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Cursor vs Overtype - What's the difference?

cursor | overtype |

As nouns the difference between cursor and overtype

is that cursor is a part of any of several scientific instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position while overtype is a feature in wordprocessing whereby each typed character replaces the character after the cursor rather than being inserted before it.

As verbs the difference between cursor and overtype

is that cursor is to navigate by means of the cursor keys while overtype is to type on top of something already typed.

cursor

English

Alternative forms

* cursour (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A part of any of several scientific instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position
  • (graphical user interface) A moving icon or other representation of the position of the pointing device.
  • (graphical user interface) An indicator, often a blinking line or bar, indicating where the next insertion or other edit will take place. Also referred to as "the caret".
  • (databases) A reference to a row of data in a table, which moves from row to row as data is retrieved by way of it.
  • (programming) A design pattern in object oriented methodology in which a collection is iterated uniformly, also known as the iterator pattern.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (computing) To navigate by means of the cursor keys.
  • * 1990 , InfoWorld (volume 12, number 22, 28 May 1990)
  • The only other problem is that there's a nagging tendency for the highlight to overrun when cursoring through file lists.

    See also

    * electronic display * GUI * pointer ----

    overtype

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • (computing) A feature in wordprocessing whereby each typed character replaces the character after the cursor rather than being inserted before it.
  • Synonyms

    * overstrike * typeover

    Verb

    (overtyp)
  • To type on top of something already typed.
  • It produced the yen sign by overtyping "=" on a "Y".