MacBook glitch when typing

[TexasProgresive]

I have owned 2 MacBooks. They both do this annoying thing on occasion when typing that I am unable to duplicate. The cursor will suddenly go to the beginning of the text I have already typed. This causes me to have to delete what got typed in the wrong place and to move the cursor back to where I was typing. This tends to break my chain of thought. Anybody else have this problem?

[unblock]

1. no experience with macbooks, but for other laptops (windows),

i have had this problem many times. it means one of two things:

1) there is a static charge on the touchpad/keyboard, in which case grounding the laptop and rebooting will usually fix the problem or

2) the touchpad/keyboard is fried and needs replacing. it's actually cheap and not hard to do this.

[marble falls]

2. My HP probook does that, too. And sometimes the curser disappears while typing text ...

the weird part is it only happens on DU!

[Tetrachloride]

3. sticky keyboard .. or.. your word processor ?

Can you list your word processor ? I tend to think this is your culprit --- in part.

If there is a modifier, such as CTRL or something which is sticking, this can help activate hidden shortcuts.

Less likely, something in System Preferences / Keyboard / Shortcuts

[CloudWatcher]

4. control-a?

Just a tidbit ... almost all Mac editors have some historical "emacs" key bindings. What? In particular ...

control-a go to the beginning of the line
control-e go to the end of the line
control-n go down a line (next)
control-p up up a line (prev)
control-f go forward a character
control-b go backward a character
control-d sucks up the next character
control-k kill (delete into kill buffer) from the current position to the end of the line
control-y undelete (yank) the kill buffer into the current cursor position.
control-l scroll window to center the current line

Why am I spewing all of this?

Well, first of all I use them all the time. It's much faster than having to use the mouse/trackpad for simple edits while typing.

But also ... is there a chance you were hitting control-a instead of (for example) shift-a when the cursor jumps to the beginning of the line?

I've seen my cursor jump around unexpectedly, but it's usually my fat-fingering the keyboard (well, when it's not my cat).

HTH.

[TexasProgresive]

5. I think that must be it.

I touch type but I learned on a manual typewriter. Am I showing my age? Anyway I have a bad habit of using the shift key with my left little finger even though the letter I am wanting is a left hand letter. Since "control" is below shift that makes it possible.
Thanks, I saved your list for future reference.

[Tetrachloride]

6. news

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/27/18284042/apple-macbook-keyboard-apology-issues-bad-design

With its MacBook keyboards in the spotlight again thanks to a bruising column from Joanna Stern at The Wall Street Journal, Apple today acknowledged that a “small number” of its customers are still experiencing reliability issues and failing keys when using the company’s third-generation butterfly keyboard.