• In DOS and Microsoft Windows, symbols and accented characters not found on the keyboard are inserted by holding down the Alt key and typing number(s) on the numeric keypad. Three digit codes correspond to characters from different sets depending upon the region (code page 437 in the USA, code page 850 in Western Europe, etc.). Windows supports four digits codes with the first digit a zero, this enters Windows Alt keycodes. These codes don't correspond to Unicode, which is the international standard; the WordPad editor can be used to generate characters from many Unicode blocks. Internet Explorer doesn't support typing in decimal entity values more than 255; in practice this is immaterial, as Windows takes modulo 256 of Alt codes greater than 255 anyway). » :Note: doing certain alt-key sequences in certain web browsers can cause unexpected results (a blank page, enter, expired cache, etc).
  
  
• A variant of alt codes are Alt-X codes: they can be applied in WordPad and Microsoft Word 2002/2003 for Windows; the keystroke Alt + x will convert a Selected hexadecimal number to the corresponding character; see Unicode input methods, Windows Alt keycodes. Note, IE doesn't support this feature. you need to hold alt down
• The Linux console supports Alt codes using the same method as with Windows. In Vim editor, first type Ctrl-V u, then type in the hexadecimal number of the symbol or character desired, and it'll be converted into the symbol.
• In Mac OS X and in Mac OS 8.5 and later: choose the Unicode Hex Input keyboard layout. Hold down the Option key, and type the four-digit hex Unicode code point. Release the Option key; the equivalent character will appear. To type accents whilst using a standard Roman keyboard, hold down Option key then press `, e, i, n, and u for grave, acute, circumflex, tilde and umlaut respectively. Option can be used in conjunction with other keys to produce various other characters.
• In GTK+ applications, press Ctrl-Shift-U and then type the Unicode number (in hexadecimal) with Ctrl and Shift held down. Later versions don't require Ctrl and Shift to be held down while typing the number. GTK+ versions before version 2.10 require holding down Ctrl and Shift while entering the number (Ctrl-Shift-U doesn't exist in those versions).
• With most keyboards, you can do Alt+Down, let go of down, then type in the number.

Complete List

Other input methods

Quick Key (download) (Open Source Keyboard Extension)

Unicode Input Utility (Allows alt-codes on all programs)

Mophy Accents (Simplifies typing accented characters)

PopChar Demo Version (Similar to Quick Key)

FrKeysFurther Information

Get more info on 'Alt Codes'.

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