1/2 key on MacOSX?

Question

I need the key 1/2 (one-half) but I can't find it on my mac keyboard.

My keyboard is a Danish Mac keyboard.

Solution 1

Quick reference: copy it from here:

½

and paste where needed =)

Other than that; here's how you can produce the symbol:

2016 update

I'm currently on Yosemite (10.10) and nowadays (I assume this works the same on El Capitan) you can hit Ctrl-Cmd-Space (^⌘Space) to launch the very useful Emoji & Symbols utility. For example, type "half" into the search at the top to find ½. It also lets you easily use the emojis you're used to on iPhone that are missing from desktop version of Facebook. 😁

Original, 2009 answer

1. Select "Show Character Palette" from the Input menu (the flag at top-right corner in the menu bar).
2. Find category "Symbols" ➔ "Numbers and Number Symbols"
3. Scroll down and you'll find ½ along with stuff like ⅗ and whatnot.

Solution 2

If you need to type the symbol, here is some documentation on how to do it.

OS X Lion

Enter special characters or symbols from the Character Viewer

1. Open a document, and place the insertion point where you want the special character or symbol to appear.

2. Choose Edit > Special Characters to open the Character Viewer, or choose Show Character Viewer from the Input menu in the menu bar (looks like a flag or character). If you don’t see Show Character Viewer in the Input menu, follow the steps in this topic to show the Character Viewer in the menu bar.

3. Select a category from the list on the left, and then select the character you want to use. Use the Recently Used or Favorites sections in the Character Viewer to quickly enter frequently used characters or symbols.

Mac OS X v10.6

To show the Character Viewer:

• Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Language & Text, and then click Input Sources.

• Select the Keyboard & Character Viewer checkbox.

To use the Character Viewer:

• Open a document, and place the insertion point where you want the special character or symbol to appear.

• Choose Edit > Special Characters to open the Character Viewer, or choose Show Character Viewer from the Input menu in the menu bar (looks like a flag or character).

• Choose the type of characters you want to see from the View pop-up menu.

• If you don’t see the View pop-up menu, click the button in the upper-right corner of the Character Viewer to show the top portion of the window.

• Click By Category, and then select a category on the left.

• Double-click the symbol you want to use on the right.

Source

Solution 3

For ½ ⅓ ⅔ etc on Lion 10.7.x on most applications click Edit-Special Characters... And look at Digits - All. (If digits all is not listed click the Gear-Customize List and check off Digits - All.

Comments

[Assaf Levy]

Use of the Character Palette is explained (with greater verbosity) in the KB article which Daniel posted earlier: support.apple.com/kb/HT1518. Still, I wanted to add the full answer here on SU, instead of just a link.

[Nippysaurus]

@Jonik You beat me to it >.<

[Assaf Levy]

When this question was closed on SO, but not yet migrated to SU, I wrote the answer ready... to be the first to post after migration (and hoping it would eventually be migrated) :)

[kinokijuf]

The ⅗ looks like 3/6 on my screen (it is supposed to be 3/5)

[pluckyglen]

You can also search in that palette (upper right corner). Typing "half" works for this symbol.

[Cory T]

@McDonald's Like a reference to the list of extended characters for Danish on the mac? I feel that's a bit beyond my reach as I don't have any bootable OS X volume/machine in the house anymore nor any VM setup as such. As for the international menu with the keyboard viewer, that's available via the System Preferences (via the Apple menu) in the International section. Either turn on the international menu item or I think there's a way to enable it as part of the language chooser when using command-space or command-option-space to toggle languages.

[Cory T]

@McDonald's no biggie I was just wondering how far down the rabbit hole I was expected to lead OP :) I've switched away from OS X for quite a while so working from memory made it a touch harder ;)

[Giacomo1968]

That seems to only create stuff like this: 1⁄2, I think the original poster wants the 1/2 to be in one character like this: ½

[Anshul]

While this is not exactly what OP asked for, but it is helpful information indeed as it gives you better looking fractions for any numerator and denominator. Thumbs up!