Control-Y is a common computer command. It is generated by holding Ctrl and pressing the Y key on most computer keyboards.

In most Windows applications this keyboard shortcut functions as Redo, reversing a previous Undo. In some programs such as Microsoft Office it repeats the previous action if it was something other than Undo.[1]

Apple Macintosh systems use ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+Z for Redo.[2] In general a shortcut on Macintosh using ⌘ Command matches up with a shortcut on Windows using Ctrl, this is one of the most noticeable conflicts. Many programs (on all systems including Linux) support both Ctrl+Y and Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Z for Redo to resolve this conflict. But quite a few remain where only one or the other shortcut works.

Other uses edit

The OpenVMS operating system command-line uses Ctrl+Y as its "abort" character, stronger in effect than the ordinary Ctrl+C "interrupt" character.

Ctrl+Y deleted the current line in the WordStar word processor for CP/M and MS-DOS.[3] In the 1980s, many text editors and word processors mimicked the WordStar command set, making Ctrl+Y a common synonym for "delete line."

In Borland IDEs it also deletes the current line.

In emacs it does a paste action (known as "yank").[4] Emacs uses Ctrl+/ for Undo and Redo.

In vi and vim it scrolls the display up one line.[5]

In the pico and nano text editors this shortcut scrolls one page up.[6][7]

In SAP GUI it enters block-select mode.[citation needed]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Keyboard shortcuts in Word".
  2. ^ Apple Shortcut Key Standards
  3. ^ WordStar Reference Card. San Rafael, CA: MicroPro. June 1980 – via archive.org.
  4. ^ Yanking - GNU Emacs Manual
  5. ^ "vi(1p) - Linux manual page". man7.org. Scroll Backward by Line. Archived from the original on 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2023-09-09. [count] <control>-Y: Display the line count lines before the first line currently displayed.
  6. ^ "U-M Information and Technology Services".
  7. ^ "Nano Keyboard Commands". Archived from the original on 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2015-12-09.