I have to maintain a large number of classic ASP pages, many of which have tabular data with no sort capabilities at all. Whatever order the original developer used in the database query is what you're stuck with.
I want to to tack on some basic sorting to a bunch of these pages, and I'm doing it all client side with javascript. I already have the basic script done to sort a given table on a given column in a given direction, and it works well as long as the table is limited by certain conventions we follow here.
What I want to do for the UI is just indicate sort direction with the caret character ( ^ ) and ... what? Is there a special character that is the direct opposite of a caret? The letter v
won't quite cut it. Alternatively, is there another character pairing I can use?
16 Answers
Where am I supposed to learn the meaning of the weird key-combination symbols on a Mac? I'm specifically talking about the hollow up arrow, the broken switch circuit symbol, the hollow up arrow with a hollow square under it, the caret, the forward arrow with a bar or pipe in front, and the circle with an arrow leading out of it. How to Make Symbols on a Mac. Your Mac's special characters are a boon to translators, mathematicians, and other people who are too cool to use:) as an emoji. Keyboard shortcuts and the Edit → Special Characters.
Don't forget the ∧ (logical and) and ∨ (logical or) characters, that's what I use for indicating sort direction: HTML entities ∧
& ∨
respectively.
There's always a lowercase 'v'. But seriously, aside from Unicode, all I can find would be &darr
, which looks like ↓.
An upside-down circumflex is called a caron, or a háček.
It has an HTML entity in the TADS Latin-2 extension to HTML: ˇ
and looks like this: ˇ which unfortunately doesn't display in the same size/proportion as the ^ caret.
Or you can use the unicode U+30C
.
A powerful option – and one which also boosts creativity – is designing your own characters using box drawing characters.
Want a down pointing 'caret'? Here's one: ╲╱
I've recently discovered them — and I take great pleasure at using such custom designed characters for labeling things all around :) .
You might be able to use the black triangles, Unicode values U+25b2 and U+25bc. Or the arrows, U+2191 and U+2193.
˅˅˅ Hǝɹǝ,s ɐ ɯɐʇɔɥᴉuƃ sǝʇ˙ ˅˅˅
˄˄˄ Here's a matching set. ˄˄˄
'Actual size': ˅˄˅˄
(more info)
'Actual size': ⋁⋀⋁⋀
I'd use a couple of tiny images. Would look better too.
Alternatively, you can try the Character Map utility that comes with Windows or try looking here.
Another solution I've seen is to use the Wingdings font for symbols. That has a lot fo arrows.
I did subscript capital & bolded V. It works perfectly (although it takes some effort, if it needs to be done repetitively)
Syntax:
Output:
v
You might consider using Font Awesome instead of using the unicode or other icons
The code can be as simple as (a) including font-awesome e.g. <link href='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css'>
(b) making a button such as <button><i></i></button>
The ^
(Caret - or Ascii Circumflex), produced by pressing shift
+ 6
, does not appear to have an Ascii opposite, namely an Ascii Inverted Circumflex.
But for your alternative character pairing that also have keyboard combinations, you could use:
ˆ (Circumflex) shift
+ alt
+ i
and
ˇ (Caron) shift
+ alt
+ t
Source: fileformat.info
There is no upside down caret character, but you can easily rotate the caret with CSS. This is a simple solution that looks perfect. Press 'Run code snippet' to see it in action:
Please note the following...
- I did a little correction for the positioning of the caret, as it is normally high (thus low in the rotated version). You want to move it a little up. This 'little' is relative to the font-size, hence the 'em'. Depending on your font choice, you might want to fiddle with this to make it look good.
- This solution does not work in IE8. You should use a filter if you want IE8 support. IE8 support is not really required nor common in 2018.
- If you want to use this in combination with Twitter Bootstrap, please rename the class 'caret' to something else, like 'caret_down' (as it collides with a class name from Twitter Bootstrap).
