On: The day Return became Enter (2023)

[wpm]

Every Apple keyboard, even the iPhone I’m typing this comment on, has had a Return key. Only the Num Pad has an Enter key on Apple’s keyboards.

[unwind → wpm]

Wow, throwback to running MacScheme (I think) on the university's Macs in a computer lab in the mid-90s. It interpreted main keyboard Return differently from numpad Enter, which to me (coming from the Amiga) was very confusing.

If I recall correctly, only Return caused an evaluation attempt, while Enter merely added a line break for readability.

[iamflimflam1 → unwind]

That would be incredibly handy for chat bots - the number of times I’ve accidentally hit return and then has to interrupt the bot so I can finish typing…

[wpm → iamflimflam1]

Or Slack. Shift-Return for a new line, except if you're in a code block!

[aldto → wpm]

And Fn+Return can be used for Enter if the keyboard doesn't have a Num Pad, for the few Applications that use it.

[jama211 → aldto]

Huh, TIL. I do wonder though what programs are looking so specifically for the exact Enter code.

[comex → jama211]

This post has a few examples:

https://daringfireball.net/2020/07/return_and_enter

[jama211 → comex]

Good old daringfireball! Ah, of course it makes sense, things akin to the shift+enter for adding new lines in messages without executing them or vice versa. I should’ve known.

[jasperry → wpm]

oh, thanks for the fact check. I guess it's obvious which computing ecosystem I never touch :)