Why is Russian ж written ž in some sources and zh in others?

They follow different transliteration systems. Scholarly transliteration and ISO 9 write ž, so Жуков becomes Žukov, while English-language systems use zh and give Zhukov. German sources spell the same sound sch, as in Schukow. When you search a library catalog or a database, try every spelling, since each one only matches its own system.

Why does Alt+158 give ₧ instead of ×?

Because your PC runs code page 437, the US DOS set, where 158 is the old peseta sign. Most European setups run code page 850, which has × at 158, so the same keystroke means different things on different machines. For × anywhere, type Alt+0215, which goes through Windows-1252 instead.

How do I convert ₧ amounts to euros?

Divide by 166.386, the fixed rate set when Spain adopted the euro, so 1.000 ₧ comes to about 6.01 €. Round only the final result to cents, not each intermediate step, or totals across many rows drift. Old Spanish records often write pesetas as Pts or ptas instead of the sign, so search for those too.

Spanish DOS data shows prices like 1.000ž

That ž was the peseta sign ₧, byte 158 in code page 437, which Windows-1252 reads as ž. Files from code page 850 break at the same byte with a different symbol, so a photo size like 10×15 turns into 10ž15. Check a few lines before converting. A ž after amounts points to 437, and a ž between numbers points to 850.

ASCII 158

Lowercase z with caronPeseta sign

ASCII 158 is ž on Windows and ₧ in old DOS.

ž (Small Z with Caron) is byte 158 in Windows-1252, Unicode U+017E. It spells žena (woman) in Czech and Slovak, and Slovenian and Croatian use it the same way. Having it in a Western code page covers Estonian and Finnish too, which write ž and š in loanwords like Estonian žürii (jury). ISO-8859-1 left both letters out, so a strict Latin-1 system can't store them, and ISO-8859-15 later added ž at 0xB8, a different byte again. In UTF-8 it's C5 BE, which misreads as Å¾, ending in a three-quarters sign. The capital Ž is byte 142. The HTML entity is &zcaron;.

₧ (Peseta Sign) is byte 158 in code page 437, the original IBM PC character set, and maps to Unicode U+20A7. It's a Pts ligature for the Spanish peseta, the currency the euro replaced. Windows-1252 never had it, and there's no named HTML entity either, so write ₧. Code page 850 put the multiplication sign × on this byte, so a 3×4 from a code page 850 file reads as 3₧4 in code page 437. In UTF-8 the peseta sign takes three bytes, E2 82 A7, which misread as â‚§.

Latin LetterCurrency

Technical Details

Code Example

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#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    /* On Windows (code page 1252) byte 158 is ž.
       Modern terminals expect UTF-8, so print the code point, not the byte. */
    printf("\u017E\n");   /* UTF-8: C5 BE */

    unsigned char b = 158;         /* the raw Windows-1252 byte */
    printf("%d 0x%02X\n", b, b);    /* 158 0x9E */
    return 0;
}

Code Example

</>

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    /* Byte 158 is ₧ only on a console using code page 437
       (chcp 437 on Windows, or DOSBox). On a UTF-8 terminal the
       lone byte 0x9E is invalid and prints as garbage, often �. */
    putchar(158);

    /* char is signed on x86, so a plain char holding 0x9E is -98.
       Use unsigned char when you compare or index by byte value. */
    char c = (char)158;
    unsigned char u = 158;
    printf("\n%d %d\n", c, u);   /* -98 158 */

    /* Portable: print the Unicode character as UTF-8 instead. */
    printf("\u20A7\n");          /* E2 82 A7 */
    return 0;
}

How to Type It

Windows: Hold Alt and type 0158 on the numeric keypad, with Num Lock on. The leading zero picks the Windows code page. No numeric keypad? In Word, type 017E and press Alt+X.
Mac: Press Control+Command+Space to open the Character Viewer, then search for "latin small letter z with caron".
Linux: In GNOME, or any desktop running IBus, press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 17e, then Space. With a Compose key set up, press Compose, c, z.
Phone: iPhone: long-press z and pick ž. Android (Gboard): tap the character at the top of this page to copy it.

How to Type It

Windows: Hold Alt and type 158 on the numeric keypad, with no leading zero. US PCs insert ₧, but PCs set to code page 850, common in Western Europe, insert ×. No numeric keypad? In Word, type 20A7 and press Alt+X.
Mac: Press Control+Command+Space to open the Character Viewer, then search for "peseta sign".
Linux: In GNOME, or any desktop running IBus, press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 20a7, then Space. With a Compose key set up, press Compose, P, t.
Phone: Tap the character at the top of this page to copy it.

Frequently Asked Questions

They follow different transliteration systems. Scholarly transliteration and ISO 9 write ž, so Жуков becomes Žukov, while English-language systems use zh and give Zhukov. German sources spell the same sound sch, as in Schukow. When you search a library catalog or a database, try every spelling, since each one only matches its own system.
That ž was the peseta sign ₧, byte 158 in code page 437, which Windows-1252 reads as ž. Files from code page 850 break at the same byte with a different symbol, so a photo size like 10×15 turns into 10ž15. Check a few lines before converting. A ž after amounts points to 437, and a ž between numbers points to 850.

Frequently Asked Questions

Because your PC runs code page 437, the US DOS set, where 158 is the old peseta sign. Most European setups run code page 850, which has × at 158, so the same keystroke means different things on different machines. For × anywhere, type Alt+0215, which goes through Windows-1252 instead.
Divide by 166.386, the fixed rate set when Spain adopted the euro, so 1.000 ₧ comes to about 6.01 €. Round only the final result to cents, not each intermediate step, or totals across many rows drift. Old Spanish records often write pesetas as Pts or ptas instead of the sign, so search for those too.
That ž was the peseta sign ₧, byte 158 in code page 437, which Windows-1252 reads as ž. Files from code page 850 break at the same byte with a different symbol, so a photo size like 10×15 turns into 10ž15. Check a few lines before converting. A ž after amounts points to 437, and a ž between numbers points to 850.

ASCII 158

Lowercase z with caronPeseta sign

ASCII 158 is ž on Windows and ₧ in old DOS.

Latin Letter

Currency

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

/* On Windows (code page 1252) byte 158 is ž.

Modern terminals expect UTF-8, so print the code point, not the byte. */

printf("\u017E\n"); /* UTF-8: C5 BE */

unsigned char b = 158; /* the raw Windows-1252 byte */

printf("%d 0x%02X\n", b, b); /* 158 0x9E */

return 0;

}

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

/* Byte 158 is ₧ only on a console using code page 437

(chcp 437 on Windows, or DOSBox). On a UTF-8 terminal the

lone byte 0x9E is invalid and prints as garbage, often �. */

putchar(158);

/* char is signed on x86, so a plain char holding 0x9E is -98.

Use unsigned char when you compare or index by byte value. */

char c = (char)158;

unsigned char u = 158;

printf("\n%d %d\n", c, u); /* -98 158 */

/* Portable: print the Unicode character as UTF-8 instead. */

printf("\u20A7\n"); /* E2 82 A7 */

return 0;

}