I have the following code which adds an eventListener to a HTML textarea. It's supposed to console log the keycode which was pressed, and, if the keyCode is == to 17 (CTRL), console log "You pressed CTRL.". For some reason, when I press CTRL in the textarea, it's not console logging the keyCode which was pressed, nor "You pressed CTRL." If I press "A" for example, console log return "97" which is correct. It also works with all other letters.

Here's the code:

document.getElementById("msgBox").addEventListener("keypress",function(e){
    console.log(e.keyCode);
    if(e.keyCode == 17){
        console.log("You pressed CTRL.");
    }
});

What am I doing wrong?

UPDATE : It's also not working with other special keys like "shift, Fx, alt, home etc.

HTML for the textarea :

<textarea id="msgBox" placeholder="Enter your message" autofocus></textarea>

I have the following code which adds an eventListener to a HTML textarea. It's supposed to console log the keycode which was pressed, and, if the keyCode is == to 17 (CTRL), console log "You pressed CTRL.". For some reason, when I press CTRL in the textarea, it's not console logging the keyCode which was pressed, nor "You pressed CTRL." If I press "A" for example, console log return "97" which is correct. It also works with all other letters.

Here's the code:

document.getElementById("msgBox").addEventListener("keypress",function(e){
    console.log(e.keyCode);
    if(e.keyCode == 17){
        console.log("You pressed CTRL.");
    }
});

What am I doing wrong?

UPDATE : It's also not working with other special keys like "shift, Fx, alt, home etc.

HTML for the textarea :

<textarea id="msgBox" placeholder="Enter your message" autofocus></textarea>

• javascript
• keyboard
• dom-events
• addeventlistener
• keycode

Share Improve this question Follow edited Nov 5, 2020 at 14:11 Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩 5,8937272 gold badges6161 silver badges133133 bronze badges asked Aug 25, 2015 at 14:56 bool3maxbool3max 2,87577 gold badges3232 silver badges6464 bronze badges 6

• Can you show the HTML code of the input field, too, please? – danielaKay Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 15:04
• Added it now. @danielaKay – bool3max Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 15:12
• I just tried your jsfiddle both in Firefox and Chrome, none of them work. ?? – bool3max Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 15:19
• Yeah, sorry. I only tested letters, and that works with e.which :-/ The ctrl key still doesn't work. My bad. – danielaKay Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 15:22
• Yeah, letters do work, I said that in my post :P . Also, it's not working with other special keys, not just ctrl. – bool3max Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 15:24

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3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

For some reason, special keys do not work with the keypress event, but they do with the keydown event.

Try this instead: (e.which == 17)

Check for e.ctrlKey.

See the MDN documentation at https://developer.mozilla/en-US/docs/Web/API/MouseEvent/ctrlKey

If you want an easy way to manage keypress you could use a dedicated library like https://dmauro.github.io/Keypress/