High ASCII replacement hotstrings, and a question

Here's my script for creating high ASCII characters, much like AutoCorrect in Microsoft Office, but even better. I use the grave character as an esc char since it's easy to type and isn't used often (at least by me) in dialy typing.

Now a question – is there a way to end a hotstring with a colon? I wanted to use a colon as a trigger for a dierasis, but this doesn't work ::``a:::ä nor does this ::``a`:::ä or this ::``a{:}::ä or this ::``a`:`::ä

#HotString C Z *
; punctuation and math with no escape character
::``--::—
::--::–
::1/4::¼
::1/2::½
::3/4::¾
::^0::º
::^1::¹
::^2::²
::^3::³
::^o::°
::^a::ª
::(C)::©
::(c)::©
::(R)::®
::(r)::®
::(tm)::™
::(TM)::™
::<<::«
::>>::»
::+-::±
::+`_::±
::...::…

; math, currency and punctuation
::``mu::µ
::``x::×
::``/::÷
::``.*::•
::``*::•
::``+::†
::``=::‡
::``P::¶
::``S::§
::``c=::€
::``C=::€
::``l-::£
::``L-::£
::``y=::¥
::``Y=::¥
::``c|::¢
::``C|::¢
::``ox::¤
::``?::¿
::``!::¡
::````::´
::``'::‘’
::``"::“”
::```<'::‹
::```>'::›
::``|::¦
::``_::¯
::``%::‰

; Latin characters
::``ae::æ
::``AE::Æ
::``oe::œ
::``OE::Œ
::``TH::Þ
::``th::þ
::``D-::Ð
::``d-::ð
::``f::ƒ
::``s::ß

; tilde & ring using ~ and o
::``Ao::Å
::``ao::å
::``A~::Ã
::``a~::ã
::``N~::Ñ
::``n~::ñ
::``O~::Õ
::``o~::õ

; cedillia, stroke using , and /
::``c,::ç
::``C,::Ç
::``O/::Ø
::``o/::ø

; acute accent using '
::``A'::Á
::``a'::á
::``E'::É
::``e'::é
::``I'::Í
::``i'::í
::``O'::Ó
::``o'::ó
::``U'::Ú
::``u'::ú
::``Y'::Ý
::``y'::ý

; grave accent using `
::``A``::À
::``a``::à
::``E``::È
::``e``::è
::``I``::Ì
::``i``::ì
::``O``::Ò
::``o``::ò
::``U``::Ù
::``u``::ù

; diaeresis using "
::``A`"::Ä
::``a`"::ä
::``E`"::Ë
::``e`"::ë
::``I`"::Ï
::``i`"::ï
::``O`"::Ö
::``o`"::ö
::``U`"::Ü
::``u`"::ü
::``Y`"::Ÿ
::``y`"::ÿ


; diaeresis using ;
::``A`;::Ä
::``a`;::ä
::``E`;::Ë
::``e`;::ë
::``I`;::Ï
::``i`;::ï
::``O`;::Ö
::``o`;::ö
::``U`;::Ü
::``u`;::ü
::``Y`;::Ÿ
::``y`;::ÿ

; circumflex accent using ^
::``A^::Â
::``a^::â
::``E^::Ê
::``e^::ê
::``I^::Î
::``i^::î
::``O^::Ô
::``o^::ô
::``U^::Û
::``u^::û

; caron accent
::``Z^::Ž
::``z^::ž

; change § to SS and ß to ss if you turn these on
; ::``S^::Š
; ::``s^::š

; escaped escape character
::`` ::``

Seems impossible, but typing the colon before the might help

:::a::ä

Did you ever try the modifiers?
? (question mark): The hotstring will be triggered even when it is inside another word; that is, when the character typed immediately before it is alphanumeric.
* (asterisk): An ending character (e.g. space, period, or enter) is not required to trigger the hotstring.

:?*:'ae::æ

Note i used ' instead of ``.

[a way to end a hotstring with a colon] Seems impossible, but typing the colon before the might help

It looks like a bug in AHK. `: should work.

Did you ever try the modifiers?
? (question mark): The hotstring will be triggered even when it is inside another word; that is, when the character typed immediately before it is alphanumeric.
* (asterisk): An ending character (e.g. space, period, or enter) is not required to trigger the hotstring.

These are good, but are better added into the #HotString command.

Here is a workaround for the terminating ":" problem.

:?:o::

   SendRaw % A_EndChar = ":" ? "ö" : "o" A_EndChar

This 2-line hotstring replaces "o:" with ö anywhere in the text.

@DaveC: it is a nice collection of hotstrings, easy to memorize. Thanks for sharing it! (I was busy before with finding a solution for the terminating ":" problem.)

Have you thought about hotsrings, with repeated pre-modifiers? I also use a long list of hotstrings similar to these:

:c*?:;;a::ä
:c*?:;a::á
:c*?:;;e::æ
:c*?:;e::é
:c*?:;f::ƒ
:c*?:;i::í
:c*?:;m::µ

They make the ";" key as a universal modifier.
;;a → ä
;a → á
;;e → æ
;e → é
Etc.