A portable terminal apparatus which can select terminal operations such as the activation of programs, the switching of the programs and the ending of the programs with a reduced number of times of operation of the operation buttons is provided.The portable terminal apparatus includes link information storage means 14 for storing therein a linkage table containing information about the linkage between operation buttons to be selected by a user and programs to be activated by the selection of the operation buttons, and an activation program monitor part 14 for dynamically monitoring the operation states of two or more programs activated at a terminal end, wherein the operation button having emitted its backlight according to the monitoring result obtained by the activation program monitor part 14 can be selected by the user, so that the programs linked to the respective operation buttons can be easily activated, switched and ended.