Arrow keys


The arrow keys are the four keys on a computer keyboard labelled with directional arrows, typically found in an inverted-T layout to the bottom-right of the keyboard and to the left of the numeric keypad. They are a subset of the cursor keys, which include others like the Home, End, and Page Up/Down keys.
The arrow keys have a wide variety of functions. In a command-line interface, text box, or word processor, they typically enable caret navigation, allowing the user to move the text cursor between characters and lines. Meanwhile, in graphical user interfaces, file viewers, and web browsers, the keys are generally used for scrolling, providing an alternative to dragging a scrollbar with a mouse pointer. Specific kinds of software make use of the arrow keys in more unique ways: they are used in most media player software to skip backward or forward through audio and video files, and they are used in some video games to make a player character dance around a virtual space.
The cursor keys predated the mouse pointer and were the primary means of cursor movement in the CLIs of the early 1980s. The modern layout and position of the arrow keys was established by the LK201 keyboard, released in 1982 by Digital Equipment Corporation; its design was replicated by larger companies like IBM and Apple and became the industry standard. Today, the arrow keys are included in that layout on almost all keyboards.

History

Before the computer mouse was widespread, arrow keys were the primary way of moving a cursor on screen. Mouse keys is a feature that allows controlling a mouse cursor with arrow keys instead. A feature echoed in the Amiga whereby holding the Amiga key would allow a person to move the pointer with the cursor keys in the Workbench, but most games require a mouse or joystick. The use of arrow keys in games has come back into fashion from the late 1980s and early 1990s when joysticks were a must, and were usually used in preference to arrow keys with some games not supporting any keys. It can be used instead of WASD keys, to play games using those keys.
The inverted-T layout was popularized by the Digital Equipment Corporation LK201 keyboard from 1982.
Most Commodore 8-bit computers used two cursor keys instead of four, with directions selected using the Shift key.
The original Macintosh had no arrow keys at the insistence of Steve Jobs, who wished to force users and developers to acclimate to the computer mouse. Arrow keys were included in later Apple keyboards; early models with arrow keys but no middle section placed them in a line below the right Shift key, while later versions had a standard inverted-T layout, either in the middle block or as half-height keys at the bottom right of the main keyboard.

Common uses

The arrow keys are used in many applications to do different things such as:
  • Moving text cursor to the right, left, previous line and next line
  • Additional text based actions can be achieved by holding a Modifier key i.e., for selection and for word based movement
  • Moving player's character in video games
  • Scrolling down and up in different documents and web pages
  • Changing the current selected item in a list or selecting file icon near to the current selected file in a file explorer
  • Moving selected object in a drawing software
  • In multimedia players, the left and right arrows are often used to move forward and backward, while the up and down keys are used to increase and decrease the volume of the playback

    Alternative keys

Although the "arrow keys" provide one convention for cursor movement on computers, there are also other conventions for cursor movement that use entirely different keys.

5678 keys

This cursor key layout was seen in Sinclair ZX80, ZX81, and ZX Spectrum home computer designs. These machines had 40-key alphanumeric keyboards with one or two shift keys for producing symbols or invoking secondary functions. Number keys from to doubled as cursor control keys when used together with a shift key, putting them in a broadly similar position to the Dec VT100 but in the order of the ADM-3A. These were labelled with left-, down-, up-, and right-arrow symbols printed on or directly above them in a colour matching the relevant shift key. The Jupiter Ace keyboard was similar but with up and down functions swapped.
In some software for these machines, the unshifted,,, and keys were directly associated with direction control when they had no other purpose, as this meant less complicated keypress detection routines could be used. The corresponding character codes returned by ROM routines varied between machines, with Spectrum and Ace designs having the order of up and down keys on the keyboard reflecting which had the lesser and greater numeric value.
Although the QL-style keyboard on later Spectrum + and + 128K models introduced various dedicated keys including arrow keys either side of the space bar and removed related labels, either method produced the same signals and there was no difference between which of the alternatives was used as far as software was concerned.

