On computer keyboards, the Esc key (named Escape key in the international standard series ISO/IEC 9995) is a key used to generate the Escape character (which can be represented as ASCII code 27 in decimal, Unicode U+001B, or Ctrl+[, the traditional escape sequence).
It is generally placed at the top left corner of the keyboard, which placement dates at least to the original IBM PC keyboard, though the key itself dates to teletypewriters.
Famous quotes containing the word key:
“It so happened that, a few weeks later, “Old Ernie” [Ernest Hemingway] himself was using my room in New York as a hide-out from literary columnists and reporters during one of his rare stopover visits between Africa and Key West. On such all-too-rare occasions he lends an air of virility to my dainty apartment which I miss sorely after he has gone and all the furniture has been repaired.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)