Alt Codes (aka Special Characters)

How do you type special characters?

Here's How:
Each special character is assigned to a number sequence. But they have to be keyed while you hold the alt key down.

Alt-156 will get you £.
Alt-21 will get you §.

So holding Alt down with my left hand, I type in the number sequence on the number pad with my right. Once I lift up the alt key (after finishing the number sequence) the special character appears. I have tested this in World of Warcraft on my PC. I am not sure if this works on a Mac.

Numlock: If you have any problems, make sure your numlock key is on. For those who still have autorun bound to numlock and that suddenly starts you running just hit "w" or "s" to stop you while keeping numlock on. Then, when this is all said and done, remap autorun to Mouse Button 4 (you know the little one on the side by your thumb), if you have it, and thank me in the morning.

Here is a table of special characters you may find useful if you ever have to type a character's name that includes a special character(s):

The Table:

A	á=160 Á=0193	à=133 À=0192	â=131 Â=0194	ä=132 Ä=0196	å=134 Å=0197	ª=166
AE	æ=145 Æ=146
C	ç=135 Ç=128
Œ	œ=0156 Œ=0140
E	é=130 É=144	è=138 È=0200	ê=136 Ê=0202	ë=137 Ë=0203
F	ƒ=159
I	í=161 Í=0205	ì=141 Ì=0204	î=140 Î=0206	ï=139 Ï=0207
N	ñ=164 Ñ=165
O	ó=162 Ó=0211	ò=149 Ò=0210	ô=147 Ô=0212	ö=148 Ö=153	º=167
U	ú=163 Ú=0218	ù=151 Ù=0217	û=150 Û=0219	Ü=154
Y	ý=0253 Ý=0221	ÿ=152

Links:
Additional websites with the codes and characters:

• A table with description of the Unicode/Hexidecimal values.
• Another table from yellowpipe. (I had originally discovered the three digit codes one by one myself back in the days before you could Google this stuff but I only got through the three digit codes. I found this yellowpipe table helpful to add the four digit codes.)

Blizzard's Naming Policies: (Which generally only say you cannot have a name that is complete "Gibberish")

• Naming Policy
• Naming Policy on wow-europe
• Update (August 2009) - When paying for your name change, Blizzard now says that "Your New Character Name cannot contain special characters and must follow the World of Warcraft Naming Policy." (link)
  

Some Blue Posts (courtesy of WoW Blue Tracker) about Names with Special Characters:

• Names with special characters will have to be changed if reported (August 2006)
• Extended ASCII is not permitted in names (February 2007)
• A helpful Mod for clicking names (Also February 2007)

Now, let's all go report some Gold Sellers!

Although if you've been reading along you know I'm too lazy to do it unless they get snippy...

Update 10/3/2007:
Cyrillic Character Change in Patch 2.2.2

We wanted to inform players whose character names contain letters from the Cyrillic alphabet that they will receive an automatic forced name change upon the release of patch 2.2.2. Allowing the input of Cyrillic characters in names was the result of an accidental code change. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Cyrillic characters will still be usable in the in-game chat, however.