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I was wondering if there is a well-known symbol for the Hyper key?

I found ✦ ("BLACK FOUR POINTED STAR" U+2726) used on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard but no comments were provided in the edit about why it was a black four pointed star in particular.

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    Is this a question about Macintosh computers or keyboards that have a dedicated hyper key (and not a combination of keys)? Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 9:20
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    It's a question about whether there is a known symbol for the dedicated Hyper key that exists on some keyboards, and where it's coming from. I'm guessing it also applies to whether there's a known symbol for the combination of keys used as the logical modifier "hyper" Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 9:39
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    For context, the WP revision in question was a blanket switch to the “Key top” template, which was created in 2015 with the pointed star as the Hyper symbol (and no explanation). Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 9:50
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    @StephenKitt This is important, since the keyboard only have the keys marked with the text 'HYPER'. Symbols are only used on the alpha numerical keys. Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 13:07
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    @UncleBod indeed, and that would be worth mentioning in the question — I’m not aware of any keyboard with a Hyper key and a symbol for it (unlike Meta which used a diamond, or more accurately a rotated square, on Sun keyboards). It’s possible the association with the four-pointed star is a Wikipedia invention. Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 13:27

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It’s difficult to prove a negative, but nevertheless I think it’s fair to say that no, the Hyper key doesn’t have a symbol. It wasn’t present on many keyboards; the two I’m aware of are the Space Cadet and the “simplified” Symbolics keyboard, both designed by Symbolics for use with Lisp Machines. These spelled out all their modifier keys on the keycaps (Ctrl, Shift, Meta etc.).

The only modifier keys with common symbols are Shift with the large arrow ⇧, arguably Meta which was represented as ◆ on Sun keyboards, and the Mac-specific ⌥ Option and ⌘ Command keys. Ctrl is often represented using a caret, ^, but I’m not aware of many keyboards actually using that (perhaps unsurprisingly since the caret itself typically appears on a key, used to produce a caret or a circumflex accent). The other symbols used on modifier keys in Wikipedia’s “Key top” template (created in 2015) aren’t generally used and might well be Wikipedia inventions.

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    Can confirm that option and command as depicted on that Wikipedia page have been present on Mac keyboards for most of its 40-year history, including presently, and are often used in documents (as well as on-screen to communicate shortcuts in pull-down menus). Though they're Mac things, so I guess it depends on your definition of 'common'. Commented Nov 29, 2024 at 21:35
  • Fair point @Tommy, I should mention those. Commented Nov 29, 2024 at 22:02
  • Microsoft use ✲ for Ctrl on their keyboards. I work in a place with mostly Surface laptops and I see it on pretty much all varieties of external keyboards in use. It's not used anywhere except on the keyboards, but it's common nonetheless. And not to mention, there's the Windows logo for the "Windows" (AKA meta) key. Commented Dec 11, 2024 at 2:32
  • @BenjaminPenney the symbol on the Ctrl key is news to me! I’ve found a few pictures of Microsoft keyboards with that symbol, but it seems to only have been used on a small selection of models, and AFAICT none of the keyboards currently sold by Microsoft feature it. I’ve never seen one in person! As far as the Windows key is concerned, I left it out because it’s mostly used as an action key, not a modifier key. Commented Dec 11, 2024 at 5:58
  • It's not a small selection. It's most commonly found on the ergonomic line. As far as why you can't find such keyboards sold by Microsoft, that's because MS stopped selling them in 2023 and are they're due to be launched under the Incase brand as "Incase designed by Microsoft". incase.com/cdn/shop/files/… incase.com/pages/incase-designed-by-microsoft I'm not sure what distinction you are making between a modifier and an action key. My point was that the Windows and Apple-specific keys map to Meta. Commented Dec 11, 2024 at 23:52
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Lisp machine modifier keys had abbreviations rather than symbols.

From to the Symbolics, Inc. Lisp Machines Summary 3600 Edition (August 1983), page 2:

Modifier kets are designed to be held down while pressing other keys. They do not themselves transmit characters. A combined keystroke like META-X is pronounced "meta x" and written as m-X. This notation means press the META key and, while holding it down, press the X key.

Modifier keys are abbreviated as follows:

Key Abbreviation CTRL c- META m- SUPER s- HYPER h- SHIFT sh-

Those abbreviations live on in EMACS.

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    In GNU Emacs shift is S- not sh- Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 17:28
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    well, sh-it. (lowercase) s- is still super, CTRL/META/HYPER/SHIFT are (uppercase) C-, M-, H-, S- respectively. Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 17:47
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    Emacs = Escape Meta Alt Control Shift (or Super?). Somehow Hyper didn't make it into the acronym. ;-) Commented Nov 27, 2024 at 23:28
  • This does not seem to attempt to answer the question. Commented Nov 28, 2024 at 0:08
  • @LeoB. True, not a direct answer, but it gives a hint of how people communicated about that key. Information the question is missing. Commented Nov 28, 2024 at 13:15

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