major English keyboard layouts, both are QWERTY

There are two major keyboard layouts (English language computer keyboard layouts): the United States layout and the United Kingdom layout defined in BS 4822 (48-key version). Both are QWERTY layouts. Users in โ€ฆ Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org โ€บ wiki โ€บ British_and_American_keyboards
British and American keyboards - Wikipedia
1 day ago - The default U.S. layout on Apple Macintosh computers allows input of diacritical characters as the entire MacRoman character set is directly accessible. A U.S. international layout is also available. Macintosh keyboards for British typists makes use of an Apple-custom layout.
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Transparent Language
blogs.transparent.com โ€บ home โ€บ culture โ€บ differences between the us and uk computer keyboard
Differences Between the US and UK Computer Keyboard | English Language Blog
January 21, 2012 - The United Kingdom and Ireland use a keyboard layout based on the 48-key version defined in British Standard BS 4822. Iโ€™ve included the American keyboard and the UK keyboard below, so you can take a look at the differences.
Discussions

"British-PC" dictionary option? - Apple Community
I noticed a "British-PC" option ... British language as the official British dictionary is already missing vital words for the right occasion as it is. ... "Input Sources" have nothing to do with dictionaries. These are keyboard layouts.... More on discussions.apple.com
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September 28, 2012
How switch Mac UK PC keyboard layout backslash \ and backtick ` to match normal UK PC layout - Ask Different
UK layout keyboard is ISO standard and the Mac also detects ISO. The only issue is the key on the left of z is switched with the key on the left of 1. ... But mac switches them. ... Hello Xin, welcome to Ask Different. Yes, the Mac "British - PC" and UK PC keyboard layouts are indeed different, ... More on apple.stackexchange.com
๐ŸŒ apple.stackexchange.com
September 2, 2018
macos - How can I configure OS X Mavericks to use a UK PC keyboard layout? - Ask Different
How can I get set my keyboard layout to match a non-mac UK keyboard? ... British PC doesn't alway work, \ and ` were swapped for me, this new layout fixed that. More on apple.stackexchange.com
๐ŸŒ apple.stackexchange.com
November 4, 2013
Do you prefer the UK or US layout & why?
From UK here. First mech was ISO. Two weeks on and next mech was ANSI. Have never looked back. I don't miss that fat enter key at all (in fact, I hate it now) and ANSI stuff is easier to find. More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/MechanicalKeyboards
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January 9, 2021
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org โ€บ wiki โ€บ QWERTY
QWERTY - Wikipedia
4 days ago - This section also tries to arrange the layouts in ascending order by the number of possible languages and not chronologically according to the Latin alphabet as usual. From Windows XP SP2 onwards, Microsoft has included a variant of the British QWERTY keyboard (the "United Kingdom Extended" keyboard layout) that can additionally generate several diacritical marks.
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Keyshorts
keyshorts.com โ€บ blogs โ€บ blog โ€บ us-keyboard-layout-everything-you-need-to-know
US Keyboard Layout - Everything You Need to Know โ€ข Keyshorts
June 13, 2025 - One of the most widely used keyboard layouts is the US layout, known for its QWERTY arrangement. In this article, we will explore the US keyboard layout, its differences from the UK British layout (another commonly used input method), the significance of QWERTY, and how it differs from European keyboards.
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Englishgratis
englishgratis.com โ€บ 1 โ€บ wikibooks โ€บ english โ€บ britishandamericankeyboards.htm
British and American keyboards
LA GRAMMATICA DI ENGLISH GRATIS IN VERSIONE MOBILE ย• INFORMATIVA PRIVACY ยท NUOVA SEZIONE ELINGUE
Find elsewhere
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LinkedIn
linkedin.com โ€บ pulse โ€บ difference-between-american-british-keyboard-content-writer-q
Difference between an American and a British Keyboard
August 16, 2021 - There is a minor change in terms ... and British English. Though minor, these differences are considered major by the respective speakers, and to such an extent, their keyboards are also different. In this article let us look at some of the differences in their respective keyboards. Did you ever realise that your keyboard has two separate layouts, one for the ...
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Quora
quora.com โ€บ Why-is-there-a-different-keyboard-layout-for-UK-keyboards-compared-with-US-keyboards
Why is there a different keyboard layout for UK keyboards compared with US keyboards? - Quora
Answer (1 of 16): British layout: US layout: To type those blue symbols you hold Alt-Gr + the key. Most UK keyboards don't actually have those symbols printed on them except โ‚ฌ and ยฆ, though you can still type them if you know about them. Also the keyboard on British Apple computers is differen...
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Keyshorts
keyshorts.com โ€บ blogs โ€บ blog โ€บ 44712961-how-to-identify-laptop-keyboard-localization
80 Keyboard Layouts for Windows - Identification Guide + Illustrations
June 12, 2025 - Can be easily misidentified as US English layout. You can buy a laptop/desktop keyboard with this layout. You can also buy US International keyboard stickers BESTSELLER ยท Used in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Can also be found on Malta, Gibraltar and former British ...
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Farah
farah.cl โ€บ Keyboardery โ€บ A-Visual-Comparison-of-Different-National-Layouts
A Visual Comparison of Different National Layouts on a Computer Keyboard.
October 31, 2023 - Each comparison focuses on the differing arrangements of the alphabetical, numerical and typographical symbols in each national layout; due to this, all of them are presented within the same regular alphanumeric or โ€œalphaโ€ block, ignoring the remaining parts of a keyboard (namely: function row, navigation cluster and numeric keypad).
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Narod
kbd-intl.narod.ru โ€บ english โ€บ layouts
Keyboard Layout Charts
This is an almost transparent replacement for the standard United Kingdom keyboard, the only difference being the [ร ] dead key (if not to take into account those extra symbols that are entered with the help of the right-hand Alt key). This layout supports all the contemporary Slavic languages ...
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Ox
www2.physics.ox.ac.uk โ€บ it-services โ€บ how-to-type-the-sharp-key
Physics IT Support Help Pages | University of Oxford Department of Physics
Physics IT Support provide a wide range of services and support to members of the department ยท The search box above can search all of the IT Help pages
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Simon Tatham
chiark.greenend.org.uk โ€บ ~johns โ€บ kbukint.html
UK International Keyboard Layout
Finally, from the Gnome menu, select System->Preferences->Keyboard->Layouts->Add... Now choose By language, set the Language drop-down to English, and choose "United Kingdom International" from the Variant drop-down. Add this layout, remove the old one, and you're mostly set.
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How-To Geek
howtogeek.com โ€บ home โ€บ windows โ€บ how to change your keyboard layout in windows 8 or 10
How to Change Your Keyboard Layout in Windows 8 or 10
August 13, 2012 - There is a small change to the Control Panel in Windows 8 and Windows 10 that involves splitting the Region and Language applet into two separate applets. This makes changing your keyboard layout a little more tricky than previous versions of Windows.
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Apple Community
discussions.apple.com โ€บ thread โ€บ 4367686
"British-PC" dictionary option? - Apple Community
September 28, 2012 - The "British" layout has some ... nothing to do with dictionaries. These are keyboard layouts. British-PC is the layout you should use if you have a non-apple hardware keyboard or have normally used one of those....
Top answer
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It appears to be controlled by what you actually have connected... but there is something else going on I'm still trying to hone down.
The best conclusion I can come to at the moment is "it's a bug" but one that seems to be at least partially fixed in High Sierra & Mojave.

