The square bracket in the "Word" when printing in Cyrillic

With the need to put on print the sign of square brackets, sooner or later, almost everyone who works in a text editor encounters. On the keyboard these signs are clearly visible, however, when printing with Cyrillic, using standard keys leads to unnecessary time and error, so many are wondering how to make square brackets quickly without switching the layout.

In what cases are square brackets

In the Russian text, a square bracket can perform a variety of functions.

Firstly, this is the traditional design of phonetic transcription, therefore this sign may be required already for schoolchildren when printing text on phonetics or performing a task in a foreign language.

Secondly, the author's comments within the quoted text are formatted in square brackets. Most often the comment, in addition to the brackets, is indicated by the author's initials: "In that year they already knew many of his [A. S. Pushkin. - MO] poems by heart. "

Finally, recently bibliographic references to the list of literature are indicated in such brackets (the publication number in the list or author's surname, year of publication and page number, depending on the genre or editorial requirement) can be indicated.

In addition, square brackets are used to write mathematical and other formulas.

Standard use of keys

When printing, the opening or closing square bracket is placed by pressing the corresponding key (the Russian letters X and b are also located on them) if the keyboard is translated into the Latin layout. That is, when printing in Russian, the sequence of actions should be as follows: change the layout - open the opening parenthesis - change the layout - print the text inside the parentheses - change the layout - close the parenthesis - again switch to Cyrillic letters.

Remembering this sequence is very simple, it is completely logical, but usually there is a rather large amount of errors due to the fact that the printer does not switch in time from one alphabet to another. Therefore, this method is only suitable for setting single brackets.

Marking with the mouse

Many seem quite convenient, when a square bracket is printed using the mouse and the menu. To do this, go to the "Insert" tab, find the "Symbol" button and press it. In the drop-down list you will see either special characters by default, or those special characters that you used last. In order to see the square bracket in this list, you need to click "Other symbols", find the necessary brackets among the characters and print them in turn in the current document. Now both the opening and closing signs are visible in the "Symbols" drop-down list, and they can be easily inserted using the mouse.

This is also far from the most rational way, but it attracts many people due to the fact that you do not need to switch from one layout to another.

Assign a special key combination

In the event that the square brackets in the "Word" need to be printed permanently, it is better to assign an especial key combination for them , in order to avoid constant switchings between layouts. Perhaps this is the most convenient method of inserting these characters.

To assign a key combination for both characters, go to the Insert tab, click on the Symbol buttons, and then click on Other Symbols. In the window that opens, you will see a list of characters in which you need to find the square brackets. Click on the opening bracket, and then click on the "Key combination" button. After that, a new dialog box opens. Put the cursor in the field "New key combination" and press simultaneously, for example, Ctrl and X (ie [) - "Assign". The same must be done for the closing parenthesis.

Now, during work, you just need to press the Ctrl key at the same time and X or b, and the sign of the square bracket will be printed without changing the keyboard layout.

By the way, in this way you can assign keys to other special characters, which you use constantly. For example, these may be signs of dashes, long dashes, copyright, dollars, "dogs", etc.

Using the search and replace function

Despite the fact that the purpose of the key combination seems to be the most convenient way, a square bracket on the keyboard to many in general seems somewhat redundant. For the speed of printing and in order not to be distracted while working on technical nuances, many invent "cunning" ways of printing square brackets and other signs. For example, often during work, a conditional and convenient combination of signs is printed instead of square brackets, which is then transformed into square brackets by search and replacement.

For example, the sign of the opening bracket can be replaced by three round ones (((, and the closing sign - by three oblique ///.) These conventional signs can be chosen so that it does not interfere with the work and is convenient for you.

Then, when the work on the document is completed, you need to press the Ctrl + F keys, in the opened window - the "Replace" tab. In the "Find" field, type the conditional key combination for the opening square bracket, and in the "Replace" field - the sign itself. "Replace everything." The same must be repeated for the closing bracket.

In general, when working with large documents and the constant need for square brackets, the method of assigning keyboard shortcuts is used.