DOM Level 3 KeyboardEvent code Values

1.1.1 Keyboard Sections

When discussing keyboard layouts, it is convenient to divide the standard keyboard into distinct sections and to label each row.

Fig. 1 The five general sections of a standard keyboard

These keyboard sections are:

• The Alphanumeric section is the main part of the keyboard and is where most of the keyboard variation occurs. When a user selects a keyboard layout, it is the keys in this sections that are most affected.
• The Control Pad and Arrow Pad sections contain the arrow keys and other editing keys.
• The Numpad (also known as the "numeric keypad" or "number pad") contains number and math keys to make it easier to enter numeric data.
• And finally, the Function section contains miscellaneous function keys and special keys like Escape.

To make it easier to identify keys, the rows on the keyboard are named starting with "A" for the bottom row up to "E" for the top row. The row of keys in the Function section are considered to be in row "K". These row names are consistent with those given in the ISO/IEC 9995-1 specification.

Note that many keyboards (both modern and legacy) have extra keys that do not fit neatly into the above sections. Some of these keys are covered in the Media Keys section.

1.1.2 Standard "101" Keyboard Layout

The standard "101" keyboard (commonly referred to as the "US layout") is the only layout that uses the 'Backslash' code. All the other layouts omit this key and expand the 'Enter' key to occupy two-rows.

Fig. 2 Standard '101' keyboard layout showing unmodified US key values

Modern standard "101"-layout keyboards actually contain 104 keys: 61 keys in the alphanumeric section and 43 keys in the numpad, control pad, arrow pad and function sections. The "101" name for this keyboard layout dates to the time when this standard keyboard did in fact contain 101 keys. The two 'OS' keys, and the 'Menu' key were added later to bring the total to 104 keys.

1.1.3 Alternate "101" Keyboard Layout

The alternate "101" keyboard removes the 'Backslash' key to create a large 'Enter' key and shrinks the 'Backspace' key to make room for the 'IntlYen' key (The 'IntlYen' name comes from the Japanese layout — in the Russian layout shown above this key maps to a '\'.

Fig. 3 Alternate '101' keyboard layout showing unmodified Russian key values

Modern alternate "101"-layout keyboards contain 104 keys: 61 keys in the alphanumeric section and 43 keys in the numpad, control pad, arrow pad and function sections.

1.1.4 Standard "102" Keyboard Layout

The standard "102" keyboard is common throughout Europe and adds two keys that don't exist on the "101" layouts: The 'IntlBackslash' key next to the left shift key, and the 'IntlHash' key which is partially tucked under the 'Enter' key.

Fig. 4 Standard '102' keyboard layout showing unmodified French key values

Modern "102"-layout keyboards contain 105 keys: 62 keys in the alphanumeric section and 43 keys in the numpad, control pad, arrow pad and function sections.

1.1.5 Korean "103" Keyboard Layout

The Korean "103" keyboard is based on the alternate 101 layout and adds two additional keys (one on each side of the spacebar) to handle Korean-specific input modes. These keys are 'Hanja' (labelled 한자 hanja) and 'HangulMode' (labelled 한/영 han/yeong).

Fig. 5 Korean '103' keyboard layout showing unmodified Korean key values

Modern "103"-layout keyboards contain 106 keys: 63 keys in the alphanumeric section and 43 keys in the numpad, control pad, arrow pad and function sections.

1.1.6 Brazilian "104" Keyboard Layout

The "104" layout used in Brazil adds 4 new keys: the two non-US keys from the "102" layout ('IntlHash' and 'IntlBackslash') plus the 'IntlRo' key (next to the right shift key) and an extra key on the numeric keypad. This new keypad key is called 'KeypadComma' because it represents the thousands separator. On the Brazilian key layout, this key has a keycap of . and the 'KeypadPeriod' key has a keycap of ,.

Fig. 6 Standard '104' keyboard layout showing unmodified Brazilian key values

Modern "104"-layout keyboards contain 107 keys: 63 keys in the alphanumeric section and 44 keys in the numpad, control pad, arrow pad and function sections. Some Brazilian keyboards lack the extra keypad key and have only 106 keys.

1.1.7 Japanese "106" Keyboard Layout

The Japanese "106" keyboard layout adds 3 new keys: 'IntlYen', 'IntlHash' and 'IntlRo'. It also shrinks the 'Space' key to make room for 3 input mode keys: 'NonConvert' (labelled 無変換 muhenkan), 'Convert' (labelled 変換 henkan), 'KanaMode' (labelled カタカナ/ひらがな/ローマ字 katakana/hiragana/romaji).

Fig. 7 Standard '106' keyboard layout showing unmodified Japanese key values

Modern "106"-layout keyboards contain 109 keys: 66 keys in the alphanumeric section and 43 keys in the numpad, control pad, arrow pad and function sections.

