How do you make a 'star' symbol?

Unfortunately on a PC, there are no stars in the standard 256-character DOS character sets or in the 256-character Windows character set, so the standard Alt key methods of accessing those character sets won’t work for stars.

First, you need to know the Unicode hexadecimal codes for the stars. Try Unicode... and Unicode... for a start. These pages give you the HTML entities which you can copy and paste or type into many forums, like this one, and they will often change into the character itself when you preview or post. ★ ☆

You can set up your computer to type using the Alt key, provided you can emulate the numeric keypad. See Directory of /tip/microsoft/... for instructions on how to do it.

To set up your registry you enter “regedit” without the quotation marks into the command line on your startup menu and then press enter.This should bring up the registry editor. Select HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method. If “EnableHexNumpad” does not exist under “Input Method”, then right-click on “Input Method” and select “New" from the context menu that pops up and create a new Key. Name it EnableHexNumpad. It should contain the Name “Default”, the Type “REG_SZ” and Data should be “1”, all without the quotation marks. Make it so. Then close the registry editor dialog box.

Now you must reboot. Then you should be able to open Notepad. Press down the left Alt key. Press the FN key simultaneously with the numeric keypad plus sign, type 2605 or 2606 on the keyboard, release the left Alt key, and have ★ or ☆ appear. If boxes appear, select them and change to a font that has the stars in it.

Or, if you would rather not fiddle with the registry, or it doesn't work, try downloading and installing the Quick Unicode Input Tool from http://www.cardbox.com/quick.htm . Hold down the left Alt key, type the FN key simultaneously with the numeric keypad dot, type 2605 or 2606 on the keyboard, release the left Alt key, and a star should appear.

This works for any Unicode character from 0 to FFFF.

If you don’t have an FN key, then check your help or check with the dealer or manufacturer on how you are supposed to emulate the numeric keypad.

For a font with stars, I recommend downloading and installing the DejaVu fonts from DejaVu... and/or the Symbola font from http://users.teilar.gr/~g1951d/ .
 
On a Mac, there is a Character Viewer that you can double-click on symbols to add them wherever the cursor is.

On a PC, you are doing the correct keystrokes:

1. Hold Alt
2. Type 9733 on numeric keypad, not the number keys above the letter keys.
3. Let go and star symbol should appear.

You may have to turn on Caps Lock or Num Lock (as you tried).

Are you using a full-size keyboard or a laptop keyboard?

C
 
You could always copy them and add them to a text document that you can cut/paste from. ;)

C
 
Cory Cooper said:
On a Mac, there is a Character Viewer that you can double-click on symbols to add them wherever the cursor is.

On a PC, you are doing the correct keystrokes:

1. Hold Alt
2. Type 9733 on numeric keypad, not the number keys above the letter keys.
3. Let go and star symbol should appear.

You may have to turn on Caps Lock or Num Lock (as you tried).

Are you using a full-size keyboard or a laptop keyboard?

C
Click to expand...

No go Cory, it simply doesn't work for PC users.

* I'm using a full keyboard. § ...And I'm in total harmony with the higher supreme being. Ω
 
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