Keyboard

A standard keyboard has 102 keys. The keys are divided into alphabetical (a-z), numerical (1-0) and special (Function, Ctrl, Alt etc keys).

In addition to the usual alphabetical and numerical keys, you should know at least the following special keys that are located among the alphabetical ones.

Below are shown some typical keys on a PC keyboard. The keyboard mapping on Mac computers is almost identical to PC keyboards, but the special keys Ctrl and Alt work slightly differently. In addition, the Mac keyboard has Fn and Cmd keys instead of the Windows key.

	Ctrl: (Control) is used in combination with other keys for different actions. The combination Ctrl+C, for example, copies the chosen data to the memory. Alt: (Alternative) is used like the Ctrl key. Sometimes both these keys are used in combination: Ctrl+Alt+Del, for example, brings up the task manager(in Windows XP). Alt Gr: (Alternative Graphics) produces the ‘third character’ of the keys, e.g. @, $, £ and }. With this key, you can also create the ~ character (important for the internet). Create the  ~ character as follows: press ALT-GR and the ~ key at the same time, and finish with the space bar. You can make so-called ascii characters with combinations of the Alt key and numerals, e.g. Alt+0176 makes the character for temperature °. You can choose to either add special characters in this way or through an application. Most text processing programs have their own menu for special characters.
	Shift: capitalizes letters and the special characters on the numerical keys, among others.
	Caps Lock: locks the capitalization of letters. This function is connected with an A or Caps lock pilot light on the keyboard. It turns on the light when the function is in use.
	Tab: the tabulator is mainly used in word processing: each time you press the tab button, the cursor moves to the next tab stop on the same row. The key can also be used for alternating between window displays.
	Backspace: removes the characters to the left of the cursor, i.e. what you just wrote. This key can also be used to remove a larger portion of text.
	Enter: by pressing this key you can change paragraphs or e.g. accept a function.

There are more special keys above the alphabetical keys; of these the function keys(please see next image) are used for different functions, depending on situation and the program currently being used. The manual for these functions is usually available in the manual for the program.

To the left and right of the function keys, you will find the following additional keys:

	Esc (Escape): mostly used to cancel a function, or e.g. to close a menu window.
	Home and End: these keys bring the cursor to the top or the bottom of the line. Page Up and Page Down: move the page up or down. Insert: starts the insert function, where the text you are writing replaces the text to the right of the cursor. Delete: deletes the character to the right of the cursor.
	Arrow keys: move the cursor in the direction shown by the arrows.
	The number pad is activated with the Num Lock key: when it is activated, the pilot light with the symbol 1 or the text Num Lock lights up. Usually the Num Lock function has been set to be turned on when starting up the computer. If the pilot light is not turned on, the keys function in the way indicated by the symbols on the keys (8 up, 4 left, 6 right, 2 down).

The keyboard also has the rarely used keys Print Screen, Scroll Lock and Pause. The Print Screen key lets you take a picture of the display (Alt+PrintScreen takes a picture of the currently activated window) and send it to your clipboard, Scroll Lock locks the scrolling of the display and the Pause key can be used e.g. for stopping the loading of the system during start-up.