The Keyboard

Keyboard is the most common text-based input device. Computer keyboards are similar to electronic typewriter keyboards with additional keys. The keyboard is used to enter (type in) letters, numbers and other characters. Most keyboards have between 80 and 110 keys. 

The keyboards used by us are also known as QWERTY keyboards because the first six typing keys on the top row of letters spell QWERTY. The QWERTY keyboard was designed in the 1800s for mechanical typewriters and was actually designed to slow typists down to avoid jamming the keys on mechanical units. Let us learn about the keys on a keyboard.

Type of keys:

The keys on the keyboard can be broadly be divided into the followings groups:

• Alphabet Keys
• Number Keys
• Cursor Control Keys
• Function Keys
• Special Keys

Alphabet keys:

Keys for the letters A to Z are called alphabet keys or letter keys. There are 26 alphabet keys on a computer keyboard. They are used to enter letters. You can type both capital and small letters using the alphabet keys. The alphabet keys are shown below:

Number Keys:

We type in numbers using the number keys. The keyboard has number keys for the digits 0 to 9. They are shown below.

A keyboard has two set of number keys. The first set of number keys is present above the alphabet keys and second set of keys is present on the right side of the keyboard. The second set of number keys is called numeric keypad. To use the numeric keypad, you need to press the Num Lock key to turn it on. The Num Lock indicator light glows when the Num Lock key is turn on.

Cursor Control Keys:

A special symbol, that is, a small blinking line that shows where the next letter or number will appear on the computer screen is known as the cursor.

If you want to type at a different place, you can change the position of the cursor. The cursor can be moved left and right or up and down by pressing the four keys that have arrows on them. These four keys are called Cursor Control Keys or direction keys or arrow keys. Arrows are also printed below some numbers in the numeric keypad. These keys works as arrow keys when Num Lock is OFF.

Function Keys:

The key marked with letters F1 to F12 at the top of the keyboard are Function keys. The Function Keys are used for performing some specific functions. For examples, F1 is the help key. The help screen opens is most software when this key is pressed.

Special keys:

There are some keys on the keyboard which are used for special purpose. Some of these key are:

Spacebar:

The spacebar is the longest key on the keyboard. It is usually found in the lowest row. It is used to put or enter a blank space between two letters or numbers. For example, to type the sentence, “Computer is a Machine”. Follow the given steps:

• Step 1: Type “Computer”.
• Step 2: Press the Spacebar Key.
• Step 3: Type “is”.
• Step 4: Press the Spacebar Key.
• Step 5: Type “a”.
• Step 6: Press the Spacebar Key.
• Step 7: Type “Machine”

Enter Keys:

The Enter key was originally the "Return key" on a typewriter, which caused the carriage to return to the beginning of the next line on the paper. There are two Enter keys on the keyboard. When we finish typing in one line, we press the Enter key to start a new line. This moves the cursor to the next line. The cursor is a blinking line ( ׀ ) that we see on the screen while typing. It shows where the next character or action will come. Pressing Enter may also make the computer start a new action. For example, to type two sentences, “A computer is a machine” and “It works very fast” in two different lines. Follow the given steps:

• Step 1: Type the sentence “A computer is a machine”.
• Step 2: Press Enter key. The cursor gets placed at the beginning of the next line.
• Step 3: Type the sentence “It works very fast”.

Delete Keys:

The Delete key can used to erase a character. When typing, we see a blinking line like ׀. It is called cursor. Pressing the Delete key erases the character to the right of the cursor. For example, you wanted to type the word COMPUTER, but by mistake you typed the letter “A” after “M”.

To remove the letter “A”, place the cursor before it and press the Delete key. The letter “A” gets removed.

Backspace Key:

The Backspace key can used to erase a character. When typing, we see a blinking line like ( ׀ ). It is called cursor. Pressing the Backspace key erases the character to the left of the cursor. For example, you wanted to type the word COMPUTER, but by mistake you typed the letter “A” after “M”.

To remove the letter “A”, place the cursor after it and press the Backspace key. The letter “A” gets removed.

Esc (Escape) key:

You will find the Esc (Escape) Key at the top-left corner of the keyboard. Pressing the Escape key usually cancels or aborts the current operation what the computer is doing or close a menu. For example, you can close the Start menu by pressing Esc.

Caps Lock Key:

Press the Caps Lock key once, this turns on Caps lock. Most of the keyboards have a small light that glows when the Caps Lock mode is on. Now if you press alphabet keys, you will get capital letters and in lower case when the shift key is pressed. Press the Caps Lock key again to turn off Caps lock. Now if you press alphabet keys, you will get small letters.

For example, if you want to type “computer” in capital letters, press the Caps lock key once. When you type now, the name will appears as “COMPUTER”.

Shift Key:

The Shift key can be used to type capital letters when the Caps Lock key is ‘OFF’. To type capital letters, press the Shift key and the alphabet key at the same time. If the Caps Lock key is ‘ON’, pressing the Shift key with the alphabet key will display small letters.

Some keys on the keyboard have two characters. The Shift key can also be used with those keys to type the upper characters on them.

Numeric Keypad:

The numeric keypad is a set of keys found on the right side of the keyboard. It has keys for the digits 0 to 9. It also has some other keys, like those for addition ( + ), subtraction ( - ), multiplication ( * ) and division ( / ). Many people use the numeric keypad when they have to enter numbers and do calculations.

Num Lock Key:

The numeric keypad has a Num Lock key. Pressing this key turns Num Lock on. The numeric keypad can be used to type numbers only when Num Lock is on. Pressing the Num Lock key again turns off Num Lock. Then the keys work differently, shown by what is printed below the numbers.

Home key:

The Home key moves the cursor to the start of a line. When you press Ctrl + Home key, jump you to the top of your document.

End key:

The End key moves the cursor to the end of a line. When you press Ctrl + End key, jump you to the bottom of your document.

Ctrl Keys:

Ctrl stands for Control. There are two control key on a keyboard. The Ctrl key when used in combination with other keys, serves as shortcuts for performing various functions. For example, Ctrl + B key combination suggests pressing and holding down the Ctrl and B keyboard keys to Bold a highlighted text.

Punctuation keys:

When typing, you can use various punctuation keys like comma ( , ), full stop ( . ), hyphen ( - ), double quotes ( “ ) and single quotes ( ‘ ) to complete your sentences. The punctuation marks appearing as upper characters can be typed by holding down the Shift key and the punctuation key at the same time.

PrtSc Key:

PrtSc stands for print screen. The Print Screen key is usually located in the upper right-hand corner of the keyboard. Some keyboard models label the Print Screen key differently, such as PrintScreen, PrntScrn, PrntScr, PrtScn, PrtScr or PrtSc. We use the Print Screen key to obtain screen captures.

Capturing a snapshot of your computer screen is called a screenshot or screen capture. Once captured, the screenshot automatically copies to your computer clipboard.

You can then paste the screenshot into a document, email message, file or image editor or you can save the screenshot as a file, and then insert it as a picture into a document, email message, another file or image editor.

Keyboard Key with Explanations:

~	Tilde.
`	Back quote.
!	Exclamation mark.
@	Artharate symbol.
#	Hash Symbol.
$	Dollar Sign.
%	Percent Symbol.
^	Caret. Represents an exponent, square, cube, or other power.
&	Ampersand Symbol
*	Asterisk, mathematical multiplication symbol
(	Open parenthesis.
)	Close parenthesis.
-	Hyphen, Minus or Dash.
_	Underscore.
+	Plus.
=	Equal.
{	Open curly bracket.
}	Close curly bracket.
[	Open bracket.
]	Closed bracket.
|	Pipe, Or, or Vertical bar.
\	Backslash
/	Forward slash and mathematical division symbol.
:	Colon.
;	Semicolon.
"	Quote, Quotation mark.
'	Single Quote.
<	Less Than
>	Greater Than.
,	Comma.
.	Period, dot or Full Stop.
?	Question Mark.

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