This is a UK Apple Keyboard on Mojave [confirmed identical on High Sierrs]

When you first open the panel, it shows as ANSI.

Press Shift [which I discovered by accident trying to take screenshots] & it changes to ISO.

Then add British PC & it seems to retain that information...

Now I've persuaded it to show like that I can't 'break' it again, it seems to stick so far.


However, testing on El Capitan, I can't persuade it to flip to ISO, no matter what I do - it stays as ANSI...

Test on the El Cap machine, swapping a TextEdit document from British to British PC - even though the control panel still claims it's ANSI & after clearing all keyboard prefs & re-detecting the keyboard...

The Mac 'knows' it's ISO, but won't display as that in the Keyboard Input Sources control panel.

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You need to run the Keyboard Setup Assistant again, and the only reliable way to do that is to delete the files it generated as follows (run this in the terminal):

sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboard.plist
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboard.plist

Then restart your computer. When you log in / plug in the keyboard it should show you the Keyboard Setup Assistant and ask you to press the key to the right of the left shift, i.e. the \ key on a normal UK keyboard. Do as it asks, and it should detect your keyboard as ISO (not ANSI). Accept that, and then make sure in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Input Sources you are using the British - PC layout.

That should give you a normal keyboard layout, with one exception - the Ctrl key (the bottom left one) will be mapped to the Mac Control key, which you rarely use, and the Windows key will be mapped to Command. You probably want to swap those so that copy/paste shortcuts etc. are the same as on Windows.

The easiest way to do that is to install Karabiner-Elements and set it up like this:

Also note that this keyboard layout is not applied before you log in after a reboot, but it is applied before you log in after logging out. Very confusing if you have " or @ in your password!

Edit: I have found an easier way to re-run the keyboard detection wizard rather than restarting - change the Country Code in Karabiner-Elements as follows:

You just need to increment it. The actual value doesn't matter.

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Keyshorts
keyshorts.com โ€บ blogs โ€บ blog โ€บ 37615873-how-to-identify-macbook-keyboard-localization
80 Mac Keyboard Layouts - Identification Guide + Illustrations
June 13, 2025 - Mac keyboards come with various layouts and localizations, which are specific to a given country or region. Here you'll find an infographic to quickly determine which localization you have. Below the infographic, we have listed all Mac layouts with detailed illustrations.