and symbols under the control of control unit 20 fig2 a and 2b illustrate a flowchart with further reference to fig1 for the control operations to be followed in order to generate characters and symbols in response to the sequential entry of a combination of numeric keys in accordance with the principles of the present invention in fig2 a 34 start 34 represents when a user initiates the mode for generating characters and symbols accordingly the following description concerns the character symbol generating mode and not a mode for dialing a telephone number in step 101 a flag register not shown and a buffer index register not shown are cleared by setting the values of these registers to 34 0 34 these registers will be further explained below in step 102 the control unit 20 checks for an input key signal in response to activation any one of a plurality of keys on the key inputting unit 10 control unit 20 then determines steps 103 114 whether the input key signal from key inputting unit 10 is one of the numeric keys 0 9 an asterisk key or a pound key and then if the inputted key is one of the numeric keys 0 9 an asterisk key or a pound key proceeds to step 119 in step 119 control unit 20 checks the value of the flag register in order to determine whether the flag register is in a cleared state when the flag register is in a cleared state control unit 20 multiplies the value of the key by 4 and stores the result in an index register not shown and then in step 121 changes the flag register to a set.