Differences Between Enter and Return
On some keyboard layouts, the return and enter key are two different keys, an artifact of the differing handling of newlines by different operating systems. As an example, on the Macintosh, the return key is the usual key, while the enter key is positioned at the lower right of the numeric key pad. For example, while using the text tool in Adobe Photoshop, the return key produces a new line while the enter key ends editing mode.
On IBM's 3270 and 5250 line of terminals, the Enter key was located to the right of the space bar, and was used to send the contents of the terminal's buffer to the host computer. The Return key was located in a more standard location, and was used to generate a new line.
Apple also took advantage of this situation to create a highly editable command line environment called a "Worksheet" in the Macintosh Programmer's Workshop, where return was used strictly as a formatting key while enter was used to execute a shell command or series of commands in direct mode.
In technical terms, the Macintosh keyboard maps the return key to a carriage return, while the enter key maps to a newline.
Historically, many computer models did not have a separate keypad, and only had one button to function as Enter or Return. For example, the Commodore 64 (manufactured from 1982) had only the "Return" key.
Read more about this topic: Enter Key
Famous quotes containing the words differences between, differences, enter and/or return:
“The differences between revolution in art and revolution in politics are enormous.... Revolution in art lies not in the will to destroy but in the revelation of what has already been destroyed. Art kills only the dead.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)
“I trust the time is nigh when, with the universal assent of civilized people, all international differences shall be determined without resort to arms by the benignant processes of civilization.”
—Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886)
“and in moonlight she comes in her nudity,
flashing breasts made of milk-water,
flashing buttocks made of unkillable lust,
and at night when you enter her
you shine like a neon soprano.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt you become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety. If your friend is in distress, aid him if you have the means to spare. If he fails to be able to return it, it is only so much lost.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)