Editing Tilde (section)

===Role of mechanical typewriters===
{{more|Dead key|Diacritic}}
[[File:Olivetti Lettera 32.JPG|thumb|An [[Olivetti Lettera 32]] typewriter (Portuguese Model) with tilde (and circumflex) dead-key beside {{keypress|Ç}} ]]
[[File:Idazmakina.jpg|thumb|Spanish typewriter (QWERTY keyboard) with dead keys for acute, circumflex, diaeresis and grave accents. Ñ/ñ is present as a precomposed character only.]]<!-- Typewriter made in Italy for Spanish market -->

On [[typewriter]]s designed for languages that routinely use [[diacritic]]s (accent marks), there are two possible solutions. Keys can be dedicated to [[precomposed character]]s or alternatively a [[dead key]] mechanism can be provided. With the latter, a mark is made when a dead key is typed, but unlike normal keys, the paper carriage does not move on and thus the next letter to be typed is printed under that accent. Typewriters for [[Spanish (language)|Spanish]] typically have a dedicated key for [[Ñ]]/ñ but, as [[Portuguese (language)|Portuguese]] uses [[Ã]]/ã and [[Õ]]/õ, a single dead-key (rather than take two keys to dedicate) is the most practical solution.

The tilde symbol did not exist independently as a [[movable type]] or [[Hot metal typesetting|hot-lead]] printing character since the [[type case]]s for Spanish or Portuguese would include [[sort (typesetting)|sort]]s for the accented forms.