What single word does a programmer call the control and command keys?

Question

The control and command keys are basically analogs when it comes to computer applications, when I'm talking about them in a cross-platform application, what should they be called? Is there a term like " the _______ key"?

Answer 1

Alt / Shift / Control / Command - they're all modifier keys. Ctrl/Command are analogs in the sense that they're used for "command"-type shortcuts, i.e. performing some action. Maybe a C-modifier key or action-modifier key would be the right names.

Answer 2

"Modifier key" is the term at least used many online dictionaries and documentation. (Including Apple and IBM.) (As used but not quite advocated in ALGOholic's answer.)

FYI there is an old term that has been used: "bucky (bit) keys". From The Hacker's Dictionary:

BUCKY BITS noun.

Control characters are so useful that sometimes special keyboards are built that have even more shift keys. One of the first of these was used at Stanford. It had the usual shift and control keys, and a third key called "meta", as well as lots of unusual characters such as Greek letter. So, one can type such characters as control-F, meta-N, and control-meta-B.

Now, when you type a character on a Stanford keyboard, the following information is sent to the computer: a code indicating the basic character, plus one BIT for each shifting key to indicate whether that shifting key was pressed along with the basic character key. Programs usually treat the regular shift key as part of the basic character, indicating whether you want lower case or upper case (or whether you want "3" or "#", and so on). The other bits (control and meta) are called the bucky bits.

(Observe that the source itself refers to "shift keys" and "shifting keys".

See also the jargon file glossary:

bucky bits: /buh'kee bits/, n.

1. [obs.] The bits produced by the CONTROL and META shift keys on a SAIL keyboard [...] (see space-cadet keyboard).
2. By extension, bits associated with ‘extra’ shift keys on any keyboard, e.g., the ALT on an IBM PC or command and option keys on a Macintosh.

Observe that the source itself refers to the bucky keys as "‘extra’ shift keys".

(I observe that "Bucky bits" & "space cadet keyboard" are referenced in the Wikipedia entry for "modifier key". Unfortunately, there isn't an etymology for "modifier key" itself.)