Editing Break key (section)

{{short description|Key of a computer keyboard}}
{{Redirect|Pause button|the media control|Media controls|other uses|Pause (disambiguation){{!}}Pause}}
[[File:Key break.jpg|right|100px|thumb|Break/Pause key on PC keyboard]]
The '''Break key''' (or the symbol <big>'''⎊'''</big><ref name=":2">{{Cite_book |url=http://xahlee.info/kbd/i2/20110819_clavier_normalise.pdf |title=Québec clavier normalisé CAN/CSA Z243.200-92, Pictogrammes ISO 9995-7 |title-link= |date=2011-08-19 |publisher=Office québécois de la langue française |language=fr |trans-title=Quebec standardized keyboard [[CAN/CSA Z243.200-92]], Pictograms [[ISO 9995]]-7}}</ref>) of a [[computer keyboard]] refers to breaking a [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] circuit and originated with 19th century practice. In modern usage, the key has no well-defined purpose, but while this is the case, it can be used by software for miscellaneous tasks, such as to switch between multiple login sessions, to terminate a program, or to interrupt a modem connection.

Because the break function is usually combined with the pause function on one key since the introduction of the [[IBM Model M]] 101-key keyboard in 1985, the Break key is also called the '''Pause key'''. It can be used to pause some [[computer game]]s.