Question to effect-characters (e.g.:" 々 "...)and where can I find them in/on IME?

[Tyraxx]

Hi everybody,

while I was trying to look up how this " 々 " is called, I humbled over other characters which aren't really characters since they have certain effects (how do you call them anyway).

e.g. that there is also a symbol w/ the same effect for kana.
My question is are they still current nowadays.
I remebered seeing them once, but I'm not sure whether they are still current nowadays.
I know the "々" is still in use, but what about the other one ("ゝ"...)

Now how is this one "々" called.
English wiki gives me "dōnojiten (同の字点)", while
German wiki gives me "Odoriji (jap. 踊り字)".

And can I also find a key to enter the "々" in IME　instead of cutting them out.

PS: hopefully not to many questions.

[Datenshi]

1) I humbled over other characters which aren't really characters since they have certain effects (how do you call them anyway)

The Japanese Wikipedia article is headed under "踊り字", but according to the article they are also called: "おどり、繰り返し符号（くりかえしふごう）、重ね字（かさねじ）、送り字（おくりじ）、揺すり字（ゆすり じ）、重字（じゅうじ）、重点（じゅうてん）、畳字（じょうじ"

2) My question is are they still current nowadays.

To my understanding, only "々" is used currently. If you read old texts (like from before WWII) you might find others, but according to the Wikipedia article, nowadays they're all pretty much substituted by "々"

3) And can I also find a key to enter the "々" in IME　instead of cutting them out.

Try,

どう

おなじ

くりかえし

All worked for me. You might have to scroll down a bit after you press space (the quickest for me was おなじ).

[animeyay]

Just an interesting background story in case you're bored.
The repetition symbol existed in as early as 800 BCE, as found in this Western Zhou engraving:


子
二
孫
二


In modern time, it has been replaced by either 々 or 〃 in East Asian countries, with Japan using only 々, Taiwan mostly 〃, and mainland China both. (not sure about Korea, since it has practically stopped using Chinese characters.) However, in formal writing, both China and Taiwan discourage this practice, and only Japan allows and in fact strongly encourages the use of repetition symbols for kanji.