Any key

The result of typing pause into the windows command prompt

Any key refers to pressing any key on the keyboard, and is most often seen on early operating systems that were released before mice became common. Any key does not refer to a button named 'Any' on the keyboard, and because of this has become a joking reference to newcomers' confusion about computers.

History

The confusion over any key dates back at least to the early stages of DOS and MS-DOS, when the 'Pause' command, typed at a command prompt or in a batch file, would issue the message "Press any key to continue". The computer would then wait for a key to be pressed by the user before continuing execution.

A few new users were typically confused by this reference to the 'Any Key' and began wondering where the 'any' key was on the keyboard. The confusion is much less common now as some computer help systems have added explicit explanations of this problem. Many computer manuals and computer programs now make other language choices to prevent this confusion, including suggesting a particular key to press such as the space bar. It should be noted that this is in fact more correct because in many situations where 'any' key is requested to be pressed, including the DOS pause command, some keys (like Shift) have no effect at all whereas others don't have the desired effect. With the rise of GUI operating systems, this problem has also diminished, because user gestures are now often done with a mouse rather than a keyboard, allowing most programs to refrain from instructing users to use the keyboard.

Popular culture

'Any key' has become one of a number of phrases used by hackers and those knowledgeable about computers to express disdain for those with less knowledge, typified by the descriptive term newbie.

The phrase has entered popular culture in recent years: For example, an episode of The Simpsons TV show called "King-Size Homer" shows Homer Simpson humorously searching for the 'any key'.

The 'any key' is also mentioned in where in a mission near the end of the Terran campaign a marine attempts to operate an enemy computer.

Some people assume that the IBM PC keyboard model Gateway Anykey got its name because of this in-joke.

External link

[TPG FAQ: Where is the any key?]

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