Editing Meta key

{{Short description|Modifier key on workstation keyboards of the 1970s/80s}}
{{Update|date=June 2020}}
[[Image:Compose_key_on_Sun_Type_5c_keyboard.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Sun Microsystems|Sun]] keyboard with Meta key (between [[space bar]] and [[Compose key]])]]

The '''Meta key''' is a [[modifier key]] on certain [[Computer keyboard|keyboards]]. It first appeared on the [[Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab]] (SAIL) keyboard in 1970.

== History ==
The Meta key first appeared on the [[Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab]] (SAIL) keyboard in 1970<ref name="sail">{{Cite web|title=SAIL Keyboard|url=http://xahlee.info/kbd/sail_keyboard.html|language=en}}</ref> and successors such as the [[Knight keyboard]], [[space-cadet keyboard]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g80P_4v4QbIC&q=%22Stanford+keyboard%22&pg=PA158|title=The New Hacker's Dictionary|last1=Raymond|first1=Eric S.|last2=Steele|first2=Guy L.|date=1996|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9780262680929|pages=420|language=en}}</ref> [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] [[Lisp machine]], [[Symbolics keyboard]]s, and on [[Sun Microsystems]] keyboards (where it is marked with a black diamond "◆").{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

== Use ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2020}}
Generally, the Meta key worked similar to [[Macintosh]]'s [[Command key]], in that when held down it modified letters and symbols into immediate commands (shortcuts). On these keyboards the [[Control key]] was placed closest to the [[space bar]], then the Meta key outside Control. The space-cadet keyboard added the [[Super key (keyboard button)|Super key]] outside Meta, and the [[Hyper key]] outside that. All these keys produced shortcuts (2<sup>4</sup>-1 of them for every letter), but the Control ones were easiest to type and most popular, and the Meta ones second-easiest and thus second most popular. However, on most modern keyboards, the Control key is ''farthest'' from the space bar, reversing the convenience of shortcuts.

On keyboards that lack a physical Meta key, its functionality may be invoked by other keys such as the [[Windows key]] or Macintosh's [[Option key]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Change Profiles Keyboard preferences in Terminal on Mac |url=https://support.apple.com/guide/terminal/change-profiles-keyboard-preferences-trmlkbrd/mac |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=Apple Support |language=en}}</ref> However, software often provides another workaround, such as using the [[Alt key]]  (which does not exist on the [[Knight keyboard]]), or using the [[Esc key]] as a prefix (e.g., in [[Emacs]]). Because of these workarounds, the need for Meta – despite being the most-used additional [[modifier key]] – was less than for other modifier keys. It is more common today to use the Windows key to emulate the [[Super key (keyboard button)|Super key]].

==Gallery==
<gallery widths=220>
File:Space-cadet.jpg|[[Space-cadet keyboard]]
File:Symbolics-keyboard.jpg|[[Symbolics keyboard]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Modifier key]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{keyboard keys}}

[[Category:Computer keys]]