The unix shell has used the ^C nomenclature since I can remember, which
goes back to version 6 on PDP 11s.
--tom
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dan Wright [mailto:dtwright_at_uiuc.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2001 8:47 AM
> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> Subject: an odd question
>
>
> not sure if this is exactly on-topic, but I figure if anyone
> would know, it
> would be this bunch... where did the convention of using
> "^x" to represent
> "Ctrl-x" come from? I wonder because you see that convention
> everywhere, but
> it's totally non-intuitave -- i.e. why does the carat symbol
> mean "hold control
> while pressing the following key"? I think this came up
> because someone
> pointed out that using pine the first time was really hard
> until they figured
> out what "^" meant. so, anyone know where that convention came from?
>
> - Dan Wright
> (dtwright_at_uiuc.edu)
> (http://www.uiuc.edu/~dtwright)
>
> -] ------------------------------ [-]
> -------------------------------- [-
> ``Weave a circle round him thrice, / And close your eyes with
> holy dread,
> For he on honeydew hath fed, / and drunk the milk of Paradise.''
> Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan
>
Received on Thu Aug 09 2001 - 09:42:25 BST