AZERTY

AZERTY is a keyboard layout. It is very similar to the QWERTY keyboard layout. It is mainly used in France and Belgium.

AZERTY layout used in Belgium

Same Belgian keyboard under Linux (Ubuntu 9.10)

AZERTY layout used in France

It is almost the same as the QWERTY keyboard, but it swaps the letter Q and A, as well as W and Z. The letter M is moved from right to N to the position of the semicolon on QWERTY keyboards.

Extra Characters

The AZERTY keyboard has more characters than regular QWERTY. To type these characters, one must use the Alt Gr key or a dead key.

The Alt Gr key is similar to the Shift key. Holding the Alt Gr key and typing a key will type the character on the bottom right of that key. For example, holding Alt Gr and typing the E key will type € on most variants.

French, Dutch, and German words have accent marks. On an AZERTY keyboard, one can add accent marks to a letter by typing the accent's dead key then typing the letter. For example, typing the ^ key (to the right of the P key) then typing the A key will type the letter â.