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What Does Toggle Mean?

A toggle, in general computing, is a switch between one setting and another. The term implies that it is a switch that has only two outcomes: A or B, or on or off. It is found in almost every aspect of computing when there is an options or preferences list. All option items that can be marked on or off are considered a toggle.

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Techopedia Explains Toggle

A toggle may refer to both software and hardware switching. For instance, the keyboard’s Caps Lock and Num Lock keys are both toggles for those specific functions. Those functions are initially off, so when one of these keys is pressed once, it turns on the corresponding function, and when it is pressed again, it turns it off. This is the same concept in software and is clearly evident in options menus found in most applications. The user is able to turn on or off specific menu items through a toggle switch.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.