High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The delete key (Delete or Del), known less ambiguously as forward delete, performs a function when struck on a computer keyboard during text or command editing, which is to discard the character ahead of the cursor`s position, moving all following characters one position "back" towards the freed letterspace. The key appears on IBM-compatible PC keyboards labeled as Delete, or Del. On Mac keyboards, the key which performs the forward delete function is labeled del, or with a special right arrow glyph enclosing an "x" with the word del or delete above or to the left of it, as the full word delete by itself is reserved for labelling the key otherwise known as Backspace.