keyboard-key
============

A simple utility for determining the KeyboardEvent.key property from a keyboard event.

- Install
- Usage
* getKey()
* getCode()
- Why?
- Locale Caveat

Install

``
yarn add keyboard-key

or

npm install keyboard-key
`

Usage

$3

Get the key property value from an event.

`js
document.addEventListener('keydown', event => {
const key = keyboardKey.getKey(event)

switch (key) {
case 'Escape':
// handle escape key
break
default:
break
}
})
`

>See [MDN][2] or the source for a full list of key values.

$3

You can also get the normalized keyCode from an event. keyboard-key includes a hash of key names to keyCodes for easy comparisons:

`js
document.addEventListener('keydown', event => {
const code = keyboardKey.getCode(event)

switch (code) {
case keyboardKey.Escape: // 27
// handle escape key
break
default:
break
}
})
`

Why?

Most previous key identifying KeyboardEvent properties have been pressed have been deprecated in favor of Keyboard.key.

:-1: KeyboardEvent.char
:-1: KeyboardEvent.charCode
:-1: KeyboardEvent.keyCode
:-1: KeyboardEvent.keyIdentifier
:-1: KeyboardEvent.keyLocation
:-1: KeyboardEvent.which

:+1: KeyboardEvent.key

Unfortunately, KeyboardEvent.key does not yet have full [browser support][3]. Leaving the browsers without a reliable property for identifying keyboard event keys.

Locale Caveat

This utility interprets use of the shift key when inferring event key values. Example, an event describing shift+/ would result in a key value of ?. This logic assumes an en-US` locale keyboard layout. This will not work if you are using a different locale such as a German layout where / is shift+7.

[1]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent/key
[2]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent/key/Key_Values
[3]: http://caniuse.com/#feat=keyboardevent-key