Talk:Break key

Microsoft Surface Book and some other Surface Keyboards

Microsoft forgot about the Break and Pause keys on these keyboards altogether. Even though it could easily be implemented, as a Fn key is availalbe and would allow an extra functionality for a hardware key as other vendors do. See [Keyboards without Break key]

I removed my originally proposed solution for the Pause key again, as this is a side effect of the Mark mode in Windows command line that can be entered using Ctrl+M.

Removed text: Fn+Ctrl+M on certain Microsoft Surface Book laptops.

No mention of the actual Key Code!

What key code does this BREAK key emit? For example, key 'A' emits ascii keycode 0x41, and so on. This info is sorely and urgently missing! Wiqiq (talk) 02:13, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

Sinclair ZX81

The article claims that on the Sinclair ZX81, "the Break key is accessed by pressing Shift and Space." This is not quite accurate. When the computer is waiting for input (also in the INPUT statement), Space inserts a space and Shift+Space inserts a pound sign (£). When a BASIC program is running, both Space and Shift+Space act as Break. This has the consequence that a BASIC program imitating a typewriter with PRINT INKEY$ cannot be used to write a space. Reference: pages 60 and 128 (in chapters 9 and 19) of Sinclair ZX81 BASIC Programming by Steven Vickers, second edition 1981, printed at The Leagrave Press Limited, Luton & London. I'm not adding this to the article itself because I don't know how the ZX80 works in these respects. 82.128.240.144 08:33, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I've tweaked the article. I'm not 100% sure about the ZX80, but I suspect it was the same as the ZX81. I haven't added information about break not working for inputs as this seems to be unnecessary detail for this article. – Tivedshambo (talk) 21:39, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Delphi on Windows

I don't know why the author says the Break key has little use. When I create software for Console windows using Delphi on Windows XP, the Break key can be used to interrupt output. By pressing Ctrl-Break, the program is interrupted. This is absolutely vital if you execute a program that does not return control to you - either because it is producing huge volumes of output, or because it is using the CPU for a very long time.

Perhaps the author does not realize that in order to use the Break key, you have to press and hold both the Ctrl and Break keys simultaneously.

But the Break key has several other important uses. If you notice, the Break key is labelled "Pause" on the top of the key and "Break" on the front. Some people seem to believe the "Pause" key has no use. But it can be used to pause a program that is writing a large amount of output to the screen. It is also useful to pause the PC when it is first starting and is producing some of the initial boot up messages.

But all keys, including Pause/Break, Scroll Lock, PrintScreen/SysReq, Backquote/Tilde can be redefined to have any meaning you like by using a Hotkey Manager. There are many of these available. Perhaps the very best of them is totally free and open source. It is named AutoHotkey and is freely available at the web site: www.autohotkey.com. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JayDar711 (talk • contribs) 13:52, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Misspelling?

Is the end of the first sentence in the fourth body paragraph ("bad parity") spelled correctly, or is it actually supposed to say "baud parity"? — Ti89TProgrammer 23:44, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Cleaning Up

Hope we can improve this, i've reworked one section, you guys try the rest. BB, people.Vaxquis (talk) 20:36, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

I feel that this article is sufficiently referenced and their is nothing useful to link or reference. Can we get rid of the banner please? 0police (talk) 17:58, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Ctrl-Break?

Strictly speaking, a standard PC keyboard has no Break key, and it certainly has no such thing as Ctrl-Break (though the term Ctrl-Break is often used, even by many IT professionals). Ctrl-Pause gives you Break, in the same way that shift-/ gives you ? and shift-4 gives you $. No one would refer to pressing "shift-$" - it's a nonsense. 195.72.173.52 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 13:06, 25 October 2010 (UTC).

I concur. Further evidence of this is seen in how "Break" was labeled on old keyboards. "Break" was clearly labeled as a "resultant behavior due to the inclusion of a modifier key." I.e., Control key + Pause key = Break behavior. ("Break" is not a key onto itself; rather a label for the behavioral result from the combination of a modifier key and the Pause key.) Similarly, this labeling of "combined with modifier key causes a resultant behavior" is seen with the Print Screen key (Alternate key + Print Screen key = System Request behavior. On several Model M keyboards, this association of modifier key is exemplified by the fact that the Alt key is labeled in green and the SysRq label on the Print Screen key is also green.) Furthermore, down this trail of labeling, the Shift key + Tab key = Backtab behavior. There is no sole Backtab key on the modern PC keyboard, but some old keyboards offered a separate Backtab key (in addition to the Tab key[1]).  –Brian K. 06:25, 2 March 2011 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.177.160.243 (talk)

Although, I suppose "Semicolon/Colon" is considered as the name for said key, then "Pause/Break" would also be a valid key name with the footnotes indicating that the latter part of the key name (after the slash) is the result of the inclusion of modifier key. E.g., noting that ":" is the result due to inclusion of the Shift modifier key (with the ";" key); similarly, Break is the result due to inclusion of the Control key (with the "Pause" key). –Brian K. 06:58, 2 March 2011 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.177.160.243 (talk)

Removing the cleanup banner

I have removed the cleanup banner becauase a. Its too old and b. their is nothing useful under the sun which can be added to this page. Their might be odd bits of information about specific programs but the basic idea behind the key in various PC philosophies (or architecture if you are from a hardware background) seems to be clearly mentioned. Anybody adding the banner please be more specific 0police (talk) 18:04, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Telegraphy/teleprinting history stuff

I rewrote the opening to more fully explain the origins of the "break" in manual telegraphy and in teleprinting. Breaking a telegraph or teleprinter loop was specifically used to interrupt the sending operator, and those semantics carried over when teleprinters were used with computers.

In telegraphy and teleprinting, a "key down" (loop closed, current flowing) condition is a "mark" or logical 1, and a "key up" (loop open, current not flowing) condition is a "space" or logical 0. A break condition on a teleprinting circuit therefore generates a series of spurious characters consisting of all 0's, which is the non-printing NUL (not DEL) in both Baudot and ASCII. Karn (talk) 10:38, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

need better "modern keyboard" explanation

How do you use a combination Pause / Break key?

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Palm OS Simulator and Palm OS Emulator

On Palm OS Simulator, the Break key will break the current session in Native, 68K or Native then 68K. The "Fatal Alert!" dialog has three radio buttons, Break in Native, Break in 68K and Break in Native then 68K. On Palm OS Emulator it does nothing. I think Palm OS Emulator could have anything to do with it. 119.71.98.4 (talk) 23:12, 8 December 2015 (UTC)