How to type curly brackets ({)
Also called braces, curly braces, squiggly brackets.
Hold Shift with your left little finger and press the square bracket keys with your right little finger. The opening { is Shift and the key to the right of P; the closing } is Shift and the key beside it.
Which finger types {
- Finger
- Right pinky
- Resting position
- ; on the home row
- Shift
- Required, held by the other hand
- Hand
- right
No website can detect which finger you actually used — a browser reports the character, not the hand that produced it. The finger above is the one the standard touch typing layout assigns, and it is the one the lessons here train.
What { is used for
- Wrap a block of code in C, Java, JavaScript, C# and everything descended from them.
- Enclose an object in JSON.
- Mark a placeholder in template strings and format calls.
- Enclose a rule body in CSS.
Where it comes from
Printers called them braces and used them to group staves of music and to join lines of verse — a bracket that spans several rows rather than sitting inside one. Programming borrowed them for grouping, which is close to the original meaning.
The mistake people make
Both brackets belong to the right little finger, the weakest one, while the other little finger holds Shift. That is why unbalanced braces are the most common syntax error in most languages: the finger reaches, misses, and the mistake is invisible until the code will not compile.
If the key is missing or gives the wrong character
- Windows: Alt+123 for { and Alt+125 for } on the numeric keypad.
Practise it properly
Knowing which finger owns a key is not the same as using it without thinking. The Typometer course blocks on the wrong key and names the finger for every one, so the habit forms rather than the knowledge.
Other keys
Related guides
Free, and no account needed.
- Start at level 1: the home rowFind F and J without looking, one key at a time.
- How to learn touch typingWhat actually works, what to ignore, and how long it takes.
- The full typing course415 levels from the home row to code and professional documents.
- Untimed typing practicePractise without a clock and focus on the keys you keep missing.