KeyboardEvent.which

Deprecated

This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The which read-only property of the KeyboardEvent interface returns the numeric keyCode of the key pressed, or the character code (charCode) for an alphanumeric key pressed.

Syntax

var keyResult = event.which;

Return value

keyResult contains the numeric code for a particular key pressed, depending on whether an alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric key was pressed. Please see KeyboardEvent.charCode and KeyboardEvent.keyCode for more details.

Example

<html>
<head>
<title>charCode/keyCode/which example</title>

<script type="text/javascript">

function showKeyPress(evt) {
alert("onkeypress handler: \n"
      + "keyCode property: " + evt.keyCode + "\n"
      + "which property: " + evt.which + "\n"
      + "charCode property: " + evt.charCode + "\n"
      + "Character Key Pressed: "
      + String.fromCharCode(evt.charCode) + "\n"
     );
}

function keyDown(evt) {
alert("onkeydown handler: \n"
      + "keyCode property: " + evt.keyCode + "\n"
      + "which property: " + evt.which + "\n"
     );
}

</script>
</head>

<body
 onkeypress="showKeyPress(event);"
 onkeydown="keyDown(event);"
>

<p>Please press any key.</p>

</body>
</html>

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Unknown The definition of 'KeyboardEvent.which' in that specification.	Obsolete	Initial definition; specified as deprecated

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser