Tab key (abbreviation of tabulator key or tabular key) on a keyboard is used to advance the cursor to the next tab stop. == History == The word tab derives from the word tabulate, which means `to arrange data in a tabular, or table, form.` When a person wanted to type a table (of numbers or text) on a typewriter, there was a lot of time-consumin..... Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_key