editorskeyboardmacunicode
I would like my LaTeX files to contain Unicode characters. For instance, I want to see
∃x．x ⟶ β
in my text editor, rather than
\exists x\ldotp x\longrightarrow\beta
Also, I would like to type these characters directly from my keyboard. For instance, I want
I'm running Mac OS X, and my keyboard has a British layout.
Since you're asking for german umlauts: There is the Neo layout which is for german language. The wiki sounds rather interesting! There are even pages for TeX. (I have not used it myself, though).
http://wiki.neo-layout.org/wiki/
and
Another way to enter the characters is to enter them directly with the \XeTeXglyph macro or use their Unicode character code using the \char macro.
For example, the heart symbol is Unicode 2665 so you can enter that using:
\char"2665
It's also possible to use the font specific glyph index number. For a font like the C64 font, which doesn't have a huge character inventory, this might be easiest. The following document creates a full font table for the C64 Pro Mono font (the upper bound was found by trial and error, but you could use FontForge to find the total number of glyphs as well).
% !TEX TS-program = xelatex
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{pgffor}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\newfontfamily\csixtyfour{C64 Pro Mono}
\DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcom}{\csixtyfour}
\begin{document}
\parindent=0pt
\foreach \x in {4,...,312}
{\x\thinspace\textcom{\XeTeXglyph\x} }
\end{document}
Best Answer
There are two separate tasks here: making your keyboard produce the various Unicode symbols, and making those symbols meaningful to LaTeX.
1. Producing Unicode symbols from your keyboard
If you're on a Mac, make a
.keylayoutfile, put it in the~/Library/Keyboard Layoutsdirectory, then log out and back in again. Your new keyboard layout should now appear in System Preferences > Language & Text > Input Sources.But how does one create this keylayout? I used an editor (such as Ukelele) but also ended up doing quite a bit of tweaking by hand. Keylayouts are written in XML, following Apple's specification. My keylayout is called
MathUnicode.keylayout, and can be downloaded here. It is based on the British keylayout. I have given my keylayout a custom icon by savingMathUnicode.icns(which can be downloaded here) in the same directory.I list below all of the key bindings in my layout. Note that, for instance, alt--> (which produces
⟶) means "type --> while holding down the alt key". Note also that I have generally avoided notating the shift key (preferring P over shiftp, and so on) except where it makes the mnemonic more memorable.α (alpha) alta
β (beta) altb
γ (gamma) altg
Γ (Gamma) altG
δ (delta) altd
Δ (Delta) altD
ε (epsilon) alte
ζ (zeta) altz
η (eta) alth
θ (theta) alto
Θ (Theta) altO
ι (iota) alti
κ (kappa) altk
λ (lambda) altl
Λ (Lambda) altL
μ (mu) altm
ν (nu) altn
ξ (xi) altx
Ξ (Xi) altX
π (pi) altp
Π (Pi) altP
ρ (rho) altr
σ (sigma) alts
Σ (Sigma) altS
τ (tau) altt
υ (upsilon) altu
φ (phi) (altf
Φ (Phi) altF
χ (chi) altc
ψ (psi) alty
Ψ (Psi) altY
ω (omega) altw
Ω (Omega) altW
ℂ (complex numbers) altC
ℕ (naturals) altN
ℚ (rationals) altQ
ℝ (reals) altR
ℤ (integers) altZ
” (closing double quotes) alt'
“ (opening double quotes) alt`
¶ (paragraph) alt§
° (degrees) alt±
… (ellipsis) alt;
⌊ (lower left bracket) alt[
⌋ (lower right bracket) alt]
⌈ (upper left bracket) altshift[
⌉ (upper right bracket) altshift]
〈 (left angled bracket) alt<
〉(right angled bracket) alt>
⟦ (double left bracket) alt|[
⟧ (double right bracket) alt|]
↑ (up arrow) alt6
↓ (down arrow) alt7
⇑ (double up arrow) altshift6
⇓ (double down arrow) altshift7
← (left arrow) alt<-
→ (right arrow) alt->
↔ (left right arrow) alt<->
⇐ (double left arrow) alt<=
⇒ (double right arrow) alt=>
⇔ (double left right arrow) alt<=>
⟵ (long left arrow) alt<--
⟶ (long right arrow) alt-->
⟷ (long left right arrow) alt<-->
⟸ (long double left arrow) alt<==
⟹ (long double right arrow) alt==>
⟺ (long double left right arrow) alt<==>
↦ (maps-to) alt|->
⤇ (double maps-to) alt|=>
⟼ (long maps-to) alt|-->
⟾ (long double maps-to) alt|==>
⇀ (right harpoon) alt--`
⇝ (squiggly right arrow) alt~>
¬ (logical not) alt~
∨ (logical disjunction) alt\
∧ (logical conjunction) alt/\
∀ (for all) altA
∃ (exists) altE
∄ (does not exist) alt/E
．(ldotp, the dot in
∃x. p) alt,⊦ (turnstile) alt|-
⊩ (double turnstile) alt||-
⊧ (models) alt|=
⟂ (bottom) alt _ | or alt| _
∅ (empty set) alt/0
∈ (member of) alt:
∉ (not member of) alt/:
∪ (union) altU
∩ (intersection) altI
⫛ (does not intersect) alt/I
⊂ (strict subset) alt(
⊃ (strict superset) alt)
⊆ (subset or equal) alt _ (
⊇ (superset or equal) alt _ )
∗ (centred asterisk) alt*
÷ (division) altshift/
× (times) alt8
｜ (bar) alt|
‖ (double bar) alt||
∤ (not bar) alt/|
◁ (left triangle) alt<|
▷ (right triangle) alt|>
◇ (diamond) alt<>
∘ (circle) alt0
· (centred dot) alt.
⊗ (circled times) alt08
⊛ (circled asterisk) alt0*
⊖ (circled minus) alt0-
⊕ (circled plus) alt0+
⊘ (circled slash) alt0/
⊙ (circled dot) alt0.
≝ (defined equal) altshift=
≠ (not equal) alt/= or alt=/
≡ (equivalent) alt==
≈ (approx) alt~~
≤ (less than or equal) alt _ < or alt< _
≥ (greater than or equal) alt _ >
∴ (therefore) altT
∵ (because) altB
∞ (infinity) alt9
∇ (nabla) altV
² (squared) altshift2
³ (cubed) altshift3
√ (root) altv
I have used this set-up for several years now, and am very happy with it. It is particularly useful when composing mathematical emails, where LaTeX is not available. The only snag I have found is that in some programs, some keyboard shortcuts that use alt no longer work. To tackle this, I configured the keyboard shortcut cmdspace so that I can switch back to my default British layout whenever necessary.
2. Getting LaTeX to understand Unicode symbols
Note: you're probably better off using XeTeX if you want Unicode in your LaTeX source files. But let's suppose you want to stick with vanilla LaTeX for the time being.
I save the following in the file
MathUnicode.styand include theMathUnicodepackage in all my LaTeX files (that is, by putting\usepackage{MathUnicode}in the preamble).