Common Symbols… and how to get them

caféTo get the ´ hold down the option key and press e, then release the option key and press e again dèTo get the ` hold down the tilde key and press e, then release the option key and press e again
The tilde key is to the left of the 1 key near top-left of the keyboard çinqTo get the ç hold down the option key and press c …To get an elipsis hold down the option key and press ; —To get a long dash rather than a hyphen hold down the option and shift keys and press - key
The - key is to the right of the zero key near top-right of the keyboard ÷To get a divisor sign hold down the option key and press ? key ≤ ≥To get a less than and equal sign hold down the option key and press , key
To get a more than and equal sign hold down the option key and press . key ≠To get a not equals sign hold down the option key and press = key ©To get a copyright sign hold down the option key and press g key “ ”To get a curly quotes (like double sixes) hold down the option key and press { key
Use option and shift with { to get the curly quotes (like double nines) ‘ ’To get a curly quotes (like sixes) hold down the option key and press } key
Use option and shift with } to get the curly quotes (like nines) •To get a dot hold down the option key and press the 8 key £To get a pound sign hold down the option key and press the 3 key click here to see
more information

A good place to find information about symbols is to use the Help menu in the Finder and type in a search for 'symbols'.

That will show you a list of all the common key names and their symbols used in menus as short-cuts.

Next, open System Preferences and go to the Language & Text preference pane and click the Input Sources tab and make sure there is a tick next to the Keyboard & Character Viewer. That allows access from the screen top menubar under the flag to bring up palettes which list many common and not-so-common font symbols. This works in OS X 10.6 - earlier versions access this slightly differently.

You can also use the Font Book application found in the Applications folder to see the repertoire of each font: that is, all the actual symbols/letters possible using various combinations of keys.

Lastly, click this link to see a fuller listing of French foreign symbols, and also as an access point to other web pages listing other languages/font/symbols.