Comments on: Type the British Pound Symbol in Mac OS X

By: David

David — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:18:52 +0000

I found that ‘Shift 3′ works for me. E.G. Hold the Shift key down and then at the same time press the number 3.

By: Nicholas Shaxson

Nicholas Shaxson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:58:12 +0000

Why on earth do you call it ‘option’ when on my keyboard it says ‘alt’ for the key that does that.

It is confusing and pointless.

By: David

David — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:02:52 +0000

@Sam, the “option” and “alt” key on Macbook Pro’s and newer Mac keyboards (I have a 2 iMacs, Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, and MacBook for my small business) are on the same key in the U.S. It’s interesting that it differs for you.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:29:36 +0000

Wow! Thanks for that. I’ve been looking for the £ symbol for ages on my MacBook with a Spanish keyboard and thanks to you I’ve found it. It’s just the same as the German layout. Woo hoo £££!

By: Oktawson

Oktawson — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:06:47 +0000

I press Option(Alt) + Shift + R on my Mac and I get ‘£’ sign. Voila!

By: maxster94

maxster94 — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:25:17 +0000

I got my mac from Thailand and I live in the UK, there was a Thai and American language setting already on there but the when i set it to British and i did the option+3 i only get a # and i’ve tried all the stuff suggested above but still i can’t get a pound sign Is there something i haven’t tried or do i have to switch between British and American to get the pound sign?

By: Lucas

Lucas — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:04:24 +0000

Vielen Dank. Habe lange danach gesucht.

By: Capitán Futuro

Capitán Futuro — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:19:48 +0000

Phileas you are awesome! I just got a Macbook Air 11″ with Western-Spanish Keyboard because with this keyboard I can type in so many languages without using any layout through software. One thing was pending though until you helped telling us how to get the pound sterling symbol. I did Option+Shift+4 and it worked just as in your German Keyboard. ¡GRACIAS! Regards from Chile.

By: Hrefna

Hrefna — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:36:52 +0000

Neither option+3 nor shift+3 worked for me, that only gave me this:™ Thanks to Phileas´comment I figured out that I needed to press Option+shift+3 to get £.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:47:08 +0000

P.S. By the way, instead of “option 3″ it is “alt 3″ on my iMac keyboard.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:45:30 +0000

Thanks…..I know this post was from a long time ago but it’s saved a lot of hassle for me so thank you very much. I reset my keyboard when I moved from UK to Aus. Still dealing in GBP sometimes I was frustrated not being able to use the £ sign….but look there it is thanks to you!! )

By: Phileas_

Phileas_ — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:37:40 +0000

On a German Layout you have to press Option+Shift+4 to get £.
Auf einem Deutschen-Layout musst du alt+Umschalt+4 drücken.

By: kushla

kushla — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:57:38 +0000

superb i got it option +3 and u get it £, thank you….

By: Peter Lennon

Peter Lennon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:32:00 +0000

Yes – have to use HTML codes & l t ; for < and so on. Good to know.

By: Peter Lennon

Peter Lennon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:28:40 +0000

Aaaarghh – it was not obvious, but text enclosed here in angle brackets < > disappear. My previous comment should read

Unless you are using a British keyboard layout, in which case gives the pound sterling (£) symbol, and gives the # symbol. I’m not sure how many of the other suggested key strokes in this series for non-US-ASCII characters are valid on any other than US keyboard layouts. Apple has done a great job of internationalisation, but it means that keystroke combinations are not universal.