How to Insert the Section Sign ( § ) on Linux

How to Insert the Section Sign ( § ) on Linux

by Heinz Tschabitscher | Dec 5, 2025 | Useful Tech

Looking, seemingly in vain, for the ‘§’ symbol on your keyboard so you can cite sections and statutes in style? Find out here how to insert the section sign (§) on Linux using the keyboard alone or a character picker (Gnome and KDE).

First, by the Ream and by the Quire

Weighing a feeble and flimsy, thin sheet of nothing called “paper” is no easy feat to be done with precision. Weighing some 480 sheets bundled together with good enough accuracy should be easy, though. Then, we can just divide and con- average.

Fortunately, paper has historically been traded by the ream. Through most of its history, a ream of paper was made up of 20 quires of 24 sheets each — 480 sheets — and weighed to establish the paper’s density, for instance.

Now, let’s group some 480 characters and words together, too, in sections, and refer to them by a symbol to boot:

How to Insert the Section Sign ( § ) on Linux

Using the US-English (Macintosh) Keyboard Layout

Time needed: 1 minute

To enter the section symbol on Linux using Gnome or KDE:

  1. Add the US-English (Macintosh) keyboard layout and switch to it for current input.

    Here’s how: You can change keyboard layouts on Linux using both menu items and keyboard shortcuts.
    Here’s why: The Mac keyboard layout makes it particularly easy to reach for and type the section sign using the keyboard alone.

  2. Position the text cursor where you want to insert the section symbol.

    Here’s where: The section symbol usually stands on its own, separated from the words preceding it and the section number following it by whitespace; it is advisable to use protected, non-breaking spaces to avoid the section sign appearing disjointed at the beginning or end of a line.

  3. Press AltGr 6 to insert §.

    No “AltGr”: Without a key labelled “AltGr”, try the right Option key.
    Typing the section symbol using the English (Macintosh) keyboard layout on Linux

Also a kind of section: How to Insert the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) on Linux

Using the “Compose” Key to Insert ‘§’

To use the Linux Compose key to input the section sign with the keyboard alone:

  1. Enable Compose key support for Linux and define a key to use for it.
  2. Press Compose.
  3. Now type so (S and O).
    Here’s what happens: so will be replaced with §.
    Typing ‘§’, the section sign, using the Linux “Compose” key

Using a Character Picker

To copy the section sign for pasting anywhere using the Gnome and KDE character pickers:

  1. Bring up Gnome Characters or KDE KCharSelect.
  2. Search for section sign.
  3. Highlight and copy the section sign ‘§’ in search results.
  4. Paste the symbol as desired.

How to Insert the Section Sign ( § ) on Linux: FAQ

Can I insert the section sign using Unicode?

Yes.

To input the section sign using its Unicode code point directly on Linux:

  1. Press Ctrl Shift U.
    What you get: You should see u (an underlined letter ‘u’).
  2. Type 00A7.
    The case: You can use both an upper- and a lowercase letter ‘A’.
  3. Press Enter.
    Insert the section symbol using its Unicode code point on Linux

Can I also copy the section symbol right here?

Yes, certainly.

Copy the symbol below to paste anywhere on Linux:

Section symbol §

(Tested with Gnome 47–49 and KDE Plasma 6.1–6.2; first published November 2024, last updated December 2025)

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