Esc key

As most computer users are no longer concerned with the details of controlling their computer's peripherals, the task for which the escape sequences were originally designed, the escape key was appropriated by application programmers, most often to mean Stop.

This use continues today in Microsoft Windows's method of escape as a shortcut in dialog boxes for No, Quit, Exit, Cancel, or Abort, as well as a common shortcut key for the Stop button in many web browsers, and to cancel drag and drop operations.

The ⌘ Command+⌥ Option+⎋ Esc combination opens the Force Quit dialog box, allowing users to end non-responsive applications.

This usage is due to escape being conveniently placed in what is now the tab position on the ADM-3A terminal keyboard used to develop vi, though it is now inconveniently placed.

Although such devices are long out of use, standard processing[7] of ANSI Escape sequences very similar to the 1970s VT100, is implemented in both ANSI.SYS and other more modern pseudo-terminal interfaces used in Unix-like environments, one example being Linux consoles, meaning newer, higher-level abstractions haven't changed the fact that typing the escape key followed by something like the six characters [32;1m affects subsequently text in output, in this case turning it green.

A computer keyboard with the Esc key in the top-left corner
IBM 83-key keyboard (1981), with Esc in the top-left corner of the alphanumeric section
ISO keyboard symbol for "Escape"
ADM-3A keyboard layout used in vi development, with escape in what is now the tab position
Tilde Exclamation mark At sign Number sign Dollar sign Percent sign Caret Ampersand Asterisk Parenthesis Parenthesis Underscore Plus sign Backspace Backtick 1 (number) 2 (number) 3 (number) 4 (number) 5 (number) 6 (number) 7 (number) 8 (number) 9 (number) 0 Hyphen-minus Equals sign Backspace Tab key Q W E R T Y U I O P Curly bracket Curly bracket Vertical bar Tab key Q W E R T Y U I O P Square bracket Square bracket Backslash Caps lock A S D F G H J K L Colon (punctuation) Quotation mark Enter key Caps lock A S D F G H J K L Semicolon Apostrophe Enter key Shift key Z X C V B N M Bracket Bracket Question mark Shift key Shift key Z X C V B N M Comma (punctuation) Full stop Slash (punctuation) Shift key Control key Windows key Alt key Space bar Alt key thumb Menu key Control key