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Topic ClosedWhat is the INSERT button on computer keybord for
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Icarium View Drop Down
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Points: 34055 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: What is the INSERT button on computer keybord for
    Posted: June 09 2016 at 01:14
To me it is the most annoying knob to accidently touch, becouse it wipes out things infront of it, and it seems like a complete useless knob, but it probably has it usage in some areas that i`m not aware of, what are those areas.

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Points: 4659 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2016 at 01:44
Back in the Stone Age (when DOS, CP/M and BSD roamed the Earth) we had to use the INS key in a lot of text editors like EDLIN and EX to edit a line of existing text.  It was the only way to insert characters into an existing text string without erasing the whole thing and starting over.

Your next question should be 'what's that SysRq key for'?
"Peace is the only battle worth waging."

Albert Camus
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2016 at 02:10
Yup, use of the {INSERT} button to enter over-type mode does not have many practical uses but for me it is invaluable because I have to edit and change large tables of data in my working life.

For example using combination of cut and paste and over-type mode I can create a binary table very quickly and easily from a single row of 0's:

0000 
0001 
0010 
0011 
0100 
0101 
0110 
0111 
1000 
1001 
1010 
1011 
1100 
1101 
1110 
1111 

Then still in over-type mode I can very quickly run down one column changing every 0 to a 1 and every 1 to a 0:

0010 
0011 
0000 
0001 
0110 
0111 
0100 
0101 
1010 
1011 
1000 
1001 
1110 
1111 
1100 
1101 

That would be a lot harder to do in insert-mode.
What?
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Points: 67407 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2016 at 03:28
I mostly use it in text editors to copy and paste (Shift+Insert & Ctrl+Insert) and to temporarily disable Vimperator when I need to use native Firefox shortcuts.

Now WTF IS THE CAPS LOCK KEY FOR?! Confused
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Points: 20030 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2016 at 04:54
Anyone with a mainframe background such as myself will have used the insert key.

Now what's that weird key with a flag on for?
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Icarium View Drop Down
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Points: 34055 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2016 at 09:51
Originally posted by Vompatti Vompatti wrote:

I mostly use it in text editors to copy and paste (Shift+Insert & Ctrl+Insert) and to temporarily disable Vimperator when I need to use native Firefox shortcuts.

Now WTF IS THE CAPS LOCK KEY FOR?! Confused
caps lock is to caputure the imagination for locked up persons, or for people who are far away so that we has to yell at them
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