Unused symbols

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Revision as of 06:44, 28 May 2023 by Umbire the Phantom (talk | contribs) (phrasing)
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Printable ASCII characters
~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + space
` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = { } |
Qq Ww Ee Rr Tt Yy Uu Ii Oo Pp : " [ ] \
Aa Ss Dd Ff Gg Hh Jj Kk Ll ? ; ' Ctrl
Zz Xx Cc Vv Bb Nn Mm , . / < > Alt

The ASCII characters 6, 7, 8, and 9 are not used to represent anything in NetHack by default. However, you can use the keys 09 to specify a numeric prefix for a command or in a menu.

, is used only on the Rogue level to represent an amulet. , is also the pick up command, and the command to select all things on the current page in a menu in the tty and curses interfaces.

Some players change the "monsters" option in the options file to take advantage of one of these unused symbols. A default line looks like:

OPTIONS=monsters:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ@ '&;:~]

One alternative is:

OPTIONS=monsters:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ@8'&;:~]

which uses "8" for ghosts and shades. This makes them generally easier to see, especially when using telepathy or other means of detecting monsters that would otherwise display a blank glyph unless you move the cursor over its square (e.g. using m to cycle through visible monsters while far looking).

Historical uses


This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.