1.1.8 Apple Keyboard Layout

In general, Apple keyboards follow the same layout as PC keyboards, but there are some differences as noted in the following figure.

Fig. 8 Apple extended keyboard layout showing unmodified English key values

In this figure, the green keys are those that have been moved to a new location while the blue keys indicate keys that have been added.

1.1.9 Laptop Keyboard Layouts

The limited space available on laptop keyboards often means that the physical key layout needs to be adjusted to fit all the required keys. The writing system keys in the Alphanumeric section tend to remain intact, but the other keyboard sections are usually combined with other keys or removed altogether.

Fig. 9 Apple laptop keyboard layout

In this Apple laptop keyboard, the right control key has been removed to make room for half-height arrow keys and a 'Fn' key is added on the left.

Fig. 10 Sample PC laptop keyboard layout

PC laptop keyboards vary considerably, but this sample keyboard demonstrates some commonly found aspects. The control pad keys are added along the right-hand side with the arrow keys tucked in along the bottom. The right shift key is often shrunk to make room for the up arrow key and the right OS key is typically removed altogether.

2.1.1 Alphanumeric Section

The Alphanumeric section keys fall into two general categories: "writing system" keys whose meaning changes based on the current keyboard layout, and "functional" keys which are (mostly) the same for all layouts.

2.1.1.1 Writing System Keys

The "writing system" keys are those that change meaning based on the current keyboard layout.

Fig. 13 The writing system keys in the alphanumeric section

This figure shows a hypothetical keyboard that combines all the writing system keys (shown in blue and green) found on the various keyboards. Blue keys are present on all standard keyboards while green keys are only available on some keyboards.

The name shown on each key is the code assigned to that key. Wherever possible, the code names are based on the name for the US key in that position (i.e., they are based on the US keyboard layout). For keys that don't exist on the US keyboard, names from the UK or Japanese layouts are used instead.

List of code values for writing system keys in the Alphanumeric section.

Code Value	USB Usage ID Page 0x07 (Informative)	Notes (Informative)
'Backquote'	0x35	` and ~ on a US keyboard. This is the 半角/全角/漢字 (hankaku/zenkaku/kanji) key on Japanese keyboards
'Backslash'	0x31	\ and | on a US keyboard. Found only on standard 101-key layouts.
'Backspace'	0x2a	Labelled Delete on Macintosh keyboards.
'BracketLeft'	0x2f	[ and { on a US keyboard.
'BracketRight'	0x30	] and } on a US keyboard.
'Comma'	0x36	, and < on a US keyboard.
'Digit0'	0x27	0 and ) on a US keyboard.
'Digit1'	0x1e	1 and ! on a US keyboard.
'Digit2'	0x1f	2 and @ on a US keyboard.
'Digit3'	0x20	3 and # on a US keyboard.
'Digit4'	0x21	4 and $ on a US keyboard.
'Digit5'	0x22	5 and % on a US keyboard.
'Digit6'	0x23	6 and ^ on a US keyboard.
'Digit7'	0x24	7 and & on a US keyboard.
'Digit8'	0x25	8 and * on a US keyboard.
'Digit9'	0x26	9 and ( on a US keyboard.
'Equal'	0x2e	= and + on a US keyboard.
'IntlBackslash'	0x64	Located between the 'ShiftLeft' and 'KeyZ' keys. The \ and | key on a UK keyboard.
'IntlHash'	0x32	Located between the 'Quote' and 'Enter' keys on row E of the keyboard. The # and ~ key on a UK keyboard.
'IntlRo'	0x87	Located between the 'Slash' and 'ShiftRight' keys. The \ and ろ (ro) key on a Japanese keyboard.
'IntlYen'	0x89	Located between the 'Equal' and 'Backspace' keys. The ¥ (yen) key on a Japanese keyboard. The \ and / key on a Russian keyboard.
'KeyA'	0x04	a on a US keyboard. Labelled q on an AZERTY (e.g., French) keyboard.
'KeyB'	0x05	b on a US keyboard.
'KeyC'	0x06	c on a US keyboard.
'KeyD'	0x07	d on a US keyboard.
'KeyE'	0x08	e on a US keyboard.
'KeyF'	0x09	f on a US keyboard.
'KeyG'	0x0a	g on a US keyboard.
'KeyH'	0x0b	h on a US keyboard.
'KeyI'	0x0c	i on a US keyboard.
'KeyJ'	0x0d	j on a US keyboard.
'KeyK'	0x0e	k on a US keyboard.
'KeyL'	0x0f	l on a US keyboard.
'KeyM'	0x10	m on a US keyboard.
'KeyN'	0x11	n on a US keyboard.
'KeyO'	0x12	o on a US keyboard.
'KeyP'	0x13	p on a US keyboard.
'KeyQ'	0x14	q on a US keyboard. Labelled a on an AZERTY (e.g., French) keyboard.
'KeyR'	0x15	r on a US keyboard.
'KeyS'	0x16	s on a US keyboard.
'KeyT'	0x17	t on a US keyboard.
'KeyU'	0x18	u on a US keyboard.
'KeyV'	0x19	v on a US keyboard.
'KeyW'	0x1a	w on a US keyboard. Labelled z on an AZERTY (e.g., French) keyboard.
'KeyX'	0x1b	x on a US keyboard.
'KeyY'	0x1c	y on a US keyboard. Labelled z on a QWERTZ (e.g., German) keyboard.
'KeyZ'	0x1d	z on a US keyboard. Labelled w on an AZERTY (e.g., French) keyboard, and y on a QWERTZ (e.g., German) keyboard.
'Minus'	0x2d	- and _ on a US keyboard.
'Period'	0x37	. and > on a US keyboard.
'Quote'	0x34	' and " on a US keyboard.
'Semicolon'	0x33	; and : on a US keyboard.
'Slash'	0x38	/ and ? on a US keyboard.

