 (M):



    % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/de.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10009.1]
    
#                                                         alt
    
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
    
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
    
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
    
  050   'm'    'M'    cr     cr     0xb5   0xb5   cr     cr      C
    
%


    But other maps either do not have it or define a different chord. In the fr keyboard map it is ⇧ Level 2 Shift+C12 (EUROPE1):



    % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/fr.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10011.1]
    
#                                                         alt   
    
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
    
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
    
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
    
  043   '*'    0xb5   nop    nop    '#'    '~'    nop    nop     O
    
%


    And it is not mapped in the uk keyboard map at all. Nor do any of them have the micro prefix character.



    Other methods



    Other methods are specific to application input handling libraries or to particular terminal emulators, whereas input methods and X11/VT keyboard maps are not application-specific.



    Some terminal emulators provide other ways of entering characters, by their Unicode code points. Readline can of course be configured to map input sequences to this character, as also can ZLE. And you have already mentioned VIM in the question.



    Further reading




    • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). "terminal resources". nosh Guide. Softwares.

    • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Typing the motto of Vietnam on an ISO 9995-3 keyboard. nosh toolset. Softwares.

    • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Japanese input methods in nosh user-space virtual terminals. nosh toolset. Softwares.

    • Where are default compose-key bindings stored?

    • Changing the keyboard layout/mapping on both the console (tty) and X in an X/console agnostic way?






    share|improve this answer




























      3














      Using input methods



      CIN-file input methods are usable in X11 and in my user-space virtual terminals. One of the commonly-collected ones, greek.cin, has the mu character. One simply enters m (lower case) and it is the only conversion.



      One can modify greek.cin to add micro, providing a second conversion, although visually it will be quite confusing, making it hard to select the correct one during conversion selection, if they both map from m. A better conversion would map micro to U+00B5:



      micro    μ


      Using the ISO 9995 common secondary group



      Your X11 keyboard map or your virtual terminal might not implement this, but if it does there is a standard country-independent key sequence (of two key chords) for the mu character defined by ISO/IEC 9995: ⇨ Group 2 Select B07





      • ⇨ Group 2 Select is conventionally the chord ⇧ Level 2 Shift+⇮ Level 3 Shift because the USB HID specification and others lack a code for a proper ⇨ Group 2 Select key and such a key does not exist on most keyboards.


      • ⇮ Level 3 Shift is usually engraved ⌥ Option or ⇮ AltGr on 105/106/107/109-key keyboards or ⎇ Alt on 104-key keyboards.

      • B07 is the standard ISO/IEC 9995 notation for a physical position on row "B" and column "07", and the key there is usually engraved M.


      Where implemented, this so-called common secondary group of ISO/IEC 9995 is not supposed to vary by the selected country's layout, and is always available.



      However, there is no common secondary group sequence for the micro prefix character.



      Using whatever chord is defined in your keyboard layout



      The specifics of keyboard layouts are beyond the scope of this answer, and there are plenty of answers here dealing with them.



      Précis:



      There is a keyboard layout for X11 applications, there is a possibly related keyboard layout for kernel virtual terminals (if your operating system has such), and there is are keyboard layouts for user-space virtual terminals (if you are using such). Layouts generally provide such characters as a chord with ⇧ Level 2 Shift or ⇮ Level 3 Shift in conjunction with a main keypad key.



      Some X11 keyboard maps furthermore define (as an optional addendum) a compose key which begins key sequences (of multiple key chords) that map to such characters. In the conventional X11 composition set, as documented by David Monniaux years ago, the mu character is the sequence Compose M U or the sequence Compose / U. Note that it is conflated with the micro prefix character.



      Consult your VT and X11 keyboard maps for information about what chord is mapped, if any. Check your configuration for whether you have enabled the compose key option in X11.



      Examples:



      The ch, de, it, nl, and no virtual terminal keyboard maps in FreeBSD provide the mu character as the chord ⇮ Level 3 Shift+B07 (M):



      % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/de.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10009.1]
      
#                                                         alt
      
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
      
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
      
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
      
  050   'm'    'M'    cr     cr     0xb5   0xb5   cr     cr      C
      
%


      But other maps either do not have it or define a different chord. In the fr keyboard map it is ⇧ Level 2 Shift+C12 (EUROPE1):



      % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/fr.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10011.1]
      
#                                                         alt   
      
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
      
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
      
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
      
  043   '*'    0xb5   nop    nop    '#'    '~'    nop    nop     O
      
%


      And it is not mapped in the uk keyboard map at all. Nor do any of them have the micro prefix character.



