# Help key

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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Help_key.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_key
> Source revision: 1300677773
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Dedicated key on a computer keyboard}}
{{Refimprove|date=September 2014}}
A '''Help key''', found in the shape of a dedicated key explicitly labeled {{keypress|Help}}, or as another key, typically one of the [function key](/source/function_key)s, on a [computer keyboard](/source/computer_keyboard), is a key which, when pressed, produces information on the screen/display to aid the user in their current task, such as using a specific function in an [application program](/source/application_program).

In the case of a non-dedicated Help key, the location of the key will sometimes vary between different software packages. Most common in computer history, however, is the development of a [de facto](/source/de_facto) Help key location for each brand/family of computer, exemplified by the use of [F1](/source/Function_key_1) on [IBM compatible PCs](/source/IBM_PC_compatible).

==Apple keyboards==
{{quote|The standard help key on the [Apple IIe](/source/Apple_IIe) and [Apple III](/source/Apple_III) series computers is either <code>OPEN</code>-<code>APPLE</code>-<code>?</code> or <code>SOLID</code>-<code>APPLE</code>-<code>?</code> ... The standard help key on the [Apple II](/source/Apple_II) and [Apple II+](/source/Apple_II_Plus), where practical, is a question mark or slash, or else <code>ESCAPE</code> <code>?</code> or <code>ESCAPE</code> <code>/</code>.|A 1982 [Apple Computer](/source/Apple_Inc.) manual for developers.<ref name="apple1982">{{cite book | url=http://www.apple2scans.net/files/1982-A2F2116-m-a2e-aiiedg.pdf | title=Apple IIe Design Guidelines | publisher=Apple Computer | author1=Meyers, Joe | author2=Tognazzini, Bruce | year=1982 | pages=39–40 | access-date=2014-03-11 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172720/http://www.apple2scans.net/files/1982-A2F2116-m-a2e-aiiedg.pdf | archive-date=2015-09-23 | url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

On a full-sized [Apple keyboard](/source/Apple_keyboard), the help key was labelled simply as {{keypress|Help}}, located to the left of the {{keypress|[Home](/source/home_key)}}. Where IBM compatible PC keyboards had the {{keypress|[Insert](/source/insert_key)}}, Apple keyboards had the help key instead. As of 2007, new Apple keyboards do not have a help key. In its place, a full-sized Apple keyboard has a {{keypress|[Fn](/source/Fn_key)}} instead. Instead of a mechanical help key, the menu bar for most applications contain a Help menu as a matter of convention.

==Commodore and Amiga keyboards==
The [Commodore 128](/source/Commodore_128) had a {{keypress|Help}} key in the second block of top row keys. [Amiga](/source/Amiga) keyboards had a {{keypress|Help}} key, labelled as such, above the arrow keys on the keyboard, and next to a {{keypress|Del}} key (where the {{keypress|Insert|Home|Pg Up|chain=&nbsp;}} cluster is on a standard PC keyboard).

==Atari keyboards==
The keyboards of the [Atari](/source/Atari_ST) 16- and 32-bit computers had a {{keypress|Help}} key above the arrow keys on the keyboard. Atari 8-bit XL and XE series keyboards had dedicated {{keypress|Help}} keys, but in the group of differently-styled system keys separated from the rest of the keyboard.

==Sun Microsystems (Oracle)==
Most of the [Sun Microsystems](/source/Sun_Microsystems) keyboards have a dedicated "{{keypress|Help}}" key in the left top corner (left from the "{{keypress|Esc}}" key above block of 10 ({{keypress|chain=,|Stop|Again|Props|Undo|Front|Copy|Open|Paste|Find|Cut}}) extra keys.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.g8wrb.org/useful-stuff/Sun/U80/805-6618-11.pdf | title=manual | accessdate=September 25, 2011 | pages=chapter 7 "image of Type-6 keyboard" | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040941/http://www.g8wrb.org/useful-stuff/Sun/U80/805-6618-11.pdf | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== References ==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Help Key}}
Category:Computer keys

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Help key](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_key) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_key?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.