onkeydown event

Article
2017-05-02

Fires when the user presses a key.

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)

Event information

Synchronous	No
Bubbles	Yes
Cancelable	Yes

Event handler parameters

pEvtObj [in]
Type: IHTMLEventObj

Standards information

HTML 4.01 Specification, Section 18.2.3

Remarks

You can cancel all keys that fire the HTMLStyleElementEvents2::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 HTMLStyleElementEvents2::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 HTMLStyleElementEvents2::onkeydown event, but you can use the HTMLStyleElementEvents2::onkeypress event to cancel keyboard events.

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

To invoke this event, do one of the following:

Press any keyboard key.

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