# Why must escape key delete text? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 29, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774 "2004-06-29T21:41:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/1 "2004-06-29T21:41:13Z")
Why must typing the escape key delete all the text one has typed into the window on SDMB? At least, this is what it seems to always do. This is unfortunate because in Lotus Notes, which is among other things a common database and email posting tool, one hits the escape key to submit one’s message. So I, no doubt like other users of Notes, am in the habit of hitting escape after typing everything in. Perhaps I should say, “after typing everything in the first time”. Is this escape key behavior something that the Teeming Millions, or indeed the SDMB staff, could change? ---
**Author:** ![NotQuiteAYinzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/73ab20/32.png) [@NotQuiteAYinzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotQuiteAYinzer)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/2 "2004-06-30T13:21:06Z")
Well, I just tried hitting ESC a few times and absolutely nothing happened. What browser are you using? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/3 "2004-06-30T15:27:41Z")
Testing testing one two three ::hits escape key:: Nope, just makes a system beep when I do it. As **NotQuiteAYinzer** said: what’s yer browser? And also, what’s yer OS? ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/4 "2004-06-30T15:28:48Z")
Ok here with Opera 7.11 under Win2000 ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/5 "2004-06-30T21:56:24Z")
Really? Yep, it still does it to me here at work - Internet Explorer 5.00 on Win2000. It also happens on my WinXP machine at home. I’ll have to try Netscape at home (don’t have it here). ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/6 "2004-06-30T22:05:21Z")
esc does delete all the text on my system - Win98, IE6. As the OP noted, it only does this on initial entry. Once I’ve previewed the reply, esc has no effect on the text. If this happens, you should try ctl-z (undo). On my system (and I should think all Windows systems), this restores the text. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/7 "2004-06-30T23:13:31Z")
ESC kills everything here as well - IE 6 on Win2K CTRL-Z or ALT-BACKSPACE undoes this, at least. ---
**Author:** ![NotQuiteAYinzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/73ab20/32.png) [@NotQuiteAYinzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotQuiteAYinzer)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/8 "2004-07-01T13:40:23Z")
Looks like it’s an IE/Win thing, since Opera and Firebird (yes, it’s still Firebird, haven’t updated my work machine in a while) don’t appear to do this. I see this as a positive thing: If the spyware and the viruses and the broken standards support weren’t enough to get people to switch away from Explorer, maybe deleting their SDMB entries will 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/9 "2004-07-02T13:46:44Z")
Netscape doesn’t delete text when I hit escape. Weird… I thought the web site set up how text entry panes worked, not the browser. So much to learn… ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-escape-key-delete-text/252774/10 "2004-07-03T16:16:56Z")
Why in the world would _anyone_, especially a big player like Lotus Notes, use the “escape” key to submit a message? What’s wrong with the good old “enter” key? Ever since the dawn of time (or at least the PC keyboard), “escape” has always been used for “get me out of here now, I screwed up!”