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On computer keyboards, the enter key ⌅ Enter and return key ↵ Return are two closely related keys with overlapping and distinct functions dependent on operating system and application.
The return key has its origins in two typewriter functions: carriage return, which would reset the carriage to the beginning of the line of text, and line feed, which would advance the paper one line downward. These were often combined into a single return key, a convention that continues in modern computer word processing to insert a paragraph break (¶). [1]
The enter key is a computer innovation, which in most cases causes a command line, window form, or dialog box to operate its default function. This is typically to finish an "entry" and begin the desired process, and is usually an alternative to clicking an OK button. [2] Additionally, it can act as the equal to= button in calculator programs. On modern computers both keys generally have all the functions of the other, allowing for either key to be used, or even for them to be combined into a single key, as is the case with most laptops. Microsoft Windows makes no distinction between them whatsoever,[ citation needed ] and usually both keys are labelled as enter on Windows keyboards with the United States layout. Other operating systems, such as Apple's Darwin-based operating systems, generally treat them equivalently while still maintaining the technical and descriptive distinction, allowing applications to treat the two keys differently if necessary.
The enter key is typically located to the right of the 3 and . keys on the lower right of the numeric keypad, while the return key is situated on the right edge of the main alphanumeric portion of the keyboard. On ISO and JIS keyboards, return is a stepped double-height key spanning the second and third rows, below ⌫ Backspace and above the right-hand ⇧ Shift . [3] On ANSI keyboards it is wider but located on the third row only, as the backslash \ key is located between it and ⌫ Backspace .
Some variants of the ANSI keyboard layout create a double-height return key by subsuming the backslash \ key into it. This alternate form is most popular in Asia, particularly Russia and Korea. However, this requires the relocation of the backslash key and is relatively uncommon on modern keyboards elsewhere. [4]
The return key symbol is U+23CE⏎RETURN SYMBOL, an arrow pointing down and leftward; however, rendering of the symbol varies greatly by typeface, with it appearing hollow in some or with an additional initial rightward bar in others. For this reason, U+21B5↵ or U+21A9↩ are sometimes used instead. [5] On most ISO and other keyboards worldwide the return key is labelled solely with the ⏎ symbol across all platforms. Meanwhile, on ANSI US keyboards it is labelled as ↵ Enter by Windows OEMs (sometimes even without the return symbol) and as return by Apple. [6]
For enter, U+2386⎆ENTER SYMBOL exists in Unicode for the ISO 9995-7 enter key symbol; [7] however, it is infrequently used, one example being the French Canadian keyboard. [8] Windows keyboards worldwide tend to simply label the key with the text ↵ Enter, while Apple uses the symbol ⌤ (U+2324⌤ [9] or U+2305⌅) on ISO and JIS keyboards and the text ⌅ enter on ANSI US keyboards; [10] this is acknowledged by an annotation "enter key" on U+2324 in the Unicode code chart. [7]
On IBM's 3270 and 5250 line of terminals, the Enter key was located to the right of the space bar and was used to send the contents of the terminal's buffer to the host computer. The Return key was located in a more standard location and was used to generate a new line.
Apple also took advantage of this situation to create an editable command line environment called a "Worksheet" in the Macintosh Programmer's Workshop, where return was used strictly as a formatting key while enter was used to execute a shell command or series of commands in direct mode. This strict dichotomy has since been relaxed, so that now there are very few situations within macOS where enter and return are not equivalent.
One example of this continued division of use is the type tool in Adobe Photoshop, where the return key produces a new line while the enter key ends editing mode. Another is Mathematica, where the Return key creates a new line, while the Enter key (or Shift-Return) submits the current command for execution.
Historically, many computer models did not have a separate keypad, and only had one button to function as Enter or Return. For example, the Commodore 64 (manufactured from 1982) had only the "Return" key. Most laptop computers continue in this combined tradition.
Before computers, on electric typewriters the "Return" key was kept comparatively large. This is due to the frequency of usage (which also includes the space bar), and therefore, is kept large to reduce the likelihood of finger slips.[ citation needed ]
ASCII, abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of technical limitations of computer systems at the time it was invented, ASCII has just 128 code points, of which only 95 are printable characters, which severely limited its scope. Modern computer systems have evolved to use Unicode, which has millions of code points, but the first 128 of these are the same as the ASCII set.
The keyboard for IBM PC-compatible computers is standardized. However, during the more than 30 years of PC architecture being frequently updated, many keyboard layout variations have been developed.
QWERTY is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six keys on the top letter row of the keyboard. The QWERTY design is based on a layout included in the Sholes and Glidden typewriter sold to E. Remington and Sons in 1873. It became popular with the success of the Remington No. 2 of 1878, and remains in ubiquitous use.
In computing and telecommunication, an escape character is a character that invokes an alternative interpretation on the following characters in a character sequence. An escape character is a particular case of metacharacters. Generally, the judgement of whether something is an escape character or not depends on the context.
