Accelerator and shortcut keys in menus enable your users to access menu items quickly.
Every menu item should have an accelerator key, also called a mnemonic access key, which allows users to select the item from the keyboard by pressing Alt+key when the menu is displayed. Accelerator keys display with an underline in the menu item text. See Accelerator Characters in Control Labels.
You can also define shortcut keys, which are combinations of keys that a user can press to select a menu item, whether or not the menu is displayed. See Assigning a Shortcut Key to Menu Items.
Sybase recommends that you adopt conventions for using accelerator and shortcut keys in your applications. All menu items should have accelerator keys, and commonly used menu items should have shortcut keys.