Input method

For instance, on the computer, this allows the user of Latin keyboards to input Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indic characters.

On hand-held devices, it enables the user to type on the numeric keypad to enter Latin alphabet characters (or any other alphabet characters) or touch a screen display to input text.

On some operating systems, an input method is also used to define the behavior of the dead keys.

Although originally coined for CJK (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) computing, the term is now sometimes used generically to refer to a program to support the input of any language.

This term has, for example, gained general acceptance on the Linux operating system; it is also used on the Mac OS.