# Special characters problems in APDE

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/special-characters-problems-in-apde/13433>\
**Category:** Processing for Android\
**Created:** [August 17, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/special-characters-problems-in-apde/13433 "2019-08-17T15:00:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Eeyorelife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/439d5e/32.png) [@Eeyorelife](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Eeyorelife)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/special-characters-problems-in-apde/13433/1 "2019-08-17T15:00:36Z")

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I’m using the APDE and are having problems with a sketch where I’m taking input from the virtual keyboard and displaying it in a text field. It works great usually, until I try to press some special characters. Like “æ” or “é” or anything that isn’t in the english alphabet. The problem is that when I press these keys on my keyboard, the sketch doesn’t even register the input. As you can see if you run the code. when a special key is typed, the background doesn’t change. which means the keyPressed() function isn’t even called.

```auto
String s = "";

void draw(){
  background(0);
  textsize(400);
  Align(CENTER);
  text(s,width/2,height/2);
}

void mousePressed(){
  openKeyboard();
}

void keyPressed(){
  s = ""+key;
  background(255);
}

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/noel/32/213_2.png) [@noel](https://discourse.processing.org/u/noel)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 7:05am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/special-characters-problems-in-apde/13433/2 "2019-08-30T07:05:00Z")

</div>

Hi.  
I think this is a bug, because if you use the symbol characters it works, but if you type a letter you have to hit the back button to show the letter.  
If you use: println("/"+s+"/" ); the character is shown correctly in the console.