Question

I have an input field <input type="text" name="input" /> outside of a form so that it is not submit when the user presses enter. I want to know when the user presses enter without submitting so that I can run some JavaScript. I want this to work in all major browsers (I don’t care about IE though) and be valid JavaScript.

FYI: jQuery is an option

Answer 1

I will not use jQuery and this is going to work in IE < 9 too. With jQuery or other frameworks you may have some simpler ways to attach event listeners.

var input = document.getElementsByName("input")[0];
if (input.addEventListener)
    input.addEventListener("keypress", function(e) {
        if (e.keyCode === 13) {
            // do stuff
            e.preventDefault();
        }
    }, false);
else if (input.attachEvent)
    input.attachEvent("onkeypress", function(e) {
        if (e.keyCode === 13) {
            // do stuff
            return e.returnValue = false;
        }
    });