Why Were Ctrl-Z And Ctrl-Y Chosen As Undo/redo Shortcuts?

Sorry, we no longer support your browser Please upgrade to Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Firefox. Learn more about our browser support.

1. 1. Home
   2. Questions
   3. Tags
   4. Users
   5. Jobs
   6. Companies
   7. Unanswered
2. Teams

   Ask questions, find answers and collaborate at work with Stack Overflow for Teams.

   Explore Teams Create a free Team
3. Teams

4. Ask questions, find answers and collaborate at work with Stack Overflow for Teams. Explore Teams

Teams

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Learn more about Teams Why were Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Y chosen as undo/redo shortcuts? Ask Question Asked 7 years, 1 month ago Modified 3 years, 3 months ago Viewed 11k times 7

Is there a reason why some keyboard shortcuts are chosen?

Specifically, ControlZ and ControlY. Sometimes I happen to switch from a QWERTY keyboard to a QWERTZ keyboard. Apart from the time it takes to adapt to the new layout, the most frustrating thing (at least for me) is that the "undo" and "redo" commands are inverted.

Usually shortcuts are chosen based on the first letter of the command (e.g., ControlP for printing). Is it possible that no one has considered this problem in this case?

• keyboard-shortcuts
• internationalisation
• keyboard-layout

Share Improve this question Follow edited May 28, 2017 at 20:11 jwodder 10733 bronze badges asked May 28, 2017 at 14:33 WalterVWalterV 1,58422 gold badges1313 silver badges1717 bronze badges 1

• 1 Well, I assume that the people who made these standards wanted to keep the ctrl commands close together on the keyboard; e.g. ctrl z, x, c, v. When they ran out of space, they used uncommon letters (like, what command starts with a y?) Some keyboards have ctrl-shift-z as redo, keep in mind. – Mingle Li Commented May 28, 2017 at 14:53

Add a comment |

1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default Highest score (default) Date modified (newest first) Date created (oldest first) 6

It is likely based on the key position of other commonly used actions (cut, copy, paste) on the keyboard.

Likely it all boils down to placement on a QWERTY keyboard.

[...]

From there, X and V are just adjacent keys, for Cut and Paste. It's simple to remember where they are, and you'll build up muscle memory if they're close. (You'll do it even if they aren't, but if they're adjacent, it helps.) Eventually, when Mac and Windows word processors (and other applications) started offering Undo as a feature, putting them together still makes a kind of conceptual sense: these are basic document editing features which work the same way across even very different applications ("Undo" is undo in Word, or Adobe Illustrator, for example, even if the content types are wildly different).

Source: Why was 'Z' chosen for the CTRL+Z/CMD+Z shortcut?

It's also close to the control/command key, which makes it easy to use with one hand. Common actions (cut, copy, paste, undo) are used a lot, so it is important to have them close to the control/command key.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered May 28, 2017 at 14:54 Nick GroeneveldNick Groeneveld 7,92533 gold badges2929 silver badges5151 bronze badges 0 Add a comment |

Your Answer

Thanks for contributing an answer to User Experience Stack Exchange!

• Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …

• Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
• Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

Draft saved Draft discarded

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Submit

Post as a guest

Name Email

Required, but never shown

Post Your Answer Discard

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged

• keyboard-shortcuts
• internationalisation
• keyboard-layout

or ask your own question.

• The Overflow Blog
• Community Products Roadmap Update, July 2024
• Featured on Meta
• We spent a sprint addressing your requests — here’s how it went
• Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network...

Related

30 What is the best way to get users to discover and learn keyboard shortcuts 11 Why most websites don't use keyboard shortcuts? 21 Why doesn't pasting (Ctrl-V or Command-V) default to unformatted text? 4 Why some programs use alphabetically layouted keyboards? 4 Keyboard shortcuts and navigation in complex widget 3 Why don't mobile qwerty keyboards use keyboard shortcuts? 1 What level of default keyboard shortcuts should exist and how to assign them? 0 Understand if user needs an undo and redo button always visible on the UI

Hot Network Questions

• Don't make noise. OR Don't make a noise
• Solving complex opamp circuits
• Can the US president kill at will?
• What do you call the male equivalent to Cougar (woman)?
• If a lambda is declared inside a default argument, is it different for each call site?
• confidence intervals for proportions containing a theoretically impossible value (zero)
• Did any attendees write up accounts of pre-1980 Homebrew Computer Club meetings?
• How does the temperature of the condenser impact an air conditioner's energy usage?
• What is the best translation of the phrase "Live a nice life"?
• Reversing vowels in a string
• Can someone please translate this commentary by Malbim on Psalm 86:12
• Segments of a string, doubling in length
• Which of the following values can the expression NOT take?
• Are there any parts of the US Constitution that state that the laws apply universally to all citizens?
• Beer clip packaging
• Sitting on a desk or at a desk? What's the diffrence?
• Is intuitionistic mathematics situated in time?
• Why does redirecting stderr interfere with bash's handling of $COLUMNS and the `checkwinsize` option?
• TWR of near-term NTR engines
• Why didn't Jimmy Neutron realize immediately when he read the note on the refrigerator that the note is phony, as the note says "son or daughter..."?
• Seeing edges where there are no edges
• GDPR Data Processor
• Making a node in TikZ occupy the vertical space of one line - at least as far as positioning a "pin" is concerned
• Do I need a Transit Visa in CDG

more hot questions Question feed Subscribe to RSS Question feed

To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader.