carriage return

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 1.2.1 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

from the carriage return lever on typewriters

[edit] Noun

carriage return or return key

1. On a mechanical typewriter the action or result that comes about using the return lever which when moved caused the paper holding carriage to return to it's home (left margin position) and advance the line advance roller by single-space, double-space or one-and-a-half-spaced lines down the page being typed.
2. On a electric typewriter or electronic (computer) printer the key, key press, or control code which causes the carriage or print-head to return to it's home (left margin position) and advance the roller similarly, or the description of taking the action giving that result.
3. (computing) On a computer running a text editing applications program, the key which generates a typewriter-like carriage return on the computer keyboard by generating a CR, normally paired with a line feed as the CRLF control code sequence or newline. Since the Mid-1980's this key is usually labeled as the enter key on computers.
4. (computing) The control character (0x0D in ASCII) which moves the active printing position of a printer print-head (or video screen cursor) to the left margin.

[edit] See also

• enter
• EOL
• line feed
• return