How to Type Greek Letters in PopOS (and maybe other versions of Linux)

greek_letters.md

How to Type Greek Letters

1. In the OS settings, go to "keyboard" and select a "Compose Key." I like to use "Print Screen"
2. Edit (or create) ~/.XCompose to include the following:

# Capital Letters
<Multi_key> <G> : "Γ"    U0393    #  GAMMA
<Multi_key> <D> : "Δ"    U0394    #  DELTA
<Multi_key> <L> : "Λ"    U039B    #  LAMDA
<Multi_key> <P> : "Π"    U03A0    #  PI
<Multi_key> <S> : "Σ"    U03A3    #  SIGMA
<Multi_key> <F> : "Φ"    U03A6    #  PHI
<Multi_key> <O> : "Ω"    U03A9    #  OMEGA
<Multi_key> <T> : "Θ"    U0398    #  THETA
<Multi_key> <X> : "Ξ"    U039E    #  XI
<Multi_key> <P> <s> : "Ψ"    U03A8    #  PSI

# Lower Case Letters
<Multi_key> <a> : "α"    U03B1    #  ALPHA
<Multi_key> <b> : "β"    U03B2    #  BETA
<Multi_key> <g> : "γ"    U03B3    #  GAMMA
<Multi_key> <d> : "δ"    U03B4    #  DELTA
<Multi_key> <e> : "ε"    U03B5    #  EPSILON
<Multi_key> <z> : "ζ"    U03B6    #  ZETA
<Multi_key> <h> : "η"    U03B7    #  ETA
<Multi_key> <i> : "ι"    U03B9    #  IOTA
<Multi_key> <k> : "κ"    U03BA    #  KAPPA
<Multi_key> <l> : "λ"    U03BB    #  LAMDA
<Multi_key> <m> : "μ"    U03BC    #  MU
<Multi_key> <n> : "ν"    U03BD    #  NU
<Multi_key> <p> : "π"    U03C0    #  PI
<Multi_key> <r> : "ρ"    U03C1    #  RHO
<Multi_key> <s> : "σ"    U03C3    #  SIGMA
<Multi_key> <t> : "τ"    U03C4    #  TAU
<Multi_key> <u> : "υ"    U03C5    #  UPSILON
<Multi_key> <f> : "φ"    U03C6    #  PHI
<Multi_key> <o> : "ω"    U03C9    #  OMEGA
<Multi_key> <x> : "ξ"    U03BE    #  XI
<Multi_key> <t> <h> : "θ"    U03B8    #  THETA
<Multi_key> <p> <s> : "ψ"    U03C8    #  PSI

3. Reboot the computer.

You should now be able to type greek letters by pressing (and releasing) Print Screen and then one of the characters:

Capital Greek Letters:

• G - Γ
• D - Δ
• L - Λ
• P - Π
• S - Σ
• F - Φ
• O - Ω
• X - Ξ
• Ps - Ψ

Lower Case Greek Letters:

• a - α
• b - β
• g - γ
• d - δ
• e - ε
• z - ζ
• h - η
• i - ι
• k - κ
• l - λ
• m - μ
• n - ν
• p - π
• r - ρ
• s - σ
• t - τ
• u - υ
• f - φ
• o - ω
• x - ξ
• th - θ
• ps - ψ

For simplicity, I have left out the capital Greek letters that look like Latin letters.

Note: Despite what forex traders might tell you, there is no greek letter "vega." I think they are confusing nu, (ν).

You can find a list of all available characters at /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose