Fastest way to get an Euro symbol at a prompt?

Question

First of all I'm working on a keyboard using a QWERTY layout.

Now once in a while I need to get the Euro (€) symbol in my terminal (typically in a xterm).

If I cut'n'paste the Euro symbol, it shows up fine in my xterms, which have their locale set like this:

$ echo $XTERM_LOCALE 
en_US.UTF-8

How can I configure my Linux (Debian / X) so that I can easily (and fastly) output an Euro symbol, without messing my setup? (for example, I'm not switching to a non-QWERTY layout).

I don't care if it only works in X / xterm, that would be good enough for me.

Ideally I'd need a way to configure a shortcut that I can change to my will, to be sure it wouldn't interfere with my usual shortcuts.

Say, if I want to have ctrl+alt+e to output:€ in my xterm, how would I go about it?

Answer 1

If you setup a ComposeKey then you can enter the Euro with the sequence compose-E-=, and get lots of other special characters in a similar way.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GtkComposeTable has some relevant information (not all of it specific to Gtk or Ubuntu; compose key works even if you have no gtk or Gnome) See also How do I put a hat on 'e' (ê)? and Remapping caps-lock to escape, and menu to compose, on the linux console

Answer 2

The easiest way would be to use a compose key.

Ubuntu has a community page that describes this feature very well, but I'm not sure about its accuracy when not using Ubuntu. The page says that Shift+RightAlt is the default key but it was not for me on Debian (although I do not use the normal US English layout).

Personally I set my compose key to the Menu key because I didn't find the default behavior of it useful.

After you have a working compose key configured, typing a Euro symbol with it can be done using at least 8 different combinations. Press and release (do not hold it and type the next character, it is not a modifier key) the compose key, followed by e, then =.

You can use either e or c, and E or C work as well. Additionally the order of the two characters does not matter for this composition so you can enter the = first.

Answer 3

The Euro symbol (€) is Unicode character U+20AC, so at least one of the following should work:

• Press and hold Shift+Ctrl while you type U20A and C (and then release Shift and Ctrl).
• Type Shift+Ctrl+U (i.e., press and hold Shift+Ctrl while you type U, and then release Shift and Ctrl), then type 20A and C, and then press and release Shift+Ctrl.

Answer 4

One option is make the Euro symbol accessible on the third level of the keyboard layout. This is the level above the second level (Shift+key).

First of all, you have some options when it comes to which key to access the Euro sign on. If you want the Euro sign on the E key on the French layout:

setxkbmap -option eurosign:e fr

Here are the other ready-made options (source):

Option      Description
eurosign:e  Euro on E
eurosign:2  Euro on 2
eurosign:4  Euro on 4
eurosign:5  Euro on 5

However, it might be that you are using a layout where there is no third level, like the standard US layout. In that case the following will not suffice (Euro sign on E on US layout):

setxkbmap -option eurosign:e us

You need a key to access the third level. One common option (apparently used on many European keyboard layouts) is the AltGr key:

setxkbmap -option eurosign:e \
    -option lv3:ralt_switch \
    us

Another good option could be the Menu key, in case you don’t use its typical “application context” function:

setxkbmap -option eurosign:e \
    -option lv3:menu_switch \
    us

Now you have a standard US layout with only one third-level symbol. If you want to put the third level to more use you can choose the international variant of the US layout:

setxkbmap -option eurosign:e \
    -option lv3:menu_switch \
    "us(intl)"

Now you also have access to other third-level symbols like accented (diacritics) letters, ®, ¶, µ, «» and so on.

Configuration options

See the xkeyboard-config man page for the options that you can use with tools like setxkbmap(1).

Answer 5

Here (Fedora on an HP laptop, Latam keyboard) AltGr-E does the trick. I'm pretty sure it works the same on my Samsung netbook and my Asus ultrabook (all Latam).

Answer 6

May be this could help:

If the euro character is not represented in your X terminal emulator, you can change the default font by changing either the users' configuration files (.Xdefaults or .Xresources) or the system-wide configuration at /etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm:

 *font:     -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-120-*-*-c-*-iso8859-15
 *VT100*font2:           -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-70-*-*-c-*-iso8859-15
 *VT100*font3:           -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-100-*-*-c-*-iso8859-15
 *VT100*font4:           -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-120-*-*-c-*-iso8859-15
 *VT100*font5:           -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-140-*-*-c-*-iso8859-15
 *VT100*font6:           -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-200-*-*-c-*-iso8859-15

In /etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm, make sure you replace old lines with these options.

After editing a .Xdefaults file, reload it with xrdb -merge ~/.Xdefaults. (Similarly for .Xresources.)

Note that the derivative programs also use the font resource to set the default font, so the procedure is analogous.

FROM: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-euro-support/ch-applications.en.html