This isn’t totally unusual however, as long time Mac and Apple users will undoubtedly recall that earlier versions of the Apple Keyboard also didn’t label the alt or option key, and simply used the symbol instead, and on some Mac keyboards symbols were used exclusively. In those situations, the Option key is labeled as ALT and the strange looking symbol, it is not clearly labeled as ‘option’ as it is on modern Mac keyboards from the US and many other countries. Of course those keyboards work with other languages too, but the keys can be labeled differently. The lack of a clearly (and consistently) labeled ‘option’ key puzzled a friend of mine recently who bought a MacBook Pro with a European keyboard layout, and that had a Japanese external Mac keyboard included. That means on new Mac keyboards you’ll have “Control ^” followed by “ALT / option ⌥” followed by “Command ⌘ ” Remember: the Option / ALT key is always between the control key and the command key on Apple & Mac Keyboards It’s admittedly not very obvious, which is perhaps why Apple has been spelling out alt / option on modern keyboards for many markets. This is what the option and alt key symbol looks like, it’s kind of like a backslash with a flag coming off of it. Option / ALT key on iPad Smart Keyboards: Option / ALT Key on US & North American keyboards The Option / ALT Key on European and UK keyboards actually looks pretty similar to Japanese keyboard layouts and many others: And yes, in case it wasn’t evident the OPTION key is the ALT key, which is also represented by the funny looking symbol ⌥ on Apple and Mac keyboards. Below is where you can find the OPTION / ALT key on the major Apple keyboards you are likely to encounter.

The option button on keyboard