KeyboardEvent key Property
Example
What key was pressed when a key event occured:
let key = event.key;
Try it Yourself »
More examples below.
Description
The key property returns the key that was pressed when the event occured.
The key property is read-only.
The return value can be:
- A single character ("a", "W", "4", " ", "$")
- Multiple characters ("F1", "Enter", "HOME", "CAPS LOCK")
See Also:
Syntax
event.key
Technical Details
| Return Value: |
A String The key that was pressed: A single character ("A", "a", "4", " ", "$") Multiple characters ("F1", "Enter", "HOME", "CAPS LOCK") |
|---|---|
| DOM Version: | DOM Level 3 Keyboard Events. |
More Examples
Example
Write some text if the user presses the "A" key:
let key = event.key;
if (key == "a" || key == "A") {
let text = "You pressed the 'A' key!";
}
Try it Yourself »
Browser Support
event.key is a DOM Level 3 (2004) feature.
It is fully supported in all modern browsers:
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Safari | Opera | IE |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11 |
