keyboard

The peripheral used to input information into a computer or some other form of digital device. It provides a set of alphabetic, numeric, punctuation, symbol, and control keys. When a character is pressed, it sends a coded input to the computer, which then displays a character on the screen. When you hear the term "numeric keypad," it refers to the set of numbers on the right-hand side of some keyboards (not the numbers in the top row, above the letters). Numeric keypads also refer to the numbers (and corresponding letters) on a cell phone.