What is the Mac Equivalent of "Shift+End" to Highlight an Entire Line?

This is a terribly simple switcher question that I've tried to figure out myself, but have not been very successful.

On PCs, if I click on, say, a URL in the Internet Explorer Address Bar, and then hold SHIFT and hit the END or HOME button, the line from wherever my pointer is to the end or beginning of the line gets highlighted. But on Macs that doesn't work all the time. It seems to work in Microsoft Word... surprise, surprise, but not consistently in other programs.

So I figured out that SHIFT+OPEN APPLE works... in some programs. For instance, if you try to select the URL in the Address Bar in Safari, it works. But in Firefox it doesn't.

True, I could just use OPEN APPLE+A to Select All, but sometimes you just want to select a portion of a line.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way things are in the Mac World?

Also, why is it that sometimes the Alternate Menu (Right mouse click on PCs) is sometimes the OPEN APPLE key and sometimes it's the ALT key.

Just seems strange that OS X would make such simple things inconsistent among programs.

Thanks guys!

I suppose that with OPEN APPLE you mean the Command-key (the onw with the Apple logo on it).

For the right-click with a one-button-mouse, it's CTRL+click, not COMMAND or OPTION (aka ALT). Anyway, you can connect any USB- mouse to your Mac, it will recognise it without any driver and correctly use the right button and scroll wheel.

To select a whole line in a text field, you have several choices:
- Click three times in that line. The first click places the cursor where you clicked, the second will mark the word next to it, and the third finally will mark the whole line.
- If you are in a one-line text field (like where you type the URL in a browser), you can mark the whole line with COMMAND+A (mark all) or use SHIFT+arrow-keys. If the cursor is at the end of the line, it's SHIFT+ARROW-UP and if it's at the beginning of the line it's SHIFT+ARROW-DOWN.

or I think shift+command+arrow key in desired direction.