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A dead key is a special kind of modifier key on a mechanical typewriter, or computer keyboard, that is typically used to attach a specific diacritic to a base letter. [1] The dead key does not generate a (complete) character by itself, but modifies the character generated by the key struck immediately after.
The cedilla key (dead letter) is still present in the secondary group 2a (see Figure 2) in the Canadian standard. It is possible to completely do without the dead key for the grave accent, as the only three French letters that use it (À, È, and Ù) are directly accessible in both lowercase and uppercase on this keyboard.
The Menu key or Application key is a key found on Windows-oriented computer keyboards. It is used to launch a context menu with the keyboard rather than with the usual right mouse button. The key's symbol is usually a small icon depicting a cursor hovering above a menu.
In computing, a modifier key is a special key (or combination) on a computer keyboard that temporarily modifies the normal action of another key when pressed together. By themselves, modifier keys usually do nothing; that is, pressing any of the ⇧ Shift, Alt, or Ctrl keys alone does not (generally) trigger any action from the computer.
The Latvian QWERTY keyboard layout is most commonly used; its layout is the same as the United States one, but with a dead key, which allows entering special characters (āčēģīķļņōŗšūž). The most common dead key is the apostrophe ('), which is followed by Alt+Gr (Windows default for Latvian layout). Some prefer using the tick (`).
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Notes: Dotted circle ( ) is used here to indicate a dead key, invoked using AltGr. The ` (grave accent) key is the only one that acts as a free-standing dead key and thus does not respond as shown on the key-cap. (For a complete list of the characters generated using dead keys, see QWERTY#ChromeOS.)
Keys can be dedicated to pre-composed characters or alternatively a dead key mechanism can be provided. With the latter, a mark is made when a dead key is typed but, unlike normal keys, the paper carriage does not move on and thus, the next letter to be typed is printed under the accent.