Ctrl

Short for control, Ctrl is a key found on IBM compatible computer keyboards in the bottom left and right portion of the main keyboard. In the picture to the right, is an example of what the Ctrl key may look like on your keyboard. This term is commonly used to refer to a keyboard shortcut key such as the three finger salute or CTRL + ALT + DEL. This key combination suggests pressing and holding down the CTRL, ALT, and DEL keyboard keys to open the task manager or reboot the computer.
Many times documentation or information from Computer Hope and other computer related documentation may list commands such as ^X, ^C, ^Z, etc. this means CTRL-X, CTRL-C, CTRL-Z, etc. In other words, a user would want to press and hold the CONTROL or CTRL key and then press the letter following the caret.
Below are some other commonly used Alt shortcut keys on a Windows computer.

• Ctrl + A = These two keys will select all text or other objects.
• Ctrl + B = Bold highlighted text.
• Ctrl + C = Ctrl and C will copy any selected text or other object.
• Ctrl + V = Paste any text or other object that has been copied.
• Ctrl + S = Save the document or file.
• Ctrl + Z = Pressing these two keys will undo any action.
• Ctrl + Y = These keys will redo any undo action.

Tip: See our shortcut key list for a full listing of all shortcuts.

Tip: Apple users can usually substitute the Control key keyboard shortcuts with the option key.