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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-05T03:29:35+00:00

Virtual key codes for some keys like shift, [ , ],Del etc are displayed

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Virtual key codes for some keys like shift, [ , ],Del etc are displayed as a different value in java compared to C++/C. For example :

Key     Java       C / C++
Shift   16         160
[       91         219
]       93         221
\       92         220
Del     127        46
Window  524        91

What is the reason for this ? Are these codes the virtual codes or they are a different type ? For the keys including alphabets,numbers,the function keys(F1-F12),backspace,`,etc are the same.

I might be misunderstanding a concept,in that case please clarify.

Checked in C/C++

KBDLLHOOKSTRUCT * kbhook = (KBDLLHOOKSTRUCT *) lParam;
printf("%u\n",kbhook->vkCode);

Checked in Java

private void jTextField1KeyPressed(java.awt.event.KeyEvent evt) {                                       
    int code = evt.getKeyCode();
    // code isEqualTo KeyEvent.VK_DELETE : NOTE

}

Ref : KeyEvent class

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Virtual Key Codes are extremely virtual, I should say.

    You won’t get away without some code like JavaKeyToWin32Key, Win32KeyToJava and so on for each platform you’re trying to interoperate with.

    I believe all of these keycodes are mostly historical. Some come from hardware design decisions (take a look at Apple’s “modern” key codes where the 0 code is ‘A’, 1 is ‘S’, 2 is ‘D’ and so on – should I continue or you get the “pattern” which follows from the keyboard layout ?).

    “Why there are no standard ?”

    It’s business and nothing personal. Thirty-forty years ago everyone where developing their own hardware from scratch, twenty five years ago everybody were trying to make the best CPU, 15 years ago it has all began with the “platforms”, where everything was once again redefined, but also should maintain compatibility with existing solutions (by the same company, of course).

    Java is a standard, but not for everyone. It is already an abstraction above all the OSes with its own set of keycodes. So “VK_” is a legacy of Microsoft, Java key codes might be influenced by the Sun Solaris OS, but I’m not sure.

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