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Comment by JadeNB | Hacker News Reader

macOS (even back when it was OS X, and I assume before that) systematically refers to special keys with symbols, not written names. In addition to the CMD symbol, SHIFT is ⇧, CTRL is ^, and ALT/OPT is ⌥.

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Correct. That’s what it did in System 6 and 7, if I remember correctly. Those were the first/oldest Macs I’ve used.

I've always wondered why they don't put the shift symbol on the keyboards when all the other symbols exist

Some keyboards use icons, others text. See for example this: https://support.apple.com/library/content/dam/edam/applecare....

> I've always wondered why they don't put the shift symbol on the keyboards when all the other symbols exist.

My keyboard doesn't have any key for the symbol ⌥ or ⌘, either. Or do you mean that all the other modifier keys on Mac-branded keyboards are labelled with their symbols, whereas shift isn't?

On my M1 MacBook Pro I see symbols on all modifiers except shift

So you meant that the non-shift modifier keys have symbols on them (same for me!), not that there is a key that is intended to produce the symbol that denotes the modifier, right?

And they sell keyboards that only use the written names, and not the symbols. Plus make common keyboard shortcuts require multiple modifier keys.

> And they sell keyboards that only use the written names, and not the symbols.

Do they? I thought all Apple-branded keyboards used the symbols (except, as bin_bash points out (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33036804), for shift).

> Plus make common keyboard shortcuts require multiple modifier keys.

You can also change keyboard shortcuts system-wide. It's not an argument against good defaults, but it does allow you to relieve the pain.

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