Windows + Space = Backslash

My primary machine, a MacBook Pro running Vista, experienced an ailment the other day: the backslash key broke. So, I was stuck with no pipe character and no backslash. If I needed one, I had to find an existing instance of the character, then copy and paste. Not a good time. Developers like to use these keys all the time.

So I was confronted with the question of either taking my machine into the Apple store and pretending to be one of them for the duration of time I would spend inside the store or to find another way. If I took my machine into them, I would need to take necessary safeguards and assume all data on my machine would be lost. I’ve heard some interesting stories that lead me to believe one should not assume that you’ll get your data back when you hand over your computer. So I’m not encouraged to pursue that direction. It takes a really long time to get all my tools loaded up on a machine.

Then, I recalled listening to a podcast, maybe as much as a year ago, and learning about Autohotkey, a possible solution to my problem.

This software is a free, open-source utility that, among other things, can remap keys on your Windows computer in a really easy and low friction manner. While my backslash key was dead, my other keys worked fine so I contrived a solution to restore the lost capability.

I downloaded and installed Autohotkey, then I created a Autohotkey script from a template. Now, I simply double click the script and it runs happily in the background until I restart Windows. This particular custom script listens for a combination of the Windows key and the space key. When I press them together, Autohotkey intercepts the keystroke combination and replaces it with the backslash character.

So, similar to Pecos Bill’s horse, Widow Maker, I’m the only one (up until now) who can get my machine to write a backslash character on the screen. It’s worked out pretty well, sometimes I’ll forget and wonder why my file path or regular expression is incorrect but then I’ll just hit Windows+space and WHAM! I’ve got myself a backslash and I didn’t have to risk reinstalling all my software to get the capability back.

Autohotkey does a lot more than this, hopefully some day I’ll get a moment to continue exploring it.