[OS X TeX] superscript completion

[Luis Sequeira]

>> 
>> ...
>> However, just another thing.
>> 
>> When I press, for instance c_ the texshop automatically put brackets, which
>> results in  c_{} with the prompt inside the brackets. That´s what I expect to
>> happen when I tip c^. 
>> 
>> Now, when I tip c^ TexShop does not put automatically the brackets, but I have
>> to press spacebar, or esc to brackets appear. If I tip a c^  and a letter say x,
>> it do c^{x}.
>> 
>> It is not a problem for me, since the "problem" I had was solved. However, I
>> would like to understand why the same structure produce different results.
>>       <key>^</key>
>> 	<string>{#SEL##INS#}</string>
>> 	<key>_</key>
>> 	<string>_{#SEL##INS#}</string>
>> 
>> Regards
>> 
> 
> Howdy,
> 
> I don't know details but it has something to do with the way the keyboard is set up in the Spanish (and Portuguese apparently) localization.
> 
> Good Luck,
> 
> Herb Schulz
> (herbs at wideopenwest dot com)
> 

Actually, it is very simple to explain. When you want to type an accented character, such as "ê", you first type the accent key, ^,  and then the letter. This is achieved by having the  ^  key as a so-called "dead key": it does not by itself enter a character, it "waits" for the next character to determine the effect - hence, you can get "ê" or "â", by typing the letter "e" or the letter "a" after the accent key; or you can press the space bar to get ^ as itself. Since the underscore "_" is *not* a dead key, you don't get that behavior.

Luis Sequeira