When talking to tech support or to other people about keyboard commands,
web pages, and command line commands, you may hear such things as
forward slash,
backward slash / backslash, and
caret. Many times this can be confusing for users unfamiliar with each of the symbols found on a
keyboard. Below is a chart that can be used to quickly identify keyboard keys. Keep in mind that your keyboard may not have every key listed in this chart.
| Symbol | Explanation |
| Windows | PC keyboards have a Windows key represented by a flag. |
| Command | Apple Mac computers have a command key. |
| F1 - F12 | Information about the F1 through F12 keyboard keys. |
| Tab | Tab key |
| Caps lock | Caps lock key |
| Shift | Shift key |
| Ctrl | Ctrl key |
| Alt | Alt key (PC Only; Mac users have Option key) |
| Back Space | Back space key |
| Delete | Delete or Del key |
| Enter | Enter key |
| Prt Scrn | Print screen key |
| Scroll lock | Scroll lock key |
| Pause | Pause key |
| Break | Break key |
| Insert | Insert key |
| Home | Home key |
| Page up | Page up or pgup key |
| Page down | Page down or pgdn key |
| Num Lock | Num Lock key |
| ~ | Tilde |
| ` | Acute, Back quote, grave, grave accent, left quote, open quote, or a push |
| ! | Exclamation mark, Exclamation point, or Bang |
| @ | At or At symbol |
| # | Octothorpe, Number, Pound, sharp, or Hash |
| £ | Pounds Sterling or Pound symbol |
| € | Euro |
| $ | Dollar sign |
| ¢ | Cent sign |
| ¥ | Japanese Yen |
| $ | Generic currency |
| § | Micro |
| % | Percent |
| ° | Degree |
| ^ | Caret or Circumflex |
| & | Ampersand or And |
| * | Asterisk and sometimes referred to as star. |
| ( | Open parenthesis |
| ) | Close parenthesis |
| - | Hyphen, Minus or Dash |
| _ | Underscore |
| + | Plus |
| = | Equals |
| { | Open Brace |
| } | Close Brace |
| [ | Open bracket |
| ] | Close bracket |
| | | Pipe, Or, or Vertical bar |
| \ | Backslash or Reverse Solidus |
| / | Forward slash, Solidus, Virgule, or Whack |
| § | Section |
| : | Colon |
| ; | Semicolon |
| " | Quote, Quotation mark, or Inverted commas |
| ' | Apostrophe or Single Quote |
| < | Less Than or Angle brackets |
| > | Greater Than or Angle brackets |
| , | Comma |
| . | Period, dot or Full Stop |
| ? | Question Mark |
