US laptop keyboard & Irish/English config

I have a laptop purchased in the US which has a US keyboard layout. This includes keys for characters such as tilde (~), hash (#), backslash (\), forward slash (/) etc. which are often used when coding. I can switch to Irish/English keyboard layout (even on the fly using the Windows Language Bar and Left Alt + Shift) so that I can use the layout that I am more familiar with (even if it means that some keystrokes don't match up with the decals on the keys - e.g. US/English: Shift+2 = @; Irish/English: Shift+2 = "). However when I am in Irish/English mode I can't find any keystrokes for some of the characters mentioned above (~, #, /, \ etc.). Is there any way to access these characters in Irish/English mode on a US laptop keyboard without having to dynamically switch between US/English and Irish/English?

I have also tried the on-screen keyboard to see if the characters above are available in Irish/English mode but to no avail. I don't really want to use an external keyboard either.

Any ideas?

did you try change the regional settings on the control panel?

Yes, the regional settings are correctly set for Ireland, in particular those affecting the language and keyboard setup. The problem is that some characters such as the ones I mentioned above are not obviously readily available under the EN English (Ireland) setting. I am still relying on using Left Alt + Shift to dynamically switch between EN English (Ireland) and EN English (United States) as required but it's a bit of a pain.

Clubman, is [broken link removed] Microsoft link of any use to you?

It shows you images of the keyboard layouts for all keyboards.

(Link only works in IE unfortunately, being Microsoft.)

Thanks - unfortunately no easily accessible backslash in Irish mode. Oh well - guess I'll have to stick with Left Alt + Shift for dynamically switching between keyboard/language settings.

ClubMan said:

Thanks - unfortunately no easily accessible backslash in Irish mode. Oh well - guess I'll have to stick with Left Alt + Shift for dynamically switching between keyboard/language settings.

Click to expand...

My IBM Laptop has an extra key containing a backslash / divider (pipe symbol) between the Shift and Z keys. Pressing shift-backslash generates the divider char "|".

Don't suppose you have a divider key on the keyboard that you can try Shifting?

It's a Sony Vaio PCG-K23. I have a backslash (\) (pipe | when shifted) key between the ]/} and Page Up keys on the right had side of the row of keys down from the digit row. In EN English (United States) mode this generates \ (| when shifted). In EN English (Ireland) mode this generates # (~ when shifted). There is no key between the Z and the left Shift keys.

>>This includes keys for characters such as tilde (~), hash (#), backslash (\), forward slash (/) etc. which are often used when coding
Most coding environments allow you to set up macro + key combinations. Maybe you could write a few short macros?

Seems like overkill just to get a few individual characters? I guess I'll stick to switching between EN English (Ireland) (e.g. when writing text) and EN English (United States) (e.g. when writing code) using Left Alt + Shift as required