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Interface KeyboardEvent

KeyboardEvent objects describe a user interaction with the keyboard; each event describes a single interaction between the user and a key (or combination of a key with modifier keys) on the keyboard. The event type (keydown, keypress, or keyup) identifies what kind of keyboard activity occurred.

MDN Reference

interface KeyboardEvent {
    altKey: boolean;
    AT_TARGET: 2;
    bubbles: boolean;
    BUBBLING_PHASE: 3;
    cancelable: boolean;
    cancelBubble: boolean;
    CAPTURING_PHASE: 1;
    charCode: number;
    code: string;
    composed: boolean;
    ctrlKey: boolean;
    currentTarget: EventTarget | null;
    defaultPrevented: boolean;
    detail: number;
    DOM_KEY_LOCATION_LEFT: 1;
    DOM_KEY_LOCATION_NUMPAD: 3;
    DOM_KEY_LOCATION_RIGHT: 2;
    DOM_KEY_LOCATION_STANDARD: 0;
    eventPhase: number;
    isComposing: boolean;
    isTrusted: boolean;
    key: string;
    keyCode: number;
    location: number;
    metaKey: boolean;
    NONE: 0;
    repeat: boolean;
    returnValue: boolean;
    shiftKey: boolean;
    srcElement: EventTarget | null;
    target: EventTarget | null;
    timeStamp: number;
    type: string;
    view: Window | null;
    which: number;
    composedPath(): EventTarget[];
    getModifierState(keyArg: string): boolean;
    initEvent(type: string, bubbles?: boolean, cancelable?: boolean): void;
    initKeyboardEvent(
        typeArg: string,
        bubblesArg?: boolean,
        cancelableArg?: boolean,
        viewArg?: Window | null,
        keyArg?: string,
        locationArg?: number,
        ctrlKey?: boolean,
        altKey?: boolean,
        shiftKey?: boolean,
        metaKey?: boolean,
    ): void;
    initUIEvent(
        typeArg: string,
        bubblesArg?: boolean,
        cancelableArg?: boolean,
        viewArg?: Window | null,
        detailArg?: number,
    ): void;
    preventDefault(): void;
    stopImmediatePropagation(): void;
    stopPropagation(): void;
}

Hierarchy (View Summary)

Index
altKey AT_TARGET bubbles BUBBLING_PHASE cancelable cancelBubble CAPTURING_PHASE charCode code composed ctrlKey currentTarget defaultPrevented detail DOM_KEY_LOCATION_LEFT DOM_KEY_LOCATION_NUMPAD DOM_KEY_LOCATION_RIGHT DOM_KEY_LOCATION_STANDARD eventPhase isComposing isTrusted key keyCode location metaKey NONE repeat returnValue shiftKey srcElement target timeStamp type view which
composedPath getModifierState initEvent initKeyboardEvent initUIEvent preventDefault stopImmediatePropagation stopPropagation
altKey: boolean

The KeyboardEvent.altKey read-only property is a boolean value that indicates if the alt key (Option or ⌥ on macOS) was pressed (true) or not (false) when the event occurred.

MDN Reference

AT_TARGET: 2
bubbles: boolean

The bubbles read-only property of the Event interface indicates whether the event bubbles up through the DOM tree or not.

MDN Reference

BUBBLING_PHASE: 3
cancelable: boolean

The cancelable read-only property of the Event interface indicates whether the event can be canceled, and therefore prevented as if the event never happened.

MDN Reference

cancelBubble: boolean

The cancelBubble property of the Event interface is deprecated. Use Event.stopPropagation() instead. Setting its value to true before returning from an event handler prevents propagation of the event. In later implementations, setting this to false does nothing. See Browser compatibility for details.

MDN Reference

CAPTURING_PHASE: 1
charCode: number

The charCode read-only property of the KeyboardEvent interface returns the Unicode value of a character key pressed during a keypress event.

MDN Reference

code: string

The KeyboardEvent.code property represents a physical key on the keyboard (as opposed to the character generated by pressing the key). In other words, this property returns a value that isn't altered by keyboard layout or the state of the modifier keys.

MDN Reference

composed: boolean

The read-only composed property of the Event interface returns a boolean value which indicates whether or not the event will propagate across the shadow DOM boundary into the standard DOM.

MDN Reference

ctrlKey: boolean

The KeyboardEvent.ctrlKey read-only property returns a boolean value that indicates if the control key was pressed (true) or not (false) when the event occurred.

MDN Reference

currentTarget: EventTarget | null

The currentTarget read-only property of the Event interface identifies the element to which the event handler has been attached.

MDN Reference

defaultPrevented: boolean

The defaultPrevented read-only property of the Event interface returns a boolean value indicating whether or not the call to Event.preventDefault() canceled the event.

MDN Reference

detail: number

The UIEvent.detail read-only property, when non-zero, provides the current (or next, depending on the event) click count.

MDN Reference

DOM_KEY_LOCATION_LEFT: 1
DOM_KEY_LOCATION_NUMPAD: 3
DOM_KEY_LOCATION_RIGHT: 2
DOM_KEY_LOCATION_STANDARD: 0
eventPhase: number

The eventPhase read-only property of the Event interface indicates which phase of the event flow is currently being evaluated.

