# IRB, Windows and International Keyboards

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/irb-windows-and-international-keyboards/96543>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [June 29, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/irb-windows-and-international-keyboards/96543 "2006-06-29T14:24:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/irb-windows-and-international-keyboards/96543/1 "2006-06-29T14:24:34Z")

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Hello!

I have a hungarian keyboard on a windows machine.

When I go into IRB, I can only type characters as if I had an English  
standard keyboard hooked in.

Hence I can’t type any special characters properly.

Is there any way to get IRB to work with an foreign (in this case  
hungarian)  
Keyboard?

Thanks,  
rob 🙂

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**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/irb-windows-and-international-keyboards/96543/2 "2006-06-29T14:56:21Z")

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On 6/29/06, Robert MannI [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Is there any way to get IRB to work with an foreign (in this case hungarian)  
> Keyboard?

Have a look at this:

> **[Setting up the Interactive Ruby Shell (IRB) for non-english keyboards on...](https://www.peterkrantz.com/2005/irb-for-nonen-keyboards/)**
>
> For some reason it is difficult to use the \[\] and {} characters when using IRB with a non-english keyboard on Windows XP. To get it working together with tab completion:
> Create a new environment variable called “HOME” and set it to your user home...

regards,

Peter

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**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/irb-windows-and-international-keyboards/96543/3 "2006-06-29T16:24:27Z")

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The simplest workaround I’ve found:  
irb --noreadline

Robert MannI wrote:

> Hello!
> 
> I have a hungarian keyboard on a windows machine.
> 
> When I go into IRB, I can only type characters as if I had an English  
> standard keyboard hooked in.
> 
> Hence I can’t type any special characters properly.
> 
> Is there any way to get IRB to work with an foreign (in this case  
> hungarian)  
> Keyboard?
> 
> Thanks,  
> rob 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 8:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/irb-windows-and-international-keyboards/96543/4 "2006-06-30T08:21:52Z")

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Thanks alot!