In computing, a Control keyCtrl is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, performs a special operation. Similarly to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself. The Control key is located on or near the bottom left side of most keyboards, with many featuring an additional one at the bottom right.
The QWERTZ or QWERTZU keyboard is a typewriter and keyboard layout widely used in Central Europe. The name comes from the first six letters at the top left of the keyboard:.
The Shift key⇧ Shift is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row. The Shift key's name originated from the typewriter, where one had to press and hold the button to shift up the case stamp to change to capital letters; the shift key was first used in the Remington No. 2 Type-Writer of 1878; the No. 1 model was capital-only. On the US layout and similar keyboard layouts, characters that typically require the use of the shift key include the parentheses, the question mark, the exclamation point, and the colon.
The Alt keyAlt on a computer keyboard is used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. Thus, the Alt key is a modifier key, used in a similar fashion to the Shift key. For example, simply pressing A will type the letter 'a', but holding down the Alt key while pressing A will cause the computer to perform an Alt+A function, which varies from program to program. The international standard ISO/IEC 9995-2 calls it Alternate key. The key is located on either side of the space bar, but in non-US PC keyboard layouts, rather than a second Alt key, there is an 'Alt Gr' key to the right of the space bar. Both placements are in accordance with ISO/IEC 9995-2. With some keyboard mappings, the right Alt key can be reconfigured to function as an AltGr key although not engraved as such.
The degree symbol or degree sign, °, is a glyph or symbol that is used, among other things, to represent degrees of arc, hours, degrees of temperature or alcohol proof. The symbol consists of a small superscript circle.
A compose key is a key on a computer keyboard that indicates that the following keystrokes trigger the insertion of an alternate character, typically a precomposed character or a symbol.
On computer keyboards, the Esc keyEsc is a key used to generate the escape character. The escape character, when sent from the keyboard to a computer, often is interpreted by software as "stop", "cancel" or "exit", and when sent from the computer to an external device marks the beginning of an escape sequence to specify operating modes or characteristics generally.
Apple Inc. has designed and developed many external keyboard models for use with families of Apple computers, such as the Apple II, Mac, and iPad. The Magic Keyboard and Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad designed to be used via either Bluetooth and USB connectivity, and have integrated rechargeable batteries; The Smart Keyboard and Magic Keyboard accessories for iPads are designed to be directly attached to and powered by a host iPad. All current Apple keyboards utilize low-profile key designs, and common modifier keys.
On personal computers with numeric keypads that use Microsoft operating systems, such as Windows, many characters that do not have a dedicated key combination on the keyboard may nevertheless be entered using the Alt code. This is done by pressing and holding the Alt key, then typing a number on the keyboard's numeric keypad that identifies the character and then releasing Alt.
ISO/IEC 9995Information technology — Keyboard layouts for text and office systems is an ISO/IEC standard series defining layout principles for computer keyboards. It does not define specific layouts but provides the base for national and industry standards which define such layouts.
Unicode input is the insertion of a specific Unicode character on a computer by a user; it is a common way to input characters not directly supported by a physical keyboard. Unicode characters can be produced either by selecting them from a display or by typing a certain sequence of keys on a physical keyboard. In addition, a character produced by one of these methods in one web page or document can be copied into another. In contrast to ASCII's 96 element character set, Unicode encodes hundreds of thousands of graphemes (characters) from almost all of the world's written languages and many other signs and symbols besides.
A computer keyboard is a peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper tape technology, interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards have been the main input method for computers since the 1970s, supplemented by the computer mouse since the 1980s.
A keyboard layout is any specific physical, visual, or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key-meaning associations (respectively) of a computer keyboard, mobile phone, or other computer-controlled typographic keyboard.
The German keyboard layout is a QWERTZ keyboard layout commonly used in Austria and Germany. It is based on one defined in a former edition of the German standard DIN 2137–2. The current edition DIN 2137-1:2012-06 standardizes it as the first (basic) one of three layouts, calling it "T1".
The delete key is a button on most computer keyboards which is typically used to delete either the character ahead of or beneath the cursor, or the currently-selected object. The key is sometimes referred to as the "forward delete" key. This is because the backspace key also deletes characters, but to the left of the cursor. On many keyboards, such as most Apple keyboards, the key with the backspace function is also labelled "delete".
0x04 0x2324 # UP ARROWHEAD BETWEEN TWO HORIZONTAL BARS # Enter key
| Esc | F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | F6 | F7 | F8 | F9 | F10 | F11 | F12 | PrtScn/ SysRq | Scroll Lock | Pause/ Break | |||||||||
 | Insert | Home | PgUp | Num Lock | ∕ | ∗ | − | |||||||||||||||||
| Delete | End | PgDn | 7 | 8 | 9 | + | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ | 1 | 2 | 3 | Enter | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ← | ↓ | → | 0 Ins | . Del | ||||||||||||||||||||