Javascript keaboard events for function keys f1 to f12
Using the function keys in a web application is a dicey situation.
Several of the keys have specific uses in the browser and these keys
should be avoided at all costs. Additionally, the keys all have a
semantic meaning in the UI standards of various operating systems. But
if you insist on using function keys, here’s a handy matrix for how they
map and what events they can be used from.
Key | Windows Semantic Meaning | onKeyDown | onKeyPress* | onKeyUp | Notes |
F1 | Help | 112 | 112 | N/A | Don’t use this, it will open the browser’s help regardless of the way you process this key. |
F2 | Undo | 113 | 113 | 113 | |
F3 | Redo | 114 | 114 | N/A | |
F4 | New | 115 | 115 | 115 | |
F5 | Open/Refresh | N/A | N/A | 116 | Don’t use this… ever. It always refreshes the browser and this functionality cannot be overridden. |
F6 | Close | 117 | 117 | N/A | |
F7 | Reply | 118 | 118 | N/A | In Firefox this brings up the dialog to turn off caret browsing. You should avoid this key. |
F8 | Forward | 119 | 119 | 119 | |
F9 | Send | 120 | 120 | 120 | |
F10 | Spell | 121 | 121 | 121 | |
F11 | Save/Full Screen | 122 | 122 | 122 | DON’T USE THIS! This causes the browser to go full screen (just about all browsers have this now). The semantic meaning of Save should be transferred to F6 which is semantically Close by default. |
F12 | 123 | 123 | 123 |
* IE does not support the onKeyPress event for function keys!
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