If this happens follow these instructions to change it back to your original layout using a UK British keyboard layout as an example: If one day you find suddenly that you can no longer type the “tilde” sign anymore on a Mac keyboard after an update to macOS, it may be because the language settings on your Mac have been reset. A tilde is also known as a “home” symbol when using Terminal in macOS.If you’re using an external PC keyboard connected to your Mac, the ALT key is the same as Option key.The ALT key and the Option key are the same thing but confusingly, on many European and UK keyboards the word “Alt” doesn’t appear and it just says “Option” with a symbol.If you’re not sure which region or country your keyboard is from, check Apple’s list of keyboard localizations.If you’re using a Scandinavian Apple keyboard such as Swedish, Finish, Danish, Norwegian or Icelandic keyboard, then you can type a tilde on Mac by pressing Alt (Option) + ^.

If you’re using a Spanish Apple keyboard, press Alt ⌥ (Option) + ñ to get the tilde symbol on its own.Ĥ. If you’re using a British Apple UK or European Apple keyboard, hold down the Alt key (also known as the Option key) and press the tilde key on the left hand side of the keyboard between the Shift and Z key.ģ. You’ll see the tilde symbol above the hyphen key on your keyboard.Ģ. On US Apple keyboards, hold down the Shift key and press the tilde key on the left under the Escape key. Here’s how to type a tilde on a Mac on US, UK, Spanish and Scandinavian keyboards.ġ. How To Control Alt Delete on a Mac To Force Quit Apps.How To Get Microsoft Office For Mac For Free.This can be incredibly frustrating if you just to want to type a tilde on social networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook or in word processing documents and Terminal in macOS.

The confusion for many users is because US, UK, Spanish and Scandinavian Apple keyboards have a slightly different layout. If you’ve got a Spanish Apple keyboard you press Alt ⌥ (Option) + ñ to get a tilde and Alt ⌥ (Option) + ^ on a Scandinavian keyboard. Not all Mac keyboards have a dedicated tilde sign key ~ like some PC keyboards do but you can get a tilde on a Mac by pressing Shift + tilde key on a US Apple keyboard and Shift + tilde key on a UK Apple keyboard. The tilde is often used a linguistic diacritical mark but is also sometimes referred to as a “home” symbol as it allows you to access the home directory in macOS Terminal by typing “cd ~”. If you’re going crazy trying to work out how to type a tilde ~ symbol on a Mac, here we show you how to type a tilde on a Mac.

Mac tilde shortcut