WASD keys

WASD is a set of four keys on a QWERTY or QWERTZ computer keyboard that mimic the inverted-T configuration of the arrow keys. These keys are most commonly used to control the player character's movement in computer games. / control forward and backward, while / control strafing left and right.
The main reason for this arrangement is that the arrow keys are not ergonomic to use with a right-handed mouse. During the early days of gaming, this was not a problem as the mouse was not used; the arrow keys controlled both movement as well as looking around, with strafing done using modifier keys. However, the introduction of mouselook, a system that let one use the mouse to look around both vertically and horizontally, enabled the player to perform techniques such as smooth circle strafing, which, although possible with the keyboard, was difficult to perform and resulted in jagged movement. Since the mouse was now used for looking, the and keys for looking would be redundant and thus were altered to become strafe keys.
The style was popularized in competitive play in Quake and subsequently QuakeWorld, notably by professional player Dennis Fong, where the advantages of WASD and mouselook were recognized over a purely keyboard-based control system. In the same year that Castle Wolfenstein was released, 1981, the game Wizardry used the AWD keys for movement in a first-person dungeon. Both the programmers of Castle Wolfenstein and Wizardry were users of the earlier PLATO system where the game Moria used the AWD keys.
Another advantage of WASD is that it allows the user to use the left-hand thumb to press the bar and the left-hand little finger to press the or keys, as opposed to the arrow keys which lack other keys in proximity to press. and were chosen partly because they are larger keys and thus easier to hit, but primarily because in older systems the computer could only recognize a couple of alphanumeric key presses, a limitation circumvented by the use of modifier keys. In later games, the usage of the key to interact with items or open up the inventory, and the key to reload a gun, were also popularized due to its location next to the WASD keys, allowing players to reach it quickly.
Telengard may be the first game to use WASD keys; Dark Castle may be the first to use WASD keys and mouse for control. Half-Life was one of the first mainstream games to use WASD by default. After being popularized by first-person shooters, WASD became more common in other computer game genres as well. Many of the games that have adopted this layout use a first-person or over-the-shoulder third-person perspective. Some games that use overhead camera views also use WASD to move the camera, such as some city-building games and economic simulation games.

ESDF keys

The ESDF variation is an alternative to WASD and is sometimes preferred because it provides access to movement independent keys for the little finger which generally allows for more advanced manual binding. Incidentally, it allows the left hand to remain in the home row with the advantage of the key home row marker to easily return to position with the index finger. Moreover, these keys are compatible with both QWERTY and AZERTY keyboard layouts, which is a major plus if the game is also released in France or Belgium.
Perhaps the earliest game to use ESDF was Crossfire, which used the keys for firing in multiple directions. Dan "vise" Larsen from Quake Team Deathmatch clan "clan Kapitol" popularized ESDF as an alternative to "WASD", explaining that the player gains three additional keys to bind the Quake game's controls to. It is the default configuration for several games, such as Tribes 2. The game Blackthorne used a combination of arrow keys for movement and ESDF for actions.
Some players use RDFG or TFGH to give access to even more keys.

DCAS keys

Another alternate to the WASD shooter movement style is DCAS. In this configuration, and control forward and backward motion, while and control side-stepping. Typically the key is utilized for crouching instead of the Ctrl key, as it is more easily reached when the hand is positioned for DCAS.
When Bungie's first-person shooter Marathon was released in 1994, it featured up/down look control and the option to fully control turning and aiming by mouse. However, it did not include a set of default controls to handle this. With WASD not yet a well-known standard, some people devised their own control schemes to handle combined keyboard movement with mouse aiming; DCAS was one such control scheme.
Like WASD, DCAS allows the player to easily utilize the left modifier keys; this is advantageous because on most keyboards, the circuitry is better at tracking multiple key-presses simultaneously if some of them are modifier keys. But unlike WASD, the position of the left hand for DCAS gameplay is very similar to the left hand's position on the home row keys. This is very comfortable for right-handed players and seen as the primary advantage over using WASD, but it is ill-suited for left-handed mousing.