The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #135056 Message #3093688
Posted By: JohnInKansas
11-Feb-11 - 10:39 PM
Thread Name: Tech: Entering special characters (moderated)
Subject: RE: Tech: Entering special characters (moderated)
Re comment added at 10 Feb 11 - 11:47 PM.
The Unicode value for the Euro is as stated.
There is no official "euro" in the ANSI standard. The decimal number 0128 was unassigned by ANSI, so MICROSOFT decided to use it for Windows computers released in the US and elsewhere outside the Euro nations, where keyboards don't have a key for the euro symbol.
The assignment of the euro symbol to decimal number 0128 is essentially a "Windows" font table extension that Microsoft describes as allowing the use of the Alt-NumPad method of entry. With NumLock turned on, you can hold down the Alt key while typing 0128 on the number pad, (the leading zero is required on my machine) and a euro symbol will be inserted into your document.
If, however, you put your cursor (in Word) directly following the euro symbol you've inserted, and click Alt-X to toggle it to the Unicode value for the character, you get "20AC" which is the correct hex number (decimal 8364) for the Unicode euro character.
I don't know how many other operating systems may have adopted the "0128" shortcut; but it's NOT an ANSI thing, it's just Microsoft trickery.