Keyboard Shortcut - Notation

Notation

The simplest keyboard shortcuts consist of only one key. For these, one generally just writes out the name of the key, as in the message "Press F1 for Help". The name of the key is sometimes surrounded in brackets or similar characters. For example: or . The key name may also be set off using special formatting (bold, italic, all caps, etc.)

Many shortcuts require two or more keys to be pressed together. For these, the usual notation is to list the keys names separated by plus signs or hyphens. For example: "Ctrl+C", "Ctrl-C", or "Ctrl+C". The Ctrl key is sometimes indicated by a caret character (^). Thus Ctrl-C is sometimes written as ^C. At times, usually on Unix platforms, the case of the second character is significant - if the character would normally require pressing the Shift key to type, then the Shift key is part of the shortcut e.g. '^C' vs. '^c' or '^@' vs. '^2'.

Some keyboard shortcuts require keys (or sets of keys) to be pressed individually, in sequence. These are generally written with the individual keys (or sets) separated by commas or semicolons. For example "Alt+F, S" or "Alt+F; S" would mean "First press Alt and F together, release them and then press S". Such shortcuts often represent a series of smaller shortcuts, strung together to create a larger action. To continue the "Alt+F, S" example, in many programs, this will open the "File" menu, and then invoke the "Save" function.