Talk:Command key

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[edit] Command key vs Apple key

This passage seems to suggest that an official name switch happened at some point:

"Most common actions in Mac OS X have a keyboard equivalent that uses the Command key, previously known as the Apple key, as a modifier." -- Java 1.3.1 Development for Mac OS X

--69.214.227.51 06:22, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Yes. The switch took place between the Apple II and the Macintosh. However, many users continued to use the term "Apple key", and with the Mac II Apple started placing both the Command and Apple characters on the key itself. (That's how it is on today's Mac keyboards, too.) However, even the earliest Mac software documentation refers to the key as Command, and the cloverleaf icon rather than the old "Open Apple" icon was used even in the original Mac menus.
The current text, “known as Apple key in documentation previous to the Apple Macintosh family of computers,” strikes me as rather irrelevant. One could just as well say, “known as the Meta key on various mainframe systems.” -Ahruman 10:21, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
The Apple IIgs was an odd case. It had a Macintosh-style keyboard (indeed, it used the same Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) as the Mac II and every other Mac up until the iMac) but it ran Apple II software. The keyboard had keys labeled as Command and Option ... but Apple II software documentation referred to them as "Open Apple" and "Closed Apple" keys. --FOo 03:59, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Open Apple vs. Closed Apple

I seem to recall from my childhood, when the school I attended had Apple computers, that the Open Apple and Closed Apple keys had seperate functions. Therefore the teacher had to specify, by saying Open or Closed, which apple key it was that she wanted the students to hold down. To this day I still always say "open apple" instead of just "apple" when referring to key combos for shortcuts. I think that this is a noteworthy addition to the article but I don't want to trust my memory alone. Does anyone else have any knowledge of what I recall? Dismas 08:38, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Yep, they were considered as different keys by the OS. I read somewhere that those keys had the same functions as button 1 and 2 on joysticks for Apple II.
The Closed Apple key was the same as the Option key, as I discovered when using Apple II software on the IIgs (which had an ADB keyboard, with an Option key). Some Apple II software used the Open and Closed Apple keys both for command shortcuts -- much as Windows software uses Ctrl and Alt, or Emacs uses Ctrl and Meta. --FOo 18:37, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Its name

I have never heard ANYONE call it clover or splat or butterfly or beanie or flower or shamrock. Shamrocks have three heart-shaped leaves anyway. But the article talks about an "official name". Surely the Unicode name is official.... Evertype 12:34, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Me either. It's the command key, or the command key symbol. --Steven Fisher 02:01, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
A shamrock is a clover and the term "four-leaf clover" is popular enough that a layman may refer to it as such. I've never head of "splat" but i have the others mentions, plus "highway offramp thingy symbol," to quote. pattersonc 23:17, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
Just because Evertype has never heard the alternate terms used doesn't mean they aren't. I've heard butterfly and clover, and I've also heard propeller. As far as "official names" go, Unicode doesn't offer a name...only a number. The Apple HI Guidelines don't name the symbol itself, but the key is unambiguously referred to as "command."Exia 01:16, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
With the senoir adults I tutor, I use the phrase "command key" and if I get a blank stare, I say "cloverleaf key"; that usually registers with them. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines cloverleaf: "noun> a junction of roads intersecting at different levels with connecting sections forming the pattern of a four-leaf clover. adjective> having a shape or pattern resembling a leaf of clover, esp. a four-leaf clover : cloverleaf rolls." --Charles Gaudette 22:30, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

I've heard "flower", particularly among users with little or no formal computing instruction -- e.g. secretaries at the small college where I used to work. ("Type flower-S to save your file.") The others seem to be idiolect uses. --FOo 02:05, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I usually refer to the key (to non Mac users) as "Apple", as in "Press Apple-space". The Apple symbol is much more recognisable to them than the Swedish campground thing. But I have also used the term "control-alt-pretzel" and been understood. PeteVerdon 21:29, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
I still hear it referred to as the open apple key a lot. 63.238.141.34 21:53, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Hey, on the Swedish signs it is supposed to represent a castle with four towers. It's not really a clover... --Leo Bolin 22:48, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I wanna do a fore quit

MY G4 is frozen what is the short cut to force quit without shutting computer down?

D.I.

  • Command-Option-Escape. Please sign your comments, it would help. WizardDuck 00:30, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mapping of Command to Windows key

When a non-Apple designed keyboard is present in the Mac OS X environment the operating system tries to map a similar key to the Command key function.

I was under the impression that the Windows, Command, and Meta keys actually all have the same scancode, and that no keyboard detection on the part of OS X was required. Is this not actually the case? User:Glenn Willen (Talk) 04:15, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Font To View Command Key Symbol

Do you need a certain font installed to see the command key symbol? Viewing this page with Firefox 2 on Win XP (with the standard fonts as supplied) I see a question mark in several places where I assume the command key symbol is supposed to be. Using Internet Explorer 7 I see a small square instead of the symbol. --Kesfan 20:18, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you need a browser that understands Unicode (as Firefox and pretty much every other browser does), and a Unicode font that contains the character. —Frungi 13:32, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to insert Command character

How about including a section showing what key combo to hit in order to insert a Command icon? It's one of the few characters that I don't know how to insert. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wingedbeaver (talk • contribs) 18:28, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

I normally use the Character Palette. I think the default keyboard shortcut for that is Command+Option+T. This particular symbol is located in the “All Characters” view under Symbols → Technical Symbols. Or you can use the search box at the bottom of the Character Palette and type “Place of Interest” orijinal 21:40, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Macbook Air + Open Apple

I noticed this particular sentence in the article: "The 'Open Apple' made a return on the MacBook Air, announced on 15 January 2008." I checked the Apple Macbook Air website, and it appears not to have an open apple on any key. I hesitate to change the article as I do not know whether there are multiple versions of the keyboard. I added a citation needed tag to the article for now. --Kainino (talk) 04:57, 18 January 2008 (UTC)