The key is commonly found on
desktop and
laptop
A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...
keyboards. The key has the opposite effect of the
End key. In limited-size keyboards where the key is missing the same functionality can be reached via the key combination of .
Its standard symbol from
ISO/IEC 9995-7, i.e. , is used on some full-size keyboards instead of a possibly localized text label.
Microsoft Windows
In modern
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
text editing applications, it is primarily used to return the cursor to the beginning of the line where the cursor is located. When the text is not editable, the key is used to return to the beginning of the document; this can also be done in editable text if the key is pressed along with .
The key can also be used to select all the characters before the cursor in a certain line if pressed along with in selectable text.
macOS
Only full-sized Apple keyboards have a key. In
macOS
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
single line
text fields, the key works like it does in
DOS and MS Windows, going back to the days of
dumb terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display ...
s, where Home moves to the start of the line. In multiline
word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word ...
s, when the key is pressed, the window scrolls to the top, while the caret position does not change at all; that is, the key is tied to the current window, not the text box being edited. On Apple keyboards that do not have a Home key, one can press for the Home key functionality described above. To get the same result as the Windows platform (that is, moving the insertion point to the beginning of the current line of text), one can press . An application can also be used to change this behavior.
Linux
In
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
, the key has basically the same functionality as it does on Windows. It returns the cursor to the beginning of the line in editable text, and otherwise scrolls a scrollable document to the beginning. Also, like Windows, the key can be used to select all the characters before the cursor in a certain line if pressed along with in editable text.
Non-GUI applications
A key was present on the
ADM-3A and many other pre-PC
dumb terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display ...
keyboards. Its application here was to return the
text cursor to the beginning of the screen line.
References
{{keyboard keys
Computer keys