The menu bar at the top of the screen lists the most important commands in aptitude. To activate the menu bar, press Control+t; you can then navigate it using the arrow keys and select a menu item using Enter.

Some menu items also have “hotkeys”: letters or numbers that can be used to select the item while the menu is active. These hotkeys are displayed in a brighter shade of white than the rest of the menu.

In addition, some menu items have “shortcuts”: keystrokes that perform the same action as the menu item while the menu is not active. These keystrokes are listed on the right-hand side of the menu.

In the remainder of the manual, menu commands will be written like this: Menu → Item (key). This indicates that you should choose Item from the Menu menu, and that key is the shortcut for this command.