Often when you first get acquainted with a personal computer, the user has a question about what characters are on the keyboard and how to enter them. Within the framework of this article, each group of keys will be described in detail with an indication of its purpose. A method for entering non-standard characters using ASCII codes will also be described. This material is of most interest to those who work with a text editor, such as Microsoft Word or another similar application (OpenOffice Writer).
Functional set
Let's start with the function keys. There are 12 of them on the keyboard. They are located in the very top row. Their purpose depends on the open application at the current time. Usually, a hint is displayed at the bottom of the screen, and these are the most frequently performed operations in this program (for example, creating a directory in Norton Commander is “F7”).
Keys and Register
A special group of keys are keys. They control the operation of another part of the keyboard. The first one is Caps Lock. It changes the case of letters. Lowercase characters are entered by default. If we press this key once, then when the keys are pressed, capital letters will appear . This is the easiest and most convenient way to put characters on the keyboard with a different case. The second key is Num Lock. It is used to switch the numeric keypad. When it is turned off, it can be used for navigation. But when turned on, it works like a normal calculator. The last key of this group is “Scroll Lock”. It is used in table processors. If its position is inactive, it goes through the cells, and when it is turned on, the sheet scrolls.
Control
Separately, it is worth considering the control keys. First of all, these are arrows. They move the cursor one position left, right, up and down. There is also page navigation: “PgUp” (page up) and “PgDn” (page down). To go to the beginning of the line, use "Home", at the end - "End". The “Shift”, “Alt” and “Ctrl” keys belong to the control keys. Their combination switches the keyboard layout (it depends on the settings of the operating system).
When “Shift” is held down, the case of input characters changes and it becomes possible to enter auxiliary characters. For example, find out how to type characters on the keyboard from this set. We will enter "%". To do this, hold down “Shift” and “5”. The set of auxiliary characters depends on the active keyboard layout at the current time. That is, in the English layout some characters are available, and in the Russian - others.
We draw attention to the notation that is on the keyboard. Deleting a character on the left is “Backspace” and on the right is “Del”. "Enter" - a transition to a new line. Another special key is the Tab. In the table, it provides the transition to the next cell, and at the end adds a new line. For text, pressing it causes an “increased” indent between characters. And in the file manager, pressing it leads to a transition to another panel.
Basic set
The main set of characters on the keyboard depends on the active layout at the current time. It can be Russian or English. Switching between them is carried out using the combinations “Alt” + “Shift” on the left or “Ctrl” + “Shift”. The selected combination is determined in the settings of the operating system. To find out the active combination is possible by selection. That is, we click the first of them and look at the state of the language panel (located in the lower right corner of the screen). If there is a change of language, then this is the combination we need (for example, from "En" to "Ru" or vice versa). By default, the first one is set.
The letters on the keyboard are located in its central part and are divided into three rows. The more often the symbol is used, the closer it is to the center, the less often - the farther it is from it. That is, the letters are not distributed alphabetically, but according to mathematical statistics. At first it’s hard to get used to this principle of organizing the distribution of signs, but the more you work, the more you get used to it and realize that it’s really convenient. Another nuance to consider. For short-term switching between uppercase and lowercase letters, it is better to use “Shift”, and for long-term dialing - “Caps Lock”.
Numeric keypad
Another required component of such input devices is the numeric keypad. It is located in its right part. She has two modes of operation: input and navigation. In the first case, characters are typed on the keyboard (these are numbers and basic mathematical operations). This is convenient when working with a large number of numbers. And in the second option, the arrow keys and page navigation are duplicated. That is, the arrows for moving the marker, "PgUp", "PgDn", "Home" and "End" - all this is present here.
Switching between them is performed using the “Num Lock” key. When it is turned off (the LED is inactive), navigation works, and when it is turned on, digital dialing works. If necessary, you can set the desired mode of operation after loading the personal computer into the BIOS (it is better for advanced users to do this, as beginners may have problems with this operation).
Punctuation marks
Punctuation marks on the keyboard are mostly concentrated near the right Shift key. This is a dot and a comma. Also in the English version of the layout here is a question mark. The remaining characters (colon, dash, hyphen, question and exclamation marks) are located on the main numeric keypad, which is located immediately below the function keys. To enter them, briefly hold down “Shift” and the corresponding button with it.
About what is not
But what about the characters that are not on the keyboard? Is there any way to get them? The answer to this question is yes. There are two ways to type these characters. The first of these involves the use of a Word text editor. After its launch, go to the "Insert" toolbar and select the "Symbol" item there. In the list that opens, select "Other". Then a special input window will open. Here using the navigation keys we find the desired character and press "Enter".
Additional characters on the keyboard can be typed in another way - using ASCII codes. This works in all Windows applications - a major plus. Its downside is the use of large code that needs to be remembered. First, find out the digital code of the sign we need on the official Microsoft website or in any other source where there is a corresponding table, and remember it. Then go to the application we need.
Be sure to turn on “Num Lock”, hold down “Alt” and on the right-hand numeric keypad we sequentially type the code found in the previous step. At the end, you need to release "Alt" and after that the desired character must necessarily appear. For example, to enter “♥” the combination “Alt” + “9829” is used. It is convenient to use for non-standard
typing chat messages or pages on social networks. After all, it is much more convenient to remember a non-standard record than a regular one. And such a solution just contributes to this.
Summary
As part of this material, all the characters on the keyboard that are available today have been described. The purpose of all the keys is indicated and practical examples of work are given. Also shown is a working technique that allows you to go beyond the usual set of characters using ASCII codes. All this in total will help a novice user to thoroughly understand the keyboard and understand the basic principles of the functioning of a personal computer.