Most of the differences between European and US keyboards make sense for reasons of localisation. However, one thing I've always felt the US keyboards did better (and all EU keyboards I've used seem to have this flaw), is having the ~ symbol on beside the number 1. EU keyboards instead have the ` key in that spot. For me to type a tilde, I have to press shift+# which is beside the enter key, an awkard combination for a symbol I use rather frequently.
Uses of ~:
- Approx
- Home Directory on *x systems
Uses of `:
- Executing shell commands in PHP
- Escaping things on Stack Overflow and co.
Now as you can see, your likely to use your home directory on a command line more often that executing shell commands in PHP, and your about a billion times more likely to use approx than to escape something on SO/SF/SU.
Does anyone know the reason why these keys are switched?
Best Answer
On US keyboards, ~ is the same as Shift`. From what I can see, it looks like the opposite is the case on EU keyboards, so the functionality is practically the same. Is that incorrect?