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Pause / Break Key: What is a "Break"? (www.computerhope.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The Break key is a keyboard key whose original purpose was to immediately halt execution of a running a program. On modern computers, it has no default function. It is not commonly used, although any software may use it for its own purpose. The Break key may also be remapped with a program like AutoHotkey.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Funny, in my early PC days it was a very frequently used key. Lots of times programs would hang in a way that you couldn't otherwise get out of them. It was also super easy to make a mistake in a DOS command or .bat file that would either run endlessly or for way longer than you intended, so being able to just stop execution was super useful.