GlobalEventHandlers.onkeydown

The onkeydown property of the GlobalEventHandlers mixin is an EventHandler that processes keydown events.

The keydown event fires when the user presses a keyboard key.

Syntax

target.onkeydown = functionRef;

Value

functionRef is a function name or a function expression. The function receives a KeyboardEvent object as its sole argument.

Example

This example logs the KeyboardEvent.code value whenever you press down a key inside the <input> element.

HTML

<input>
<p id="log"></p>

JavaScript

const input = document.querySelector('input');
const log = document.getElementById('log');

input.onkeydown = logKey;

function logKey(e) {
  log.textContent += ` ${e.code}`;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• keydown event
• Related event handlers
  • GlobalEventHandlers.onkeypress
  • GlobalEventHandlers.onkeyup