New to computers & have ?'s about F keys.

[SpaghettiSauce]

I am new to using computer and ordered this one on line from Dell. It did not have any paperwork or instructions for use when it arrived, or I would just look it up. I've searched on line to no avail, and I don't know where else to ask, so I've decided to ask here. Please, can you tell me what these "F" keys do. There's F1, F2, F3, and so on, up to F12.

Thank you so much for any help that you can provide for me.

Sincerely,
SS

 

[H2SO4]

Their "Function" depends on what you and your computer are doing at the time. In an application like Photoshop, F8 might map to a completely different command compared to another app. In some particular game, F10 may bring up the "save game" menu. While the system is booting, pressing the F12 key will take you into the BIOS settings - on some machines.

There are some conventions such as F1 is supposed to bring up the "Help", irrespective of what app you're in at the time, but there is no enforcement mechanism and those conventions are frequently not adhered to.

Those keys are actually something of an anachronism. They had very specific uses on mainframe computers in the mid-1900s, and the first PC in 1981 inherited F1 through F10 because of its lineage through IBM and their mainframes.

 

[Ayporos]

F1 - F12 are 'Function' keys.

the F stands for Function.

They are basically 'extra' buttons on your keyboard with no 'fixed' use.

Applications are free to assign Functions to them as they see fit, and as H2SO4 said certain applications use them in different ways but 'F1' almost always calls for the help file.