Question

When I press a key on my keyboard, I can get the keyCode of that key using e.keyCode. But the keyCode I get does not consider the pressed alt/ctrl/shift keys, wich modify the key code.

Fortunately, I get the properties shiftKey/altKey/ctrlKey with the event so I am able to calculate the “true” key code.

But I don’t know how to calculate this correctly. Where can I read about that?
Is it as easy as substracting 32 if shift ist pressed and so on, or are there much exceptions?

Answer 1

You’re mistaken, key codes don’t change because they refer to a specific key on the keyboard. Regardless of modifier keys, those codes stay the same (and even the modifier keys themselves have a key code).

Capture the keypress event, which will allow you to access character codes.

el.onkeypress = function (evt) {
    alert( (evt || window.event).charCode );
}