Symbols With The Alt Key Plus Numbers

Have you ever stared at your keyboard and thought, "I wish I could type a heart, a spade, or a slightly passive-aggressive smiley without opening a character map?" Congratulations, you are about to discover the mildly mystical world of Alt codes. These are the little incantations you perform by holding down the Alt key and typing a sequence of numbers on the numeric keypad. It is like Harry Potter, except your wand is a keyboard and your spell sometimes produces a £ instead of a ★. Brilliant.

Alt Codes: The Secret Handshake of the Keyboard Underworld

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Alt codes are the keyboard equivalent of a secret society. You press Alt + 1 and get , a smiley that looks like it has seen things. Alt + 3 gives you ♥, which is perfect for reminding your mate that you love them but also forgot their birthday. Alt + 4 is a diamond ♦, ideal for pretending you are a high-rolling card shark instead of someone eating toast over the sink. The magic only works if you use the numeric keypad on the right, not the row of numbers above the letters. If you try it on a laptop without a numpad, you may enter a dimension of pure frustration. Some laptops hide a numpad