The Keyboard Keys Explained
Learn what the special keys do: Enter, Backspace, Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Tab and more.
The keyboard has more than letters
Besides the letters and numbers, your keyboard has special keys. Each one has a job. When you know these jobs, working on a computer becomes much faster and easier.
- Enter — starts a new line, or says 'yes, do it'. Like pressing 'OK'.
- Backspace — deletes the letter just before the cursor. Your eraser.
- Shift — hold it to type a CAPITAL letter or the symbol on top of a key.
- Ctrl (Control) — you hold it with another key to run shortcuts, like Ctrl + C.
- Alt — another helper key, held with other keys for special actions.
- Tab — jumps forward, like moving to the next box in a form.
- Caps Lock — turns ON capital letters until you press it again.
- Esc (Escape) — means 'stop' or 'cancel'. Closes small pop-up boxes.
Arrow keys and function keys
The four arrow keys move your cursor up, down, left and right without a mouse. The row of keys at the top marked F1 to F12 are called function keys. They do special jobs in different programs, like F2 to rename a file.
Caps Lock and Shift both make capitals, but they work differently. Shift makes capitals only while you hold it. Caps Lock keeps capitals ON until you press it again. If everything is TYPING LIKE THIS, press Caps Lock once to turn it off.
You do not need to memorise every key today. Just remember Enter, Backspace and Shift first. The rest will come slowly.