Could you just draw an svg path inside of a span using document.write? The span isn't required for the svg to work, it just ensures that the svg remains inline with whatever text the carat is next to. I used margin-bottom to vertically center it with the text, there might be another way to do that though. This is what I did on my blog's side nav (minus the js). If you don't have text next to it you wouldn't need the span or the margin-bottom offset.
If you are needing font-awesome for React Apps then React Icons is a very good resource and very easy to implement. It includes a lot more libraries than just font-awesome.
protected by David PfefferAug 3 '17 at 0:39
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Circumflex accent marks, also called carets, look like little hats over a letter and are found in foreign words that have been adopted into English such as the word château, whichmeans castle.
Circumflex accent diacritical marks are used in Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek languages. Since computers users in the U.S. most likely use a Latin alphabet keyboard, the languages and words most often borrowed into English with circumflex accents come primarily from the French language.
In English, a circumflex accent mark is sometimes retained when its spelling in English is the same as in its original language, such as the word for the French delicacy, crème brûlée.
In the case of the lowercase i, a caret or a circumflex accent mark replaces the dot on the i.
Circumflex accent marks can be found on these upper- and lowercase vowels: Â, â, Ê, ê, Î, î, Ô, ô, Û, and û.
Different Strokes for Different Platforms
There are several keyboard shortcuts and methods to render a circumflex accent mark on your keyboard depending on your platform.
Most Mac and Windows keyboards have a caret key — the shift of the 6 key — for inline caret marks, but it cannot be used to accent a letter. The caret is sometimes used in mathematical formulas or in computer programming languages.
Some programs or platforms have special keystrokes for creating diacriticals, including caret marks. See the application manual or search the help guide if the following keystrokes do not work for creating caret marks for you.
Mac Computers
You have a couple of options for generating a circumflex mark on a Mac.
Accent menu: On a Mac, hold down a vowel while typing to create a character with the circumflex accent mark. A small accent menu pops up with different diacritical accent options, each of which has a number beneath it. Either click the number key — in this case, the 3 — or select the accented version by clicking on it directly in the accent menu to insert a character with a circumflex mark in the test you are typing. For the uppercase version of the character, press the 'Shift' key before you type the letter to be accented.
Emoji & Symbols: The other way to access circumflex marks on a Mac is through the Edit > Emoji & Symbols menu. Open the menu and type 'circumflex' in the search bar. Select the accent you want to use in the results window to open variations on the mark. Select one of the variations to use in your text.
Windows PCs
On Windows PCs, enable 'Num Lock' on the numeric keypad to the right side of your keyboard. Hold down the 'Alt' key while typing the appropriate number code on the numeric keypad to create characters with circumflex accent marks.
If you do not have a numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard, these numeric codes will not work. The row of numbers at the top of the keyboard, above the alphabet, do not work for numeric codes.
Numeric codes for upper-case circumflex accent marks:
- Â = Alt + 0194
- Ê = Alt + 0202
- Î = Alt + 0206
- Ô = Alt + 0212
- Û = Alt + 0219
Numeric codes for lower-case circumflex accent marks:
- â = Alt + 0226
- ê = Alt + 0234
- î = Alt + 0238
- ô = Alt + 0244
- û = Alt + 0251
If you do not have a numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard, you can copy and paste accented characters from the character map. For Windows, locate the character map by clicking Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map. You can also click on Windows and type 'character map' in the search box. Select the letter you need and paste it into the document you are working on.
HTML
Computer programmers use HyperText Markup Language (HTML) as the basic computer language to build web pages. HTML is used to create almost every page you see on the web. It describes and defines the content of a web page.
In HTML, render characters with circumflex accent marks by typing the '&'(ampersand symbol), then the letter (e, U, and so on), then 'circ,' followed by ';' (a semicolon) without any spaces between them, such as:
- ê = ê
- Û = Û
IOS and Android Mobile Devices
A long press on any vowel key on your iPhone, iPad, or Android mobile phone or tablet keyboard brings up options for the key you are pressing. One of those options is the circumflex mark. Just slide your finger to the option you want to use.