Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference

Appendix C. Keyboard Event Character Values

Version 4 browsers include event handlers for capturing keyboard action. Although Navigator and Internet Explorer expose the character information through different means (see Chapter 6), the values associated with each character key are the same. Not all versions of all browsers pass through values for action keys such as the Backspace or Delete keys. For example, Navigator 4 passes these values with the event object when typing into a text INPUT element, but IE 4 does not. It is safest for cross-platform work to focus only on the keys that generate characters (letters, numbers, and punctuation). Function keys and navigation keys do not generate key values (except for navigation keys on Navigator 4 for the Macintosh). All of these values come from the ASCII and Unicode values for the first 128 characters. The characters and their values are listed here.

Key	Value
Backspace	8
Tab	9
Enter (Return on Mac)	13
Space	32
!	33
"	34
#	35
$	36
%	37
&	38
'	39
(	40
)	41
*	42
+	43
,	44
-	45
.	46
/	47
0	48
1	49
2	50
3	51
4	52
5	53
6	54
7	55
8	56
9	57
:	58
;	59
<	60
=	61
>	62
?	63
@	64
A	65
B	66
C	67
D	68
E	69
F	70
G	71
H	72
I	73
J	74
K	75
L	76
M	77
N	78
O	79
P	80
Q	81
R	82
S	83
T	84
U	85
V	86
W	87
X	88
Y