      Other methods



      Other methods are specific to application input handling libraries or to particular terminal emulators, whereas input methods and X11/VT keyboard maps are not application-specific.



      Some terminal emulators provide other ways of entering characters, by their Unicode code points. Readline can of course be configured to map input sequences to this character, as also can ZLE. And you have already mentioned VIM in the question.



      Further reading




      • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). "terminal resources". nosh Guide. Softwares.

      • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Typing the motto of Vietnam on an ISO 9995-3 keyboard. nosh toolset. Softwares.

      • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Japanese input methods in nosh user-space virtual terminals. nosh toolset. Softwares.

      • Where are default compose-key bindings stored?

      • Changing the keyboard layout/mapping on both the console (tty) and X in an X/console agnostic way?






      share|improve this answer


























        3












        3








        3






        Using input methods



        CIN-file input methods are usable in X11 and in my user-space virtual terminals. One of the commonly-collected ones, greek.cin, has the mu character. One simply enters m (lower case) and it is the only conversion.



        One can modify greek.cin to add micro, providing a second conversion, although visually it will be quite confusing, making it hard to select the correct one during conversion selection, if they both map from m. A better conversion would map micro to U+00B5:



        micro    μ


        Using the ISO 9995 common secondary group



        Your X11 keyboard map or your virtual terminal might not implement this, but if it does there is a standard country-independent key sequence (of two key chords) for the mu character defined by ISO/IEC 9995: ⇨ Group 2 Select B07





        • ⇨ Group 2 Select is conventionally the chord ⇧ Level 2 Shift+⇮ Level 3 Shift because the USB HID specification and others lack a code for a proper ⇨ Group 2 Select key and such a key does not exist on most keyboards.


        • ⇮ Level 3 Shift is usually engraved ⌥ Option or ⇮ AltGr on 105/106/107/109-key keyboards or ⎇ Alt on 104-key keyboards.

        • B07 is the standard ISO/IEC 9995 notation for a physical position on row "B" and column "07", and the key there is usually engraved M.


        Where implemented, this so-called common secondary group of ISO/IEC 9995 is not supposed to vary by the selected country's layout, and is always available.



        However, there is no common secondary group sequence for the micro prefix character.



        Using whatever chord is defined in your keyboard layout



        The specifics of keyboard layouts are beyond the scope of this answer, and there are plenty of answers here dealing with them.



        Précis:



        There is a keyboard layout for X11 applications, there is a possibly related keyboard layout for kernel virtual terminals (if your operating system has such), and there is are keyboard layouts for user-space virtual terminals (if you are using such). Layouts generally provide such characters as a chord with ⇧ Level 2 Shift or ⇮ Level 3 Shift in conjunction with a main keypad key.



        Some X11 keyboard maps furthermore define (as an optional addendum) a compose key which begins key sequences (of multiple key chords) that map to such characters. In the conventional X11 composition set, as documented by David Monniaux years ago, the mu character is the sequence Compose M U or the sequence Compose / U. Note that it is conflated with the micro prefix character.



        Consult your VT and X11 keyboard maps for information about what chord is mapped, if any. Check your configuration for whether you have enabled the compose key option in X11.



        Examples:



        The ch, de, it, nl, and no virtual terminal keyboard maps in FreeBSD provide the mu character as the chord ⇮ Level 3 Shift+B07 (M):



        % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/de.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10009.1]
        
#                                                         alt
        
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
        
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
        
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
        
  050   'm'    'M'    cr     cr     0xb5   0xb5   cr     cr      C
        
%


        But other maps either do not have it or define a different chord. In the fr keyboard map it is ⇧ Level 2 Shift+C12 (EUROPE1):



        % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/fr.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10011.1]
        
#                                                         alt   
        
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
        
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
        
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
        
  043   '*'    0xb5   nop    nop    '#'    '~'    nop    nop     O
        
%


        And it is not mapped in the uk keyboard map at all. Nor do any of them have the micro prefix character.



        Other methods



        Other methods are specific to application input handling libraries or to particular terminal emulators, whereas input methods and X11/VT keyboard maps are not application-specific.



        Some terminal emulators provide other ways of entering characters, by their Unicode code points. Readline can of course be configured to map input sequences to this character, as also can ZLE. And you have already mentioned VIM in the question.



        Further reading




        • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). "terminal resources". nosh Guide. Softwares.

        • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Typing the motto of Vietnam on an ISO 9995-3 keyboard. nosh toolset. Softwares.

        • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Japanese input methods in nosh user-space virtual terminals. nosh toolset. Softwares.

