Typing the # (hash/number) key on Mac OS X

by Matthew Ogston on September 23, 2007

Fumbling around on my shiny MacBook keyboard it’s sometimes hard to adjust from using a UK Windows keyboard. For a start, the @ and ” keys have been swapped around on the MacBook. But even more annoying is that the # key is not visible anywhere on the keys. So, after searching around i’ve now discovered the to type #, i must type the Alt (a.k.a. the Option key) and ’3′ together. Simple huh?

  • Ryan

    thanks :)

  • Face

    thanks. its been bugging me for while now. Especially when on twitter

  • Eyebatgirl

    thank you!

  • Deveraux

    Nice one. Thank you mate :)

  • JohnW

    anyone know what the ⌥ key is?

    • http://pagedo.com/ Matthew Ogston (PageDo)

      It's the ALT key, normally between the CMD and Control (CTRL) key.

  • Ayser_yucel

    ANNOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYING T,T

  • Bidemek

    Very helpful. Cheers

  • http://twitter.com/artfoundhelen Helen Falconer

    # Ooooooh!!! You ROCK!!! Thank you. That's had me stumped all day! Haha….

  • VinceG

    ##### Wehey…. Thank you. Now I've got it. Cheers.

  • Karl Horning

    ####################### It works! #######################

  • http://twitter.com/AshleyFairburn Ashley Fairburn

    Thank you so much I was getting really frustrated with that one

  • Louise Groves

    fabulous thanks, I was just on Twitter and thought I must be going crazy as could find no # key on my keyboard!

  • iggy 345

    thanks

  • http://www.jobpage.com Matthew Ogston (JobPage.com)

    What other Mac OSX shortcuts are driving you mad? If enough people request it, i'll compile a list of all the Mac shortcuts in one place. Leave your comment if you want it.

  • http://www.drgordonmurray.co.uk Gordon Murray

    Thanks, that’s been torturing me for ages. # is critcial to Twitter use too.

  • http://twitter.com/GoogleWizard1 Google Wizard

    You've saved my life! :) I couldn't even google ” where is the # key on a mac!” 

    http://www.google-wizard.co.uk

  • dancecraze5

    Thanks man, I can finally use Twitter now!!! :D

  • Aylmerhall

    But doesn't work in Gedit app (works in everything else…)

  • Greg

    Thankyou for this one. Being a newly Twitter lover I have needed the hash key and have until this point been using the on screen keyboard to do it. Soooo fiddle-y :P

  • http://twitter.com/VapingSam Samuel Munro

    I've just started using a MAC keyboard and found through trial and error that if you hold down ctrl + alt and press 3 you get a # sign.

  • Andie.

    thanks – still helping people 6 years later…

  • Suckdjs

    # works

  • Stephen

    Hey – just got a mac for the first time, and was made aware of this issue before it actually came up for me.

    However – any idea where I could get a list of the “hidden” keys so that I don’t fall foul of it in the future with any other commands/symbols etc?

    If anyone can locate a list that would be a massive help for more than just me I’m sure!! :-)

    Thanks.

    • programmer

      What do you mean by hidden keys?

      Do you want all the shortcuts, or just the ones like the hash…

  • Programmer

    Thanks very much. I’ve been needing it for python programming…

Previous post:

Next post: