Keyboard

Other common control combos

These are generally used in computing — but you should understand that when you press a key, what you are really doing is sending a signal to the program that is listening (“has the focus”), and it’s up to that program to decide how to respond. That’s why Ctrl-C can mean copy or interrupt… it depends on which program is listening.

keys what it usually does
ctrlC copy
cancel or interrupt
ctrlX cut
ctrlV paste
ctrlS save
ctrlF find or search
ctrlA select all
ctrlZ suspend
ctrlD terminate input

These combinations are common in Unix and Windows systems.

On the Mac, many applications use the command modifier key instead (except inside Terminal, or other Unix-like applications).