        • Where are default compose-key bindings stored?

        • Changing the keyboard layout/mapping on both the console (tty) and X in an X/console agnostic way?






        share|improve this answer














        Using input methods



        CIN-file input methods are usable in X11 and in my user-space virtual terminals. One of the commonly-collected ones, greek.cin, has the mu character. One simply enters m (lower case) and it is the only conversion.



        One can modify greek.cin to add micro, providing a second conversion, although visually it will be quite confusing, making it hard to select the correct one during conversion selection, if they both map from m. A better conversion would map micro to U+00B5:



        micro    μ


        Using the ISO 9995 common secondary group



        Your X11 keyboard map or your virtual terminal might not implement this, but if it does there is a standard country-independent key sequence (of two key chords) for the mu character defined by ISO/IEC 9995: ⇨ Group 2 Select B07





        • ⇨ Group 2 Select is conventionally the chord ⇧ Level 2 Shift+⇮ Level 3 Shift because the USB HID specification and others lack a code for a proper ⇨ Group 2 Select key and such a key does not exist on most keyboards.


        • ⇮ Level 3 Shift is usually engraved ⌥ Option or ⇮ AltGr on 105/106/107/109-key keyboards or ⎇ Alt on 104-key keyboards.

        • B07 is the standard ISO/IEC 9995 notation for a physical position on row "B" and column "07", and the key there is usually engraved M.


        Where implemented, this so-called common secondary group of ISO/IEC 9995 is not supposed to vary by the selected country's layout, and is always available.



        However, there is no common secondary group sequence for the micro prefix character.



        Using whatever chord is defined in your keyboard layout



        The specifics of keyboard layouts are beyond the scope of this answer, and there are plenty of answers here dealing with them.



        Précis:



        There is a keyboard layout for X11 applications, there is a possibly related keyboard layout for kernel virtual terminals (if your operating system has such), and there is are keyboard layouts for user-space virtual terminals (if you are using such). Layouts generally provide such characters as a chord with ⇧ Level 2 Shift or ⇮ Level 3 Shift in conjunction with a main keypad key.



        Some X11 keyboard maps furthermore define (as an optional addendum) a compose key which begins key sequences (of multiple key chords) that map to such characters. In the conventional X11 composition set, as documented by David Monniaux years ago, the mu character is the sequence Compose M U or the sequence Compose / U. Note that it is conflated with the micro prefix character.



        Consult your VT and X11 keyboard maps for information about what chord is mapped, if any. Check your configuration for whether you have enabled the compose key option in X11.



        Examples:



        The ch, de, it, nl, and no virtual terminal keyboard maps in FreeBSD provide the mu character as the chord ⇮ Level 3 Shift+B07 (M):



        % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/de.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10009.1]
        
#                                                         alt
        
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
        
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
        
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
        
  050   'm'    'M'    cr     cr     0xb5   0xb5   cr     cr      C
        
%


        But other maps either do not have it or define a different chord. In the fr keyboard map it is ⇧ Level 2 Shift+C12 (EUROPE1):



        % sed -n -e '2,5p;/0xb5/p' /usr/share/vt/keymaps/fr.kbd                                                         /usr/share/vt/keymaps [pts/4.10011.1]
        
#                                                         alt   
        
# scan                       cntrl          alt    alt   cntrl lock
        
# code  base   shift  cntrl  shift  alt    shift  cntrl  shift state
        
# ------------------------------------------------------------------
        
  043   '*'    0xb5   nop    nop    '#'    '~'    nop    nop     O
        
%


        And it is not mapped in the uk keyboard map at all. Nor do any of them have the micro prefix character.



        Other methods



        Other methods are specific to application input handling libraries or to particular terminal emulators, whereas input methods and X11/VT keyboard maps are not application-specific.



        Some terminal emulators provide other ways of entering characters, by their Unicode code points. Readline can of course be configured to map input sequences to this character, as also can ZLE. And you have already mentioned VIM in the question.



        Further reading




        • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). "terminal resources". nosh Guide. Softwares.

        • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Typing the motto of Vietnam on an ISO 9995-3 keyboard. nosh toolset. Softwares.

        • Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2018). Japanese input methods in nosh user-space virtual terminals. nosh toolset. Softwares.

        • Where are default compose-key bindings stored?

        • Changing the keyboard layout/mapping on both the console (tty) and X in an X/console agnostic way?







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited Dec 11 at 14:03

























        answered Dec 11 at 10:56









        JdeBP

        33.1k468155




        33.1k468155






























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