{"id":6599,"date":"2017-05-25T14:06:53","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T14:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/system-request\/"},"modified":"2017-05-31T18:14:35","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T18:14:35","slug":"system-request","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq","title":{"rendered":"System Request"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_system_request_mean\">What Does System Request Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>On computer keyboards, system request (SysRq) is a key which has no standard use. It was initially provided as a special key for directly invoking low-level operating system functionalities, especially for switching between different operating systems. It was mostly used for that purpose in the early 1980s, but later fell into disuse.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_system_request\">Techopedia Explains System Request<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Nothing is stored in the keyboard buffer when the system request key is pressed, a property which is not found in any other keys on the keyboard. The system request key was first introduced by IBM, and it triggered a special BIOS routine to signal the operating system whenever the system request key was pressed. It helped in encouraging a multitasking environment for users. <\/p>\n<p>When introduced, the system request key was a separate key on most keyboards, but in modern keyboards it shares the physical key with other functions (often &#8220;print screen&#8221;). The default BIOS keyboard routines and the keyboard routines in various high-level languages usually ignore system request functionality and return without any steps being taken. Currently the system request key is not of much use to a large majority of users, although it is still used in certain applications for troubleshooting or debugging, such as in Microsoft for OS-level or application-level debuggers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does System Request Mean? On computer keyboards, system request (SysRq) is a key which has no standard use. It was initially provided as a special key for directly invoking low-level operating system functionalities, especially for switching between different operating systems. It was mostly used for that purpose in the early 1980s, but later fell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[242,217],"class_list":["post-6599","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-general-computing","definitioncat-hardware"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is System Request (SysRq)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of System Request and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"System Request\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of System Request and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-31T18:14:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"System Request\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-25T14:06:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-31T18:14:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq\"},\"wordCount\":217,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12451\/system-request-sysrq\",\"name\":\"What is System Request (SysRq)? 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