Input method
Method for generating non-native characters on devices
title: "Input method" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["input-methods", "input/output", "user-interface-techniques", "natural-language-and-computing", "articles-containing-video-clips"] description: "Method for generating non-native characters on devices" topic_path: "technology/computing" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_method" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Method for generating non-native characters on devices ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Typing_있습니다_in_Dubeolsik_keyboard_layout.gif" caption="Korean texts]]."] ::
An input method (or input method editor, commonly abbreviated IME) is an operating system component or program that enables users to generate characters not natively available on their input devices by using sequences of characters (or mouse operations) that are available to them. Using an input method is usually necessary for languages that have more graphemes than there are keys on the keyboard.
For instance, on the computer, this allows the user of Latin keyboards to input Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indic characters. On hand-held devices, it enables the user to type on the numeric keypad to enter Latin alphabet characters (or any other alphabet characters) or touch a screen display to input text. On some operating systems, an input method is also used to define the behavior of the dead keys.
Implementations
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Swarachakra_keyboard.png" caption="Screenshot of [[Swarachakra]], an input method producing [[Indic scripts"] ::
Although originally coined for CJK (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) computing, the term is now sometimes used generically to refer to a program to support the input of any language. To illustrate, in the X Window System, the facility to allow the input of Latin characters with diacritics is also called an input method.
On Windows XP or later Windows, Input method, or IME, are also called Text Input Processor, which are implemented by the Text Services Framework API.
Relationship between the methodology and implementation
While the term input method editor was originally used for Microsoft Windows, its use has now gained acceptance in other operating systems, especially when it is important to distinguish between the computer interface and implementation of input methods, or among the input methods themselves, the editing functionality of the program or operating system component providing the input method, and the general support of input methods in an operating system. This term has, for example, gained general acceptance on the Linux operating system and Android; it is also used on macOS.
- The term input method generally refers to a particular way to use the keyboard to input a particular language, for example the Cangjie method, the pinyin method, or the use of dead keys.
- On the other hand, the term input method editor on Microsoft products refers to the program that allows an input method to be used (for example MS New Pinyin), or the editing area that allows the user to do the input. It can also refer to a character palette, which allows any Unicode character to be input individually.
References
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::