Undocumented Legacy Keys in Text Fields (and Notepad)

[Guest Veli-Pekka Tätilä]

Hi, I've discovered the following undocumented keys in Windows edit fields:

 

ctrl+h: delete char (like backspace)

ctrl+i: indent a level (like tab)

ctrl+(j/m): line break (like enter)

ctrl+del: delete till end of line (not delete next word as in RTF fields or

editors)

ctrl+backspace: insert char 127 (not delete previous word, like in RTF and

most editors)

 

Does anyone know the history of the rather Emacs-like ctrl+(h/j) i.e. why

are these keys used in Windows while most of the other Unixisms such as

ctrlk for kill line aren't? Similarly, what's up with the broekn

ctrl+backspace and why doesn't ctrl+del work symmetrically to it?

 

I reckon one source of inspiration for many of the keys we think of as

Windows-like has been IBM's common user access (CUA) standard.

 

Granted, this would be just knitpicking if it was Notepad only, but my

observations apply to any app using an edit control or subclassing from one.

So the keys are about as global as you can get affecting anything from

Windows NT3.1 software to Vista I reckon.

 

I guess these lesser used and hardly documented keys are quite an obscure

thing to many. Kinda like using = and - to chek and clear checkboxes. That

is something I only ran across when reading the default message processing

docs for the checkbox control in MSDN. This is one of the combos I've seen

documented almost nowhere, be it the XP help, the Windows keyboard guide or

the Windows accessibility guide and so on.

 

Being legally blind I've always been a heavy keyboard user. Even mmy MSC is

related, as it is about keyboard usability suggesting several improvements

to existing keyboard interfaces. English abstract:

 

http://vtatila.kapsi.fi/msc.html

 

Would be neat if someone here knew the history behind the said keys in edit

fields.

 

Finally, on an OT:ish site note Where can I give Vista accessibility

Feedback? The Explorer overwrite dialog and sorted list view column don't

respect prefs with high contrast schemes, for instance.

 

--

With kind regards Veli-Pekka Tätilä

Accessibility, Apps and Coding plus Synths and Music:

http://vtatila.kapsi.fi

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Undocumented Legacy Keys in Text Fields (and Notepad)

 

 

"Veli-Pekka Tätilä" <vtatila@gmailRemoveToReply.com> wrote in message

news:48d96905$0$25390$9b536df3@news.fv.fi...

> Hi, I've discovered the following undocumented keys in Windows edit

> fields:

>

> ctrl+h: delete char (like backspace)

> ctrl+i: indent a level (like tab)

> ctrl+(j/m): line break (like enter)

> ctrl+del: delete till end of line (not delete next word as in RTF fields

> or editors)

> ctrl+backspace: insert char 127 (not delete previous word, like in RTF and

> most editors)

>

> Does anyone know the history of the rather Emacs-like ctrl+(h/j) i.e. why

> are these keys used in Windows while most of the other Unixisms such as

> ctrlk for kill line aren't? Similarly, what's up with the broekn

> ctrl+backspace and why doesn't ctrl+del work symmetrically to it?

>

> I reckon one source of inspiration for many of the keys we think of as

> Windows-like has been IBM's common user access (CUA) standard.

>

> Granted, this would be just knitpicking if it was Notepad only, but my

> observations apply to any app using an edit control or subclassing from

> one. So the keys are about as global as you can get affecting anything

> from Windows NT3.1 software to Vista I reckon.

>

> I guess these lesser used and hardly documented keys are quite an obscure

> thing to many. Kinda like using = and - to chek and clear checkboxes. That

> is something I only ran across when reading the default message processing

> docs for the checkbox control in MSDN. This is one of the combos I've seen

> documented almost nowhere, be it the XP help, the Windows keyboard guide

> or the Windows accessibility guide and so on.

>

> Being legally blind I've always been a heavy keyboard user. Even mmy MSC

> is related, as it is about keyboard usability suggesting several

> improvements to existing keyboard interfaces. English abstract:

>

> http://vtatila.kapsi.fi/msc.html

>

> Would be neat if someone here knew the history behind the said keys in

> edit fields.

>

> Finally, on an OT:ish site note Where can I give Vista accessibility

> Feedback? The Explorer overwrite dialog and sorted list view column don't

> respect prefs with high contrast schemes, for instance.

>

> --

> With kind regards Veli-Pekka Tätilä

> Accessibility, Apps and Coding plus Synths and Music:

> http://vtatila.kapsi.fi

 

The codes you discovered are the standard ASCII control codes which were

first defined in 1963 - see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascii.