When the computer asks you to do this, why? Specifically, what does pressing a key do that the computer needs to be done?
It tells the computer that there is a warm body in front of it that can read instructions.
It’s usually done to inform the computer that you are ready for it to go on to the next step.
For example, the computer may display an error message, say “press any key to continue,” and then stop.
You can then take your time to read the message, write it down if you wish, ask someone else to look at it, etc. When you are done, you press a key and the message disappears and the next message appears, or the computer performs the next step in the recovery process like rebooting.
Or, for example, a program may stop and say “check to make sure that the green paper has been inserted into the printer and then press any key.” Pressing the any key informs the computer that you have finished checking and that it can now print on the green paper.
You don’t see this too much with a GUI (i.e. on a Mac or Windows) anymore, but it was a standard ‘pause’ method back in the days of text-only terminals & programs.
Anybody who learned BASIC will remember:
50 IF INKEY$="" THEN 50
INKEY$ was a variable that equaled whatever key was being pressed, so as long as it equaled a null string (i.e. “”) the program looped until it equaled any character (IOW when you pressed any key).
So I can be the first one to say it, where’s the any key?
Keyboard not present, press F1 to continue.
That actually makes sense, if you consider that the purpose of the message is to have the user plug in the keyboard and then press the F1 key to let the computer know the keyboard is there.
Except the all-important, critical step of plugging in a keyboard is omitted from the error message. And some systems might not require pressing F1 if plugging in the keyboard was sufficient to make the computer happy.
Just another nonsensical message that wasn’t tested In Real Life.
As a side note, this is something that is often troublesome to new IT support folks with limited experience when they have to install OSs or software on 100 machines. The secret is (assuming you have multi-machine licensing), to slipstream the software into an unattended install flavor. It takes about 20 minutes to do, and spares the hassle of having to go from machine to machine slapping the spacebar or whatever. In fact, you can usually complete an install without attaching any peripherals, which is also nice.
I have once been advised not to use the phrase “Press any key” as some users would act like a donkey between two haystacks wondering which is the best key to press, so I started specifying the “Enter key” or “space bar” or something.
Indeed - or they’d press some key that wouldn’t be detected as a keypress (Caps Lock or Shift or some such)
There’s that, plus the fact that the modifier keys, like Shift and Control, don’t normally register as keypresses on their own. This can frustrate novice users who believe (for good reason) that they have just pressed a key.
ETA: Beaten by Mangetout.
Also, while I’m here…
For us aging Apple II users there’s the GET function — which if I recall right, pauses and waits for a keypress if there isn’t one already pending.
Please enter any 11 digit prime number to continue.
Years ago,a coworker started his kid’s college fund by selling small stickers for the original PC keyboard.
The sticker said “Any”.
You should have to type a-n-y-k-e-y for it to continue
Also except that the message appeared all too often in the days when keyboards were not hot swappable. I’ve known a few people who fried their PS/2 ports by plugging or unplugging a keyboard without powering down first.
I have built over 400 computers (PCs) and never saw one that caused anything bad to happen if a keyboard was plugged in or unplugged while the computer was powered.
In fact, I keep a PS2 kbd handy when my main unit, which has all peripherals USB-connected, needs to “press F1”, since the BIOS doesn’t recognize ANY USB devices until late in the boot sequence. If I get that message, I just plug in the PS2 kbd, press a key, then remove it. Works every time.
A smart-ass program would respond “well, any key except (the one that was pressed)”.
I’ve seen it happen several times. It was always one of those things where, sure chances are nothing will happen, but if it does, the results are expensive. The manuals that came with PCs in the '90s always warned the user to power down before unplugging or plugging in anything. When USB first came out it was considered a huge breakthrough because it was hot swappable.
“I’m thinking of a key. Press it to continue.”
“(Happy hunting!)”