Arrow keys

Information about Arrow keys

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Arrow keys
Arrow keys are buttons on a computer keyboard that move the cursor in a specified direction. They are typically located at the bottom of the keyboard to the side of the numeric keypad, usually arranged in an inverted-T layout but also found in diamond shapes. Arrow keys are commonly used for navigating around documents and for playing games. Before the computer mouse was widespread, arrow keys were the primary way of moving a cursor on screen. MouseKeys is a feature that allows controlling a mouse cursor with arrow keys instead. A feature echoed in the Amiga's whereby holding the Amiga key would allow you to move the mouse pointer with the arrow keys in the workbench(OS), but most games require a mouse or joystick. The use of Arrow Keys in games has come back into fashion from the late 1980s and early 1990s when Joysticks were a must, and were usually used in preference to Arrow Keys with some games not supporting any Keys.

The inverted-T layout was popularized by the Digital Equipment Corporation LK201 keyboard from 1982.

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The original Apple Macs had no arrow keys
The original Apple Macintosh had no arrow keys, because the mouse would be used instead. Arrow keys were included in later Apple keyboards. Early models with arrow keys but no middle section (Home, End, etc.) placed them in one line below the right-hand Shift key in an HJKL-like fashion; later versions had a standard inverted-T layout in the middle block.

Alternatives to the arrow keys include:
  • the WASD or WAXD keys (on QWERTY keyboards) and ,AOE (on Dvorak keyboards). Sometimes this combination is used simultaneously with the arrow keys. For example, in many 3D games a player will navigate the level with WASD while moving the camera is done with the arrow keys or vice versa. The mouse can be used as well, and is a more commonly used than the arrow keys to control camera movement.
  • the ESDF keys, an alternative to WASD, which keeps the hand in the same place as it normally would be for touch-typing.
  • the 8462 or 7845 keys on the numeric keypad.
  • the IJKL keys often used for webgames, where arrows cause undesirable browser window shifting.
  • the HJKL keys (in vi and related editors; this lets the user navigate without having to move their hand too far)
  • the ESDX keys (known as the "cursor movement diamond") were used in the WordStar word processor and related applications
  • some older computer games on PCs use QAOP for control of the main character



IBM Computer keyboard:
 •  • [ e]
EscF1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8F9F10F11F12PtScScLkBrk
InsHomePgUpNum/*-
DelEndPgDn789+
456
↑123Ent
←↓→0.
 •  • [ e]
Computer Keyboard Keys
Dead keysCompose
ModifierkeysControl Shift Alt/Option (Apple) AltGr Command/Meta (Apple/MIT/Sun keyboards) Windows/Super Fn (compact keyboards)
Lock keysScroll lock Num lock Caps lock
NavigationArrow Page scrolling (Page up/Page down) Home/End
EditingReturn/Enter Backspace Insert Delete Tab Space bar
Misc.SysRq/Print screen Break/Pause Escape Menu Numeric keypad Function Power management (Power, Sleep, Wake) Language input Any key
keyboard is a peripheral partially modeled after the typewriter keyboard. Keyboards are designed to input text and characters, as well as to operate a computer. Physically, keyboards are an arrangement of rectangular buttons, or "keys".
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cursor is an indicator used to show the position on a computer monitor or other display device that will respond to input.

In most command line interfaces, the cursor is an underscore, a solid rectangle, or a vertical line, which may be flashing or steady, indicating where
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A numeric keypad, or numpad for short, is the small, palm-sized, seventeen key section of a computer keyboard, usually on the very far right. The numeric keypad features digits 0 to 9, addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*) and division (/) symbols, a
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Mouse keys is a feature of some operating systems used to improve accessibility to disabled users. Instead of using a mouse, keystrokes on a standard keyboard will control the cursor. Often, the numeric keypad is used for this purpose.
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Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering American company in the computer industry. It is often referred to within the computing industry as DEC. (This acronym was frequently officially used by Digital itself,[1] but the official name was always DIGITAL.
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The LK201 was a detachable computer keyboard introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts in 1982. It was first used by Digital's VT220 ANSI/ASCII terminal and was subsequently used by the Rainbow-100, DECmate-II, and Pro-350 microcomputers and many
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Macintosh, commonly known as Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. Named after the McIntosh variety of apple, the original Macintosh was released on January 24, 1984.
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shift key 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.
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HJKL keys are a method of navigating a cursor around the screen in a console program without using arrow keys or numpad. Popularized by their use in the vi text editor (originally written by Bill Joy on an ADM-3A terminal where arrows appeared over the h, j, k and l keys), these
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WASD (also known as Was-ed, Wads, WSAD, WSDA, ASDW, or AWSD) is a set of four keys on the left-hand side of a QWERTY or QWERTZ computer keyboard often used to control the player's movement in first-person/third-person (FPS/TPS) computer
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QWERTY (pronounced /kwɜːti/) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English-language computer and typewriter keyboards.
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Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (pronounced /ˈdvoɹæk/) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, an educational psychologist and professor of education[1]
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WASD (also known as Was-ed, Wads, WSAD, WSDA, ASDW, or AWSD) is a set of four keys on the left-hand side of a QWERTY or QWERTZ computer keyboard often used to control the player's movement in first-person/third-person (FPS/TPS) computer
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HJKL keys are a method of navigating a cursor around the screen in a console program without using arrow keys or numpad. Popularized by their use in the vi text editor (originally written by Bill Joy on an ADM-3A terminal where arrows appeared over the h, j, k and l keys), these
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VI is the Roman numeral for the number six. VI may also refer to:

Places:
  • Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
  • British Virgin Islands (FIPS country code: VI), a British territory in the Caribbean
  • U.S.

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WordStar was a word processor application, published by MicroPro, originally written for the CP/M operating system but later ported to DOS, that enjoyed a dominant market share during the early to mid-1980s. Although Seymour I.
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International Business Machines Corporation

Public (NYSE:  IBM )
Founded 1889, incorporated 1911
Headquarters Armonk, New York, USA

Key people Samuel J.
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keyboard is a peripheral partially modeled after the typewriter keyboard. Keyboards are designed to input text and characters, as well as to operate a computer. Physically, keyboards are an arrangement of rectangular buttons, or "keys".
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Esc key is in the top-left corner.]]

The Esc key is a key labeled Esc or Escape that is used to generate the ASCII Escape character (Control-[, ASCII code 27 in decimal), the character code traditionally used to initiate an escape sequence.
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A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
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A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.
..... Click the link for more information.

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