Question

51

Check if a key is down?

rated 0 times [ 53] [ 2] / answers: 1 / hits: 170772 / 15 Years ago, tue, december 1, 2009, 12:00:00

Is there a way to detect if a key is currently down in JavaScript?

I know about the keydown event, but that's not what I need. Some time AFTER the key is pressed, I want to be able to detect if it is still pressed down.

P. S. The biggest issue seems to be that after some period of time the key begins to repeat, firing off keydown and keyup events like a fiend. Hopefully there is just a simple isKeyDown(key) function, but if not then this issue will need to be overcome / worked around.

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

raymondd

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 620

Total Questions: 112

Total Answers: 94

Location: Namibia

Member since Mon, Feb 21, 2022

2 Years ago

raymondd questions

1 Automatically adjust height of iframe using React Hooks

Thu, Apr 22, 21, 00:00, 3 Years ago

1 What's the proper location to store images in VueJS - public folder or assets folder?

Sat, Jul 11, 20, 00:00, 4 Years ago

1 Convert binary to blob url

Thu, Jul 9, 20, 00:00, 4 Years ago

1 Show Loading indicator on Bootstrap 4 (Modal) dialog

Thu, Apr 9, 20, 00:00, 4 Years ago

1 Script injected with insertAdjacentHTML() does not execute

Thu, Jul 25, 19, 00:00, 5 Years ago

View All

answered 15 Years ago nestorjarettg · Accepted Answer

Is there a way to detect if a key is currently down in JavaScript?

Nope. The only possibility is monitoring each keyup and keydown and remembering.

after some period of time the key begins to repeat, firing off keydown and keyup events like a fiend.

It shouldn't. You'll definitely get keypress repeating, and in many browsers you'll also get repeated keydown, but if keyup repeats, it's a bug.

Unfortunately it is not a completely unheard-of bug: on Linux, Chromium, and Firefox (when it is being run under GTK+, which it is in popular distros such as Ubuntu) both generate repeating keyup-keypress-keydown sequences for held keys, which are impossible to distinguish from someone hammering the key really fast.