Key codes of keydown/keyup events (as of 2011)

JavaScript FAQ | Keyboard & Mouse Events FAQ  

Question: What were browser keyCode values of keydown/keyup events in 2011?

Answer: This page gives some historical (ca.2011) data on keyCode values in popular browsers. Specifically, the table below shows the event.keyCode values for keydown and keyup events in Opera 11, Internet Exlorer 8.0, Firefox 3.6, Safari 5.0, and Google Chrome 10. (See www.javascripter.net/faq/keycodes.htm for more up-to-date key codes. If you are interested in key codes for older browsers, please refer to the W3C Working Group Note Legacy Keyboard Event Properties.) Common key codes that are relatively safe to use across browsers are shown in black. Key codes that differ across browsers are shown in red. Do not use this table for character codes of keypress events: keypress character codes are not key-specific and may be enirely different from keydown/keyup key codes.

      keydown/keyup event.keyCode                    
Opera   MSIE  Firefox  Safari  Chrome    Key pressed
_________________________________________________________

  8       8       8       8       8      Backspace
  9       9       9       9       9      Tab
 13      13      13      13      13      Enter
 16      16      16      16      16      Shift
 17      17      17      17      17      Ctrl
 18      18      18      18      18      Alt
 19      19      19      19      19      Pause, Break
 20      20      20      20      20      CapsLock
 27      27      27      27      27      Esc
 32      32      32      32      32      Space
 33      33      33      33      33      Page Up
 34      34      34      34      34      Page Down
 35      35      35      35      35      End
 36      36      36      36      36      Home
 37      37      37      37      37      Left arrow
 38      38      38      38      38      Up arrow
 39      39      39      39      39      Right arrow
 40      40      40      40      40      Down arrow
         44      44      44      44      PrntScrn (see below)
 45      45      45      45      45      Insert
 46      46      46      46      46      Delete
 48-57   48-57   48-57   48-57   48-57   0 to 9
 65-90   65-90   65-90   65-90   65-90   A to Z  
112-123 112-123 112-123 112-123 112-123  F1 to F12 
144     144     144     144     144      NumLock
145     145     145     145     145      ScrollLock

188     188     188     188     188      , <
190     190     190     190     190      . >
191     191     191     191     191      / ?
192     192     192     192     192      ` ~
219     219     219     219     219      [ { (see below)
220     220     220     220     220      \ |
221     221     221     221     221      ] }
222     222     222     222     222      ' "
In most browsers, pressing the PrntScrn key fires keyup events only.
Caution! Key code 219 also corresponds to the Win Key (Start) in Opera.

The following key codes differ across browsers:

      keydown/keyup event.keyCode                    
Opera   MSIE  Firefox  Safari  Chrome    Key pressed
_________________________________________________________ 

 59     186      59     186     186      ; :             
 61     187     107     187     187      = +             
109     189     109     189     189      - _             
219      91      91      91      91      WIN Key (Start) 
  0      93      93      93      93      WIN Menu        


Opera    All Others (NumLock On/Off)     Key pressed
_________________________________________________________

48/45       96/45                        Numpad 0 Ins    
49/35       97/35                        Numpad 1 End    
50/40       98/40                        Numpad 2 Down   
51/34       99/34                        Numpad 3 Pg Down
52/37      100/37                        Numpad 4 Left   
53/12      101/12                        Numpad 5        
54/39      102/39                        Numpad 6 Right  
55/36      103/36                        Numpad 7 Home   
56/38      104/38                        Numpad 8 Up     
57/33      105/33                        Numpad 9 Pg Up  
42/42      106/106                       Numpad *        
43/43      107/107                       Numpad +        
45/45      109/109   (45 is also Ins)    Numpad -        
78/46      110/46    (78 is also N)      Numpad . Del    
47/47      111/111                       Numpad /        

See also:
What event properties can I use to analyze keyboard events?
Which key did the user press?
Which character did the user type?
KeyEvent object (predefined key code constants in Firefox)

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