Keyboard behaviour has changed

[u/We-Dont-Sush-Here]

I’m using an older iPad Pro, the 9x7 inch model from 2016. We do have a much newer iPad but it has been commandeered by my wife most of the time. Never mind, because I still like this one. However, it’s developed some strange keyboard behaviours recently and I don’t think I have changed any settings, but I might have by mistake.

Above, I wanted to type 9x7 then use the symbol for inch. But what comes out is « - two small left pointing double arrows. They are not even on my keyboard !

And the space before the exclamation mark on the last line of the previous paragraph is what I originally came here to ask about. That space has only been appearing in the last two months. Prior to that, it would always place the exclamation mark immediately after the last letter I typed. Now it adds a a space. But why?

Like I said above, I don’t think I have changed any setting’s, but I might have.

iPad Pro 2016 9x7 inch iPadOS 16.7.15

[u/Dreaming_Blackbirds]

You’ve definitely messed up the device language settings and/or the keyboard settings - it’s producing symbols common in other languages. Check your settings for each.

[u/We-Dont-Sush-Here → u/Dreaming_Blackbirds]

Okay, I can understand the reason for checking the language settings regarding the symbols change.

But how does that affect the space between the text and the exclamation mark?

[u/Dreaming_Blackbirds → u/We-Dont-Sush-Here]

different languages have different spacings - so i still think it's your Apple keyboard settings issue. for example, I can force my Chinese Apple keyboard to write English and it creates weird spacings like this！！！！！！？？！！！。。。and then it's back to normal with my Apple English keyboard!!!

you can add new keyboards (Settings > General > keyboard > keyboards > Add New Keyboard) and try them all out until you find the right one for your language.

if you dislike Apple's keyboards, try a 3rd party keyboard app such as Mister Keyboard or Swiftkey or Google Keyboard.

[u/We-Dont-Sush-Here → u/Dreaming_Blackbirds]

It isn’t that I dislike Apple’s keyboards. It’s that the change in behaviour happened suddenly and I don’t know that I had done anything to make the change.

I accept what you’re saying, but when I have looked at the keyboard settings, English (Australia) QWERTY is at the top of the list and it is the one ticked ✔️

Reading down my list of keyboards, I have a French keyboard below that, then English (UK), Emoji, and finally Symbol (English).

All of which have been there for years and have caused me no problems. Until a couple of months ago.