Almost all applications support Spanish accents. Guidelines for typing and using accents are given below. If you need to refer to additional characters, look under the Accents section.

Windows ALT Codes

In Windows, combinations of the ALT key plus a numeric code from the number keypad can be used to type a non-English character in any Windows application.

See the detailed instructions on the ALT Code How To for complete information on implementing the code. Additional options for entering accents in Windows are also listed in the Accents section of this Web site.

Spanish ALT Codes

Capital Vowels
Vwl ALT Code
Á ALT+0193
É ALT+0201
Í ALT+0205
Ó ALT+0211
Ú ALT+0218
Ñ ALT+0209
Ü ALT+0220
Lower Vowels
Vwl ALT Code
á ALT+0225
é ALT+0233
í ALT+0237
ó ALT+0243
ú ALT+0250
ñ ALT+0241
ü ALT+0252
Other Symbols
Sym ALT Code
¿ ALT+0191
¡ ALT+0161
º ALT+0186 (Masculine Ordinal)
ª ALT+0170 (Feminine Ordinal)
« ALT+0171 (Left Angle Quote)
» ALT+0187 (Right Angle Quote)
ALT+0128
 

Quick Examples

  1. To input capital Á (ALT+0193), hold down the ALT key then type 0193 (all four digits) on the numeric keypad. The ALT codes do not work with the row of number keys on the top.
  2. To input lowercase á (ALT+0225), change the code from 0193 to 0225.

See the ALT Code How To for complete information on implementing the code.

Windows International Keyboard Codes

In order to use these codes you must activate the U.S. international keyboard.

Once the U.S. International keyboard has been activated, you can use the codes below.

Windows International Keyboard Codes for Spanish
Character Description
Acute Accent (e.g.Ó)

(‘+V) – Type apostrophe (singe quote), then the vowel.

Ñ,ñ

Type SHIFT+~, then either lowercase n or capital N.

Ü, ü

("+V) – Type apostrophe (singe quote), then lowercase or capital U.

¿

RightAlt+?     (You must use the Alt key on the Right)

¡

RightAlt+1

«, »

RightAlt+[    
RightAlt+]      

Control+RightAlt+5

Windows Spanish Keyboard

If you wish to simulate a non U.S. keyboard, follow the instructions for
Activating Keyboard Locales to activate and switch Microsoft keyboards.

Macintosh Accent Codes

The Option codes below work in any Mac application.

Macintosh Option Codes for Spanish
Character Description
Acute Accent (e.g.Ó)

Type Option+E, then the vowel. For instance, to type á
hold down Option+E, then type lowercase A. To type Á, hold down Option+E, then type capital A.

Ñ,ñ

Type Option+N, then either lowercase N for ñ
or capital N for Ñ.

Ü, ü

Type Option+U, then either lowercase U for ü
or capital U for Ü.

¿

Shift+Option+?    

¡

Option+1

º, ª

Option+0 (Masculine Ordinal Number Marker)
Option+9 (Feminine Ordinal Number Marker)

«, »

Option+\  
Shift+Option+\ (Double Angle Quotes)

Shift+Option+2 (may not work for older System 9 fonts)

Spanish Web Pages

If you are developing Web pages with Spanish content, the following information can make sure that the content is properly displayed.

This section presents information specific to Spanish. For general information about developing non-English Web sites, see the Encoding Tutorial or the Web Layout sections.

Historical Encodings

Unicode (utf-8) is the preferred encoding for Web sites. However, the following historic encodings may still be encountered.

  • iso-8859-1 (Latin 1),
  • iso-8859-15 (adds support for the euro ()
  • win-1252

If possible, you should transition to Unicode.

Language Tags (Spain and Latin America)

Language Tags allow browsers and other software to process text more efficiently. They are also important for optimal screen reader accessibility.

Below are some common codes that might be used in the Hispanophone world.

Spanish and Major Dialects

The code es for Spanish is sufficient for most uses, but other dialectal codes could be useful in some situations

Historical Stages

  • osp (Old Spanish)

Spain Minority Languages

  • eu (Basque),
  • an (Aragaonese)
  • au (Asturian/Leon)
  • ca (Catalan)
  • ga (Galician)
  • ly (Ladino/Judeo-Spanish)

Latin American Minority Languages

The codes below represent macrolanguages. For codes relating to specific regions, see the Ethnologue.

  • ay (Aymara)
  • ayr (Aymara Altiplano)
  • gn (Guaraní/Tupi)
  • qu (Quechua)
  • zap (Zapotec)

See the Ethnologue for additional language codes by country.

HTML Entity Codes

Although typing accented letters directly into Web pages is possible, the following codes may needed in some Web platforms to ensure that a Spanish character is correctly displayed.

Use these codes to input accented letters in HTML. For instance, if you want to type señor you would type señor.

The numbers in parentheses are the numeric codes assigned in Unicode encoding. For instance, because ñ is number 241, señor can also be used to input señor. These numbers are also used with the Windows Alt codes listed above.

Spanish HTML Entity Codes

Capital Vowels
Vwl Entity Code
Á Á (193)
É É (201)
Í Í (205)
Ó Ó (211)
Ú Ú (218)
Ñ Ñ (209)
Ü Ü (220)
Lower Vowel
Vwl Entity Code
á á (225)
é é (233)
í í(237)
ó ó (243)
ú ú (250)
ñ ñ (241)
ü ü (252)
Other Punctuation
Sym Entity Code
¿ ¿ (191)
¡ ¡ (161)
º º (186)
ª ª (170)
« « (171)
» » (187)
‹
›
€
 

Links

Linux/Unix

Most content in Spanish.

Selected Minority Languages

Aymara

Aymara is an Andean language spoken in Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile. It is distinct from the Quechua language spoken by the Incan elite.

Basque (Euskara)

A non-related language spoken in the border between France and Spain.

Catalan/Valencian

See the Catalan page for more information.

Galician

A Romance language related to Spanish and Portuguese spoken on the northwestern portion of Spain north of Portugal.

Guaraní

Guaraní is widely spoken in Paraguay and is an official language there. Guaraní is part of the Guaraní-Tupi language family found in Eastern South America including Brazil.

Ladino/Judeo-Spanish

A form of Spanish as spoken by the medieval Jewish community. Most Ladino speakers were expelled from Spain in the late 1490s, but settled elsewhere in the Middle East.

Quechua

This was formerly the language of the Inca Empire and modern versions of Quechua are still spoken in pars of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.

Zapotec

This is actually a set of related languages from Oaxaca Mexico and nearby regions.

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