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web api event

Element: keypress event

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The keypress event is fired when a letter, number, punctuation, or symbol key is pressed, or else when the Enter key is pressed — including when the Enter key is pressed in combination with the Shift key or Ctrl key. Otherwise, when a modifier key such as the Alt, Shift, Ctrl, Meta, Esc, or Option key is pressed in isolation, the keypress event is not fired.

[!WARNING] Since this event has been deprecated, you should use beforeinput or keydown instead.

The event bubbles. It can reach Document and Window.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

addEventListener("keypress", (event) => { })

onkeypress = (event) => { }

Event type

A KeyboardEvent. Inherits from UIEvent and Event.

Examples

addEventListener keypress example

This example logs the code value whenever you press a key after focussing the <input> element.

To see which keys cause a keypress event to fire, and which keys don’t, try pressing the following:

  • letter keys, number keys, and punctuation keys
  • symbol keys such as the $, +, =, %, and + keys
  • modifier keys such as the Alt, Shift, Ctrl, Meta, Esc, Option, or ⌘ keys
  • the Enter key
  • the Enter key in combination with the Shift or Ctrl keys
  • the Enter key in combination with modifier keys other than the Shift or Ctrl keys
<div>
  <label for="sample">Focus the input and type something:</label>
  <input type="text" name="text" id="sample" />
</div>
<p id="log"></p>
const log = document.getElementById("log");
const input = document.querySelector("input");

input.addEventListener("keypress", logKey);

function logKey(e) {
  log.textContent += ` ${e.code}`;
}
Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

onkeypress equivalent

input.onkeypress = logKey;

Specifications

SpecificationsStandards references are available on the canonical MDN page.

Browser compatibility

Browser compatibilityCompatibility data is available on the canonical MDN page.

See also