A simple way to confirm the keyboard modifier keys are switched as expected is to issue a keyboard shortcut, like a screen capture (Command Shift 3) or a Close Window command (Command + W).It should work as you’d expect based on the Mac keyboard layout.

For the same in, see. The Command key ( ⌘), also historically known as the Apple key, clover key, open-Apple key, splat key, pretzel key, or propeller key, is a present on. The Command key's purpose is to allow the user to enter in applications and in the. An 'extended' Macintosh keyboard—the most common type—has two command keys, one on each side of the; some compact keyboards have one only on the left. The '⌘' symbol (the ') was chosen by after decided that the use of the Apple logo in the menu system (where the keyboard shortcuts are displayed) would be an over-use of the logo. Apple's adaptation of the symbol—encoded in (and ) at U+2318 ⌘ (HTML ⌘)—was derived in part from its use in as an indicator of cultural locations and places of interest. The symbol is known by various other names, including 'Saint John's Arms' and '.

See also: Apple's computers up through the 1979 did not have a command key. Best email client for gmail mac. The first model on which it appeared was the 1980, where there are two monochrome Apple keys, both to the left of the space bar on the lowest row of the keyboard. Two other early Apple computers, the 1982 and the 1984, also had two such keys, one to the left and one to the right of the space bar; in these models, they mapped to the first two fire buttons of an attached.

This allowed for flexible combinations of a modifier key and base key (such as Open-Apple with C for Copy) with just a few extra wires and no ROM changes, since the Apple II could only register one key press at a time (Shift and Control keys were handled in the keyboard encoding hardware which generated ASCII codes). In all these cases, the left Apple key had an outlined 'open' Apple logo, and the one on the right had an opaque, 'closed' or 'solid' Apple logo key. The had only the closed Apple logo. When the was introduced in 1984, the keyboard had a single command key with a symbol (⌘, +2318), because Steve Jobs said that showing the Apple logo throughout the menus as a keyboard shortcut was 'taking [it] in vain'. Thus, the ⌘ symbol appears in the Macintosh menus as the primary modifier key symbol.

The original Macintosh also had an Option key which was used primarily for entering extended characters. In 1986, the was introduced. Like the newer Macintosh computers to come, such as the, it used the for its keyboard and mouse. However, it was still an Apple II. Apple changed the keys on the II GS's keyboard to Command and, as on Mac keyboards, but added an open-Apple to the Command key, for consistency with applications for previous Apple II generations.

(The Option key did not have a closed-Apple, probably because Apple II applications used the closed-Apple key much more rarely than the open-Apple key; thus there was less need to keep it around.) Because any ADB keyboard could be used with the II GS, all of Apple's ADB keyboards—even those intended for the Mac—also required the open-Apple, and it stuck for more than twenty years, causing confusion long after the Apple II series went out of production. The Apple symbol was removed in the keyboard's 2007 redesign, making room for the key's name to appear—the word 'command' is now printed on the key. NeXT keyboard command key On the keyboard of the that key was marked Command in green. The menus were not marked with a symbol denoting the command key. Besides being used as a modifier key for keyboard shortcuts it was also used to alter the function of some keys. Command+ ⇧ Shift toggles alpha lock, Command+ Return sends Enter and Command+ 🔉Volume-down toggles Mute.

The functions were printed in green on the front side of the modified keys. This was also done on the Z, X, C and V keys (Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste). (Left) Command- - * triggers a non-catchable hardware thereby the computer. (Contrary to on a which triggers only a software reset.) On the NeXT keyboard, the Command keys were replaced by keys labeled Help and the Command key morphed into a wide Command bar in front of the space bar. Function [ ] The purpose of the Command key is to allow the user to enter keyboard commands in applications and in the. The have always recommended that developers use the Command key (and not the Control or Option keys) for this purpose.

A small set of keyboard commands (such as cut and paste, open and save) are standard across nearly all applications, and many other commands are standardized (Find, Show Fonts). If an application needs more shortcuts than can be obtained with the twenty-six letters of the, double modifiers such as Command+Option are used. One advantage of this scheme, as contrasted with the mixed use of the Control and keys, is that the is available for its original purpose: entering in applications. (Indeed, the very first Macintosh lacked a Control key; it was soon added to allow compatible terminal software.) The Macintosh keyboard's other unusual modifier key, the, serves as a modifier both for entering keyboard shortcuts and for typing text—it is used to enter foreign characters, typographical symbols, and other special characters. Origin of the symbol [ ].