61

This is a new problem that I did not have a few weeks ago.

I have a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard running on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The problem is that I cannot type a tilde (~).

Instead when I press the tilde ~ I get this character:

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

I cannot for the life of me figure this out, except that I vaguely remember I can asked to redetect the Mac keyboard layout for this keyboard and I think i chose the wrong one.

Now I get this weird character when pressing tilde. How can I fix this? Or how can I redetect this keyboard layout?

6
  • 1
    What keyboard (Input Source) is selected in "Language and Text" in your System Preferences? Of note the character you're printing can normally be inserted using Option-6 (the section character)
    – Chealion
    Nov 2, 2009 at 1:57
  • 4
    On some Apple keyboards, a backtick/tilde key is left from "Z", on others it's left from "1" (and the other position is then "§/±"). And there's probably more options here. So: where is it on your Logitech keyboard?
    – Arjan
    Nov 3, 2009 at 11:07
  • Makes me wonder: can you somehow still switch between application windows? (Command-Tab to switch between applications, Command-tilde to switch between the windows of an application)?
    – Arjan
    Nov 3, 2009 at 11:24
  • Arjan: No i cannot command-tilde between windows. The character output doesnt work in any form for me. Dec 1, 2009 at 16:56
  • @Chealion: Option-6 gives me: § - Nice try though Dec 1, 2009 at 16:56

17 Answers 17

16

Don't know if you are still reading this but if you download a program called Ukelele, you can make custom keyboard maps.

Then you need to put the keyboard map into ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/, log off and then back in.

Once you have done this you can choose your custom keyboard layout and you will be able to use the ~ key without any problem (I'm using a Logitech illuminated keyboard using the default Logitech-UK keymap that comes with Ukelele and everything works).

0
29

On a keyboard with that <>| button between the left Shift and Z, holding down Shift and pressing that button works on my end. Neither Alt+5 nor Alt+N do the trick on my end.

3
  • Phew, that worked! I'm using a Danish keyboard and US layout. Jun 15, 2013 at 21:54
  • I am using a Dutch keyboard with US layout, and this worked.
    – qed
    Jul 17, 2014 at 22:19
  • On Swiss German keyboard with US layout the combination is ⇧+<>
    – klimat
    Mar 29, 2019 at 21:08
27

If someone else is still interested in how to swap the § key with ~, I use Karabiner to do that and it's pretty easy to use. Just look for that option which is included in the default ones among others.

enter image description here

It can also be used to remap other keys if you want. For example, you can use hjkl keys to emulate the arrow keys (vim users will love it).

4
  • +1 This solution worked straight away for me, it is the simplest solution ever, thanks!. On the other hand, using Ukelele didn't work for me, the keyboard layout bundle is not recognized. Jul 28, 2015 at 15:05
  • 2
    ...so 6 years later Karabiner-Elements is significantly different; how do I do this now?
    – Jason S
    Dec 5, 2020 at 16:21
  • 6
    @JasonS, apply this Simple Modification swapping "non_us_backslash" and "grave_accent_and_tilde" keys: screenshot
    – arteg
    Dec 10, 2020 at 16:40
  • 1
    Don't forget to go to "Devices" menu and activate the "Modify events" toggle for your keyboard, it wasn't on by default for me despite the key modifications
    – Alessandro
    Jun 21, 2023 at 8:05
27

The correct way to fix your problem is to get your Mac to re-detect your keyboard type.

Open your Keyboard preferences (System preferences → Keyboard) and on the bottom left side you will see a "Change Keyboard Type" button.

Keyboard - System preferences

Click on it and follow the instructions.

6
  • 8
    this should be the accepted answer, and the best for mojave! Dec 13, 2018 at 18:03
  • 1
    Had the same issue, and this helped! Thanks a lot! Mar 6, 2019 at 10:22
  • Indeed this is the correct answer. The others are band-aids Nov 10, 2021 at 0:22
  • 6
    This option is missing on Monterey 12.4 :( Jul 15, 2022 at 21:10
  • Thank you! That should be the correct answer as it does not require the setup of extra tools.
    – AlexHalkin
    Jan 19, 2023 at 16:01
12

With Karabiner-Elements, it can be done by swapping non_us_backslash and grave_accent_and_tilde keys like so:

Karabiner-Elements Simple Modifications screenshot

I needed this setup for my German keyboard which use with both English and German layout.

2
  • This worked for me - I would never have stumbled upon non_us_backslash - the other option key solutions won't work for me as I use both '`' and '~' all the time.
    – bloke_zero
    Jul 20, 2018 at 8:47
  • Funny since Karabiner Elements was the application for me that screwed it up. I had to quit Karabiner Elements to get the keyboard to work normally again. I have not changed this setting from karabiner elements. Of course I could do this and have both working, but I feel that Karabiner should not change this in the first place
    – Shuyinsama
    Jul 13, 2020 at 5:43
10

Usually ~ character is associated with "n" letter. So you can do ~ using Option+N keys.

When you do not know how to type a character, you should try the keyboard viewer in the last tab of the "langage and text" icon of the prefs panel.

9
  • Protest ;-) There's no "Alt" in OS X. See superuser.com/questions/25005/… ;-) (Option-N followed by n or N can be used to get ñ and Ñ. But indeed, Option-N followed by space yields just ~. Still, Brock's keyboard layout does not match the actual keyboard.)
    – Arjan
    Nov 3, 2009 at 11:04
  • Sorry, on french layout the "option" is also co-named "alt"
    – Luka
    Nov 3, 2009 at 11:12
  • I edited the answer to take your comment into account. Thanks !
    – Luka
    Nov 3, 2009 at 11:15
  • on french layout the "option" is also co-named "alt" -- yes, on my Macs as well, but that's not used in OS X. Of course, it's not a real issue (let's get world peace first). See that link I gave for some thoughts on "Backspace" and "Alt". I actually hope that French keyboards have a tilde key as well? I can't live without it, like using Command-~ to switch between application windows.
    – Arjan
    Nov 3, 2009 at 11:20
  • 5
    On my layout option + n produces a ˜, which is different to the tilde, which is ~
    – Josh Hunt
    Nov 3, 2009 at 12:23
5

What characters you get by typing with key, , or combination of the two (there's also , remember) depends on which language keyboard you use.

To find out all characters on your keyboard enable Keyboard & Character Viewer in Input Sources inside Language & Text.

With U.S. keyboard type ` (near the left Shift button).

5

On a Mac, tilde can be obtained using the key combination Alt+5.

Let me stress that Alt+5 returns tilde ~, whereas Alt+n returns tilde as character apice ˜.

3
  • You're right that Alt+n gives ˜ which is not the true tilde, but Alt+5 gives me ∞. I'm using the UK keyboard layout on an American hardware keyboard.
    – Timmmm
    Dec 24, 2013 at 13:41
  • 1
    If you want the real tilde, try Alt+n and then press the space bar...your "fake" tilde will be converted to a "real" tilde ;-) Jul 28, 2015 at 15:00
  • @ClintEastwood ˜ is not ~... Sep 22, 2021 at 9:53
2

On my macbook air with Danish keyboard layout, ~ key combination is alt + ^.

2
  • Works with a Swwedish (external) keyboard connected to a Mac Book Pro. Oct 21, 2013 at 8:29
  • Does not work with UK keyboard layout on US hardware keyboard.
    – Timmmm
    Dec 24, 2013 at 13:42
2

In my case, on OSX 10.9.1 ~ on my German Airbook using US American layout is mapped to Shift and the key directly to its right.

2

The best and easiest way is:

  1. Shift+` Obs.: Between left Shift and z

  2. Then s p a c e

show on keyboard

1
  • The answer I needed basically I do shift + > = ~ I got Tilda. Yeyyy
    – Ani
    Feb 24, 2023 at 20:48
0

I set up KeyRemap4MacBook application and type ~ with shift+escape

setting tilde key to shift escape in KeyRemap4MacBook

0

And for those amoung us using a mac keyboard with Spanish keyboard layout, ~ key combination is alt + ñ (the Spanish ñ, instead of n).

0

For me the answer was to do the System preferences -> Keyboard -> "Change Keyboard Type" operation in the answer https://superuser.com/a/1277702/501186 - BUT, instead of using the ISO option it suggested, I needed to choose the ANSI option.

Even though I'm in the UK, all my keycaps now reflect the right values.

I'm using a Logitech K860. This never used to be a problem, until my keyboard started randomly disconnecting and I performed a reset on it.

0

I encountered a similar problem where I have a German keyboard with an english keyboard layout and the window switcher in Mac OS X was supposed to be activated by pressing Cmd+~.

However, when I pressed it, it didn't work as expected. While some previous answers in here work, they don't apply to Mac OS X 13.1 Ventura since the system preferences menu has changed. I was able to fix the problem by going to System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard shortcuts -> Keyboard and then reset the ”Move focus to status menus” to Cmd+`.

enter image description here

0

In my MacBook (2007) keyboard I get the ~ by combining Shift+` (the next key to the right).

0

You can remap using this file:

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.example.KeyRemapping.plist

You can use this tool to generate the configuration:

You just need these two lines in the "UserKeyMapping" section:

{
    "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0x700000064,
    "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0x700000035
}

This will map the "Keyboard Non-US" to be "Keyboard Grave Accent and Tilde".

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