How can I type the command key symbol (sometimes called the cloverleaf
symbol) using the standard keyboard on a Macintosh running OS X?  I
used to use Chicago font under OS 9 and type Control-Q.  But now
they've taken that away.  I've tried the Keycaps utility and looked
through all the symbols in the Character Palette with no success.

Hello.

Change the font to Wingdings and type a lowercase Z.

Source: newsgroup message, hosted by Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet&selm=arjf-0C5D6C.09540027072001%40msnews.microsoft.com

I'm using OS X right now, and I personally tested this solution in
several applications, including Microsoft Word X.  It works.

The command symbol also appears on the Z key when you view the
Wingdings font using the Keycaps utility.

search strategy: google groups: "command symbol", control

I hope this helps.

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Request for Answer Clarification by dataman-ga on 23 Mar 2003 21:30 PST

Thank you for your prompt reply.  Although I purchased a copy of
"Jaguar" and installed it weeks ago, now that I search for Wingdings,
it does not appear to be on my hard drive.  Even worse, when I went
searching for it on Google, I got references to its use but nothing on
where to download or buy it.  Any suggestions?  Who is the original
font foundry for this, do you know?

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 23 Mar 2003 21:48 PST

Hi Dataman,
I checked Wingdings. Microsoft makes the font, so I guess it comes
with Office, Word, etc.
I'll look into some of the options mentioned by nitebird below, and
I'll get back to you. Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 23 Mar 2003 22:09 PST

Hi.

I've checked Nitebird's suggestion, and it's a good one. If you open
the Character Palette and select "view: All" and then click on the
Unicode Table tab, you can scroll to row 2310 and select the command
image (symbol 2318).  Thus, I extend my thanks to nitebird below for
the good tip.  I had just assumed that you had Wingdings. Apparently,
it's a Microsoft font, so if you don't have any Microsoft applications
on your machine, it's possible that you don't have it.

Best regards,
juggler

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Request for Answer Clarification by dataman-ga on 23 Mar 2003 22:15 PST

I have been playing with the Character Palette box extensively and
found a number of strange things, but at least I can see and "insert"
the character from a variety of fonts I do have.  I still can't get it
directly from the keyboard, though (without doing the special UNIX key
mapping).

At least I know why I don't have Wingdings now.  I don't have MS
Office installed on this machine!  I hate using Word, so I use
TextEdit or Appleworks instead.  But I do have Office 98 on an older
machine, so I'll fire that up and see if I can get it from there or
I'll just get a copy of it from a client who has the most recent
version of Word installed on their system.  That is, unless Microsoft
sells it independently of their Office Suite, in which case I'd buy it
(I'm the honest sort).
So look, you've been a great help - you've given me more than $5.00
worth here.  I'll add some $ when we're done.  No need to work that
much further on this.  I get the idea and I'm going to give Apple a
piece of my mind about how they broke KeyCaps (and I'll also
complement them on the extensive research you can do under Character
Palette - might as well give credit where it's due.

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 23 Mar 2003 22:30 PST

You may very well have the Wingdings font on the machine that has
Office 98.  I looked at the file information. It's the same Wingdings
1.04, c.1992, that is also installed on an OS9 Mac that I have. My
guess is that Microsoft has been distributing Wingdings 1.04 with its
Mac software for a while now.  Let me know if you need any more
assistance on this. Thanks.

Thanks to juggler for really going the distance on this one!  I found
the font on my old computer, copied it over, and I'm all set.

Chicago's -- or Lucida Grande's, Mac OS X's system font -- cloverleaf
(the official Unicode name for this character, by the way, is "Place
of Interest Sign") may be accessed from the Character pallette;
however, you must select "All" from the "View" menu at the top of the
window. You will find what you're looking for as character 2318 of the
Unicode Table.  You'll also find it under the "Unicode Blocks" tab
under "Miscellaneous Technical" (which is halfway down the list at the
left).  Or, you may hunt for the cloverleaf in the "Glyph Catalog"
panel (and if you click on the triangle in the lower left corner, you
can see which fonts actually contain the cloverleaf).

If you don't want to go through the Character Pallette, you can also
use the Unicode Hex Input Keyboard (which you activate from System
Preferences/International/Input Menu). Select that keyboard
(identified by a Red Icon with "U+" on it), and hold down the option
key while you type 2318.

Or, if you really want to get creative, you can create your own custom
keyboard layout and assign option-Whatever to Unicode value 2318. A
free online keyboard layout generator for the Mac is available at:

http://wordherd.com/keyboards/

dataman,
Thank you for the tip. I'm glad everything worked out.
-juggler