The home key is a key commonly found on computer keyboard

Computer keyboard

In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...

s. The key has the opposite effect of the end key

End key

The end key is a key commonly found on computer keyboards. The key has the opposite effect of the home key. In limited-size keyboards where the end key is missing the same functionality can be reached via the key combination of -Microsoft Windows:...

. In limited-size keyboards where the home key is missing the same functionality can be reached via the key combination of

Microsoft Windows

In modern Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 text editing applications, it is primarily used to return the cursor to the beginning of the line where the cursor is located. When the text is not editable, the home key is used to return to the beginning of the document; this can also be done in editable text if the key is pressed along with control

Control key

In computing, a Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, will perform a special operation ; similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself...

.

The home key can also be used to highlight all the characters before the cursor in a certain line if pressed along with shift

Shift key

The shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row...

 in editable text.

Mac OS X

Only full-sized Apple keyboards have a Home key. On most Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 applications, the key works like the original on UNIX

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 in the days of dumb-terminals, where Home moves to the start of a document. When the key is pressed, the window scrolls to the top, while the caret position does not change at all; that is, the home key is tied to the current window, not the text box being edited. To get the same result as the Windows platform (that is, going to the beginning of the current line of text), one can press .

Linux

In Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, the home key has basically the same functionality as it does on Windows. It returns the cursor to the beginning of the line in editable text, and otherwise scrolls a scrollable document to the beginning. Also, like Windows, the home key can be used to highlight all the characters before the cursor in a certain line if pressed along with shift in editable text.

Non-GUI applications

In older screen-oriented, text-based (non-GUI) applications, the user often accessed the "screen" they wanted through a series of menu screens with numbered options. The Home key took the user to the "top" menu screen.