How do I look up which two-character code produces a special character when using Vim's digraph system?

Explanation

:digraphs (abbreviated :dig) displays a full reference table of every digraph registered in Vim. Each entry shows the two-character sequence, the resulting character, and its decimal code point. Use this to discover the code you need before entering the character with <C-k>{char1}{char2} in Insert mode.

How it works

Running :digraphs opens a paged listing. Each row contains three columns:

!  33    "  34    #  35  ...  Ct 162   Pd 163   Cu 164

• Two-letter code — the digraph sequence you type after <C-k>
• Character — the resulting glyph
• Decimal — the Unicode/ASCII code point

Once you find the code you need, insert the character with <C-k> in Insert mode. For example, <C-k>-> produces →.

Example

You want to type a copyright symbol © but don't know the code:

:digraphs

Scroll or search (with /Co) to find:

Co 169

Then in Insert mode, type <C-k>Co to insert ©.

Tips

• :digraphs! (with bang) shows the same list but with ^X notation for control characters
• Filter the output with :digraphs | grep if your Vim version supports piping help output, or redirect it: :redir @a | digraphs | redir END
• Add custom digraphs with :digraph {two-chars} {decimal} — e.g., :digraph !! 8252 adds ‼ (double exclamation)
• The default digraph set follows RFC 1345; run :help digraph-table for the full reference