Asterisk Key Guide: How to Use “” Across Devices and Apps

What Is the Asterisk Key?

The asterisk key (*) produces the asterisk character, a small star-shaped symbol found on most keyboards. It’s located on numeric keypads (shift+8 on standard US layouts) and on mobile/onscreen keyboards.

Common Uses

• Multiplication: Used in programming, calculators, and spreadsheets (e.g., 34).
• Wildcard/search: Matches any characters in searches and command-line patterns (e.g., *.txt).
• Footnotes and emphasis: Marks footnotes in plain text or acts as emphasis in chat/Markdown when paired (e.g., bold).
• Telephone systems: Used for menu navigation (e.g., press * to return to main menu).
• Censorship: Replaces letters in swear words (e.g., s***).

Shortcuts and Keyboard Functions

• Shift+8 (US QWERTY): Types * on the main keyboard.
• *Numeric keypad : Dedicated multiplication key on full keyboards.
• Ctrl/Alt combinations (apps vary): May be mapped to app-specific shortcuts (e.g., some editors let you assign * to commands).
• Phone shortcuts: In mobile USSD codes and feature codes (e.g., *#06# to show IMEI on many phones).

Hidden or Less-Obvious Functions

• Pointer/indirection in programming: In C/C++ and similar languages, * denotes pointers or dereferencing.
• Glob patterns and regex differences: In shell globs, * is a wildcard for any string; in regex, .* is needed to match any string because * modifies the preceding token.
• Markdown/chat nuances: Single asterisks create italics in Markdown; pairs create bold; escaping may be needed to show literal *.
• SMS/Feature codes: Carrier/service codes often start with * for quick commands (balance check, voicemail).
• Accessibility/assistive tech: Some screen readers announce * as “asterisk” which can affect reading of documents; use semantic markup where possible.

Quick Tips

• To type an asterisk on keyboards without it, use Alt codes (e.g., Alt+42 on Windows numeric keypad) or copy-paste.
• When searching, be mindful whether the system treats * as a wildcard; escape it when you need a literal asterisk.
• In code, learn language-specific meanings (multiplication vs. pointer vs. repetition operator).

If you want, I can create a short cheatsheet for a specific platform (Windows, macOS, Linux, or mobile).