[ELI5] What does LOC mode do on a aircraft?

Question

[ELI5] What does LOC mode do on a aircraft?

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Answer 1

[at least for most Boeing aircraft] Trying to avoid technical detail, that button effectively means “localizer guidance” from the autopilot. When pressed while the autopilot is already engaged, the lateral navigation mode will change to following the localizer (lateral navigation) of the Instrument Landing System frequency currently times. If not already on that path, the current lateral navigation mode will remain active until the plane intersects the localizer path.

In other words, “turn onto the path of the runway, and maintain that path”