a shortcut to commands affecting windows, and is also used in conjunction with ASCII codes for typing special characters. Dead keys A dead key serves to modify the appearance of the next character to be typed on the keyboard. Dead keys are mainly used to generate accents (or diacritics) on vowels. Circumflex accent A circumflex accent can be generated by first striking the key (located to the right of in most AZERTY layouts), then the vowel requiring the accent (with the exception of y). For example, pressing then produces â. Diaeresis A diaresis can be generated by striking the key (in most AZERTY layouts, it is generated by combining the keys), then the vowel requiring the accent. For example, pressing then produces ä. Grave accent The grave accent can be generated by striking the key (in the French AZERTY layout it is located to the right of the key) on Macintosh keyboards, while on PC-type keyboards it can be generated by using the combination . In the Belgian AZERTY layout, the grave accent is generated by the combination (the key is located to the right of the key on Belgian AZERTY keyboards), and then the key for the vowel requiring the accent. Note that the grave-accented letters à, è, and ù (as well as the acute-accented é), which are part of French orthography, have their own separate keys. Dead-grave and dead-acute (and dead-tilde) would mostly be reserved to "foreign" letters such as Italian ò, Spanish á, í, ó, ú, and ñ, Portuguese ã and õ, etc., or for accented capital letters (which are not present precomposed in the layout). Acute accent The acute accent is available under Windows by the use of , then the vowel requiring the accent. The é combination can be generated using its own key. For Linux users, it can be generated using then the vowel. On a Macintosh AZERTY keyboard, the acute accent is generated by a combination of the , keys, followed by the vowel. In the Belgian AZERTY layout, a vowel with an acute accent can be generated by a combination of , then the vowel. The acute accent is not available in the French layout on Windows. Tilde The tilde is available under Windows by using a combination of the keys, followed by the letter requiring the tilde. On Macs, the ñ can be obtained by the combination of keys, followed by