DOS And Your Keyboard

Keyboards vary with the brand of computer. However, almost all computer keyboards have similarities. Here, the categories of keys used by computer keyboards are described.

Keyboard Layout    The keyboard layout of two typical personals computers are shown in Figure 1-1.

                                           Figure 1-1    Typical Keyboard Layout

Standard Typing Keys: The standard typing keys are the same as those used on a conventional typewriter. These include letter and number keys, the Tab key, and the Shift keys. The Shift key is used to type uppercase letters and the symbols above the upper row of number keys, just as soon as on a typewriter. The Caps Lock key lets you type in uppercase without pressing Shift key. When the Caps Lock is on, pressing Shift produces lowercase characters. There are also several special character keys available to you on the computer keyboard, such as the vertical bar, back slash, tilde, and grave(accent mark) symbols:

Description                                                     Symbols

Vertical Bar                                                          |

Back Slash                                                           \

Tilde                                                                    ~

Grave                                                                   `

Greater Than                                                       >

Less Than                                                            <

Open Bracket                                                       [

Close Bracket                                                       ]

Open Brace                                                          {

Close Brace                                                          }

Special Control Keys: Special control keys send special codes to your computer. These codes are used frequently to perform special (flashing bar or block) left,right,up or down. Some programs use the Ins and Del keys to insert and delete characters.

Expressions like Ctrl-X and Alt-X, where X is any keyboard character, indicate that the Ctrl or Alt key is pressed and held while the indicated characters key is typed. This is done in the same way that capital letters are typed using Shift key. Keystrokes that you press or type in procedures are boldfaced as in Ctrl-KB or Enter.

The ↲ key is used like a carriage return key on a typewriter to end a line or complete a command. "Enter" is used throughout this book.
There are also function keys F1 through F12 and other keys, such as Ins, Del, Num Lock, the Arrow keys, and more. Some keys are engraved with special symbols instead of words; use the following table to see how they are named in this book.

Symbols                                                             Key

    ↲                                                             Enter or <CR>

   ←                                                               Backspace

   ↹                                                                    Tab

   ⇑                                                                    Shift

   ↦                                                             Right Arrow 

   ↤                                                               Up Arrow

   ↑                                                                Up Arrow 

   ↓                                                              Down Arrow

 |____|                                                          Space bar

[F1]-[F12]                                       Function Key F1 through F12