MDN Reference

isComposing: boolean

The KeyboardEvent.isComposing read-only property returns a boolean value indicating if the event is fired within a composition session, i.e., after compositionstart and before compositionend.

MDN Reference

isTrusted: boolean

The isTrusted read-only property of the Event interface is a boolean value that is true when the event was generated by the user agent (including via user actions and programmatic methods such as HTMLElement.focus()), and false when the event was dispatched via EventTarget.dispatchEvent(). The only exception is the click event, which initializes the isTrusted property to false in user agents.

MDN Reference

key: string

The KeyboardEvent interface's key read-only property returns the value of the key pressed by the user, taking into consideration the state of modifier keys such as Shift as well as the keyboard locale and layout.

MDN Reference

keyCode: number

The deprecated KeyboardEvent.keyCode read-only property represents a system and implementation dependent numerical code identifying the unmodified value of the pressed key.

MDN Reference

location: number

The KeyboardEvent.location read-only property returns an unsigned long representing the location of the key on the keyboard or other input device.

MDN Reference

metaKey: boolean

The KeyboardEvent.metaKey read-only property returning a boolean value that indicates if the Meta key was pressed (true) or not (false) when the event occurred. Some operating systems may intercept the key so it is never detected.

MDN Reference

NONE: 0
repeat: boolean

The repeat read-only property of the KeyboardEvent interface returns a boolean value that is true if the given key is being held down such that it is automatically repeating.

MDN Reference

returnValue: boolean

The Event property returnValue indicates whether the default action for this event has been prevented or not.

MDN Reference

shiftKey: boolean

The KeyboardEvent.shiftKey read-only property is a boolean value that indicates if the shift key was pressed (true) or not (false) when the event occurred.

MDN Reference

srcElement: EventTarget | null

The deprecated Event.srcElement is an alias for the Event.target property. Use Event.target instead.

MDN Reference

target: EventTarget | null

The read-only target property of the Event interface is a reference to the object onto which the event was dispatched. It is different from Event.currentTarget when the event handler is called during the bubbling or capturing phase of the event.

MDN Reference

timeStamp: number

The timeStamp read-only property of the Event interface returns the time (in milliseconds) at which the event was created.

MDN Reference

type: string

The type read-only property of the Event interface returns a string containing the event's type. It is set when the event is constructed and is the name commonly used to refer to the specific event, such as click, load, or error.

MDN Reference

view: Window | null

The UIEvent.view read-only property returns the WindowProxy object from which the event was generated. In browsers, this is the Window object the event happened in.

MDN Reference

which: number

The UIEvent.which read-only property of the UIEvent interface returns a number that indicates which button was pressed on the mouse, or the numeric keyCode or the character code (charCode) of the key pressed on the keyboard.

MDN Reference

  • The composedPath() method of the Event interface returns the event's path which is an array of the objects on which listeners will be invoked. This does not include nodes in shadow trees if the shadow root was created with its ShadowRoot.mode closed.

    MDN Reference

    Returns EventTarget[]

  • The KeyboardEvent.getModifierState() method returns the current state of the specified modifier key: true if the modifier is active (that is the modifier key is pressed or locked), otherwise, false.

    MDN Reference

    Parameters

    • keyArg: string

    Returns boolean

  • The Event.initEvent() method is used to initialize the value of an event created using Document.createEvent().

    Parameters

    • type: string
    • Optionalbubbles: boolean
    • Optionalcancelable: boolean

    Returns void

    MDN Reference

  • The KeyboardEvent.initKeyboardEvent() method initializes the attributes of a keyboard event object. This method was introduced in draft of DOM Level 3 Events, but deprecated in newer draft. Gecko won't support this feature since implementing this method as experimental broke existing web apps (see Firefox bug 999645). Web applications should use constructor instead of this if it's available.

    Parameters

    • typeArg: string
    • OptionalbubblesArg: boolean
    • OptionalcancelableArg: boolean
    • OptionalviewArg: Window | null
    • OptionalkeyArg: string
    • OptionallocationArg: number
    • OptionalctrlKey: boolean
    • OptionalaltKey: boolean
    • OptionalshiftKey: boolean
    • OptionalmetaKey: boolean

    Returns void

    MDN Reference

  • The UIEvent.initUIEvent() method initializes a UI event once it's been created.

    Parameters

    • typeArg: string
    • OptionalbubblesArg: boolean
    • OptionalcancelableArg: boolean
    • OptionalviewArg: Window | null
    • OptionaldetailArg: number

    Returns void

    MDN Reference

  • The preventDefault() method of the Event interface tells the user agent that the event is being explicitly handled, so its default action, such as page scrolling, link navigation, or pasting text, should not be taken.

    MDN Reference

    Returns void

  • The stopImmediatePropagation() method of the Event interface prevents other listeners of the same event from being called.

    MDN Reference

    Returns void

  • The stopPropagation() method of the Event interface prevents further propagation of the current event in the capturing and bubbling phases. It does not, however, prevent any default behaviors from occurring; for instance, clicks on links are still processed. If you want to stop those behaviors, see the preventDefault() method. It also does not prevent propagation to other event-handlers of the current element. If you want to stop those, see stopImmediatePropagation().

    MDN Reference

    Returns void

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