Keypress

Keypress describes an input event triggered when a user presses a key on a keyboard. In many user interface frameworks, the keypress event specifically represents the character produced by the key press, whereas other events such as keydown and keyup reflect the physical act of pressing and releasing keys. Because of differences among platforms and libraries, the precise meaning of keypress can vary.

In practice, keypress data typically includes information about the character generated by the key and modifiers such as Shift or Ctrl. Some APIs distinguish between printing (character) keys and non-printing keys like Escape or Arrow keys, which may not emit a character value.

In web browsers, there are three related events: keydown, keypress, and keyup. Keydown fires when any key is pressed; keypress is intended for keys that produce a character; keyup fires when the key is released. Modern web standards de-emphasize keypress and may not fire it for all keys; for character input, it is often safer to handle keydown with character translation or to use input events on text controls.

Keypress events are commonly used for implementing keyboard shortcuts, text entry, and game controls. They may repeat when a key is held down, depending on the platform, and developers must consider accessibility and internationalization when interpreting key input.

See also: keyboard event, input event, Unicode, key code.