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onkeydown event

[This documentation is preliminary and is subject to change.]

Fires when the user presses a key.

HTML 4.01 Specification, Section 18.2.3

Syntax

HTML Attribute <element onkeydown = "handler(event)">
Event Property object.onkeydown = handler;
attachEvent Method object.attachEvent("onkeydown", handler)
addEventListener Method object.addEventListener("keydown", handler, useCapture)

Standards information

Event information

Synchronous No
Bubbles No
Cancelable No

Event handler parameters

Remarks

You can cancel all keys that fire the onkeydown event in HTML Applications, including most accelerator keys, such as ALT+F4.

As of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, the event also fires for the following keys:

  • Editing: BACKSPACE
  • Navigation: PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN
  • System: SHIFT+TAB

As of Internet Explorer 5, this event can be canceled for the following keys and key combinations by specifying event.returnValue=false:

  • Editing: BACKSPACE, DELETE
  • Letters: A - Z (uppercase and lowercase)
  • Navigation: PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, END, HOME, LEFT ARROW, RIGHT ARROW, UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW
  • Numerals: 0 - 9
  • Symbols: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = < [ ] { } , . / ? \ | ' ` " ~
  • System: SPACEBAR, ESC, TAB, SHIFT+TAB

As of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, the onkeydown event fires for the following keys:

  • Editing: DELETE, INSERT
  • Function: F1 - F12
  • Letters: A - Z (uppercase and lowercase)
  • Navigation: HOME, END, LEFT ARROW, RIGHT ARROW, UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW
  • Numerals: 0 - 9
  • Symbols: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = < [ ] { } , . / ? \ | ' ` " ~
  • System: ESC, SPACEBAR, SHIFT, TAB

In Internet Explorer 4.0, you cannot cancel the onkeydown event, but you can use the onkeypress event to cancel keyboard events.

Returns a number specifying the keyCode of the key that was pressed.

To invoke this event, do one of the following:

  • Press any keyboard key.

The pEvtObj parameter is required for the following interfaces:

See also

onkeyup

 

 

Build date: 1/23/2012