2.1.1.2 Functional Keys

The Functional keys (not to be confused with the Function keys described later) are those keys in the Alphanumeric section that provide general editing functions that are common to all locales (like Shift, Tab, Enter and Backspace). With a few exceptions, these keys do not change meaning based on the current keyboard layout.

Fig. 14 The standard set of functional keys in the alphanumeric section

List of code values for functional keys in the Alphanumeric section.

Code Value	USB Usage ID Page 0x07 (Informative)	Notes (Informative)
'AltLeft'	0xe2	Labelled Alt or Option.
'AltRight'	0xe6	Labelled Alt or Option. This is the AltGr key on many keyboard layouts.
'CapsLock'	0x39
'ContextMenu'	0x65	The application context menu key, which is typically found between the right OS key and the right Control key.
'ControlLeft'	0xe0
'ControlRight'	0xe4
'Enter'	0x28	Labelled Enter and Return on Macintosh keyboards.
'OSLeft'	0xe3	The Windows, ⌘, Command or other OS symbol key.
'OSRight'	0xe7	The Windows, ⌘, Command or other OS symbol key.
'ShiftLeft'	0xe1
'ShiftRight'	0xe5
'Space'	0x2c	The   key.
'Tab'	0x2b

On some keyboards (notably Japanese and Korean) the spacebar is reduced in size to make room for extra keys on the bottom row. These keys typically allow the users to change the current input mode. Note that even though some of these Japanese and Korean keys occupy the same physical location on the keyboard, they use different code values.

Fig. 15 Comparison of the lower row of functional keys on different keyboards

List of code values for functional keys found on Japanese and Korean keyboards.

Code Value	USB Usage ID Page 0x07 (Informative)	Notes (Informative)
'Convert'	0x8a	Japanese: 変換 (henkan)
'KanaMode'	0x88	Japanese: カタカナ/ひらがな/ローマ字 (katakana/hiragana/romaji)
'Lang1'	0x90	Korean: 한/영 (han/yeong) Japanese (Mac keyboard): かな (kana)
'Lang2'	0x91	Korean: 한자 (hanja) Japanese (Mac keyboard): 英数 (eisu)
'Lang3'	0x92	Japanese (word-processing keyboard): Katakana
'Lang4'	0x93	Japanese (word-processing keyboard): Hiragana
'Lang5'	0x94	Japanese (word-processing keyboard): Zenkaku/Hankaku
'NonConvert'	0x8b	Japanese: 無変換 (muhenkan)

On Apple keyboards, some keys on the bottom row are omitted and others are arranged in a different order.

2.1.2 Control Pad Section

The Control Pad contains keys for navigating and editing documents.

Fig. 16 Standard Control Pad layouts

Note: The code for the 'Fn' key (found on some Apple keyboards) is defined below in the Function Section.

2.1.3 Arrow Pad Section

The Arrow Pad section contains the 4 arrow keys.

Fig. 17 Standard Arrow Pad layout

2.1.4 Numpad Section

The Numpad Section contains numeric and mathematical operator keys arranged in a calculator-grid to facilitate numeric data entry.

Fig. 18 Standard Numpad layouts

The standard Numpad is sometimes extended with additional keys for parentheses, operators, hexadecimal symbols, or calculator functions (like backspace). Some of the commonly added keys are listed in the table below.

For Numpads that provide keys not listed here, a code value string should be created by starting with 'Numpad' and appending an appropriate description of the key.

2.1.5 Function Section

The Function section runs along the top of the keyboard and contains the function keys and a few additional special keys (for example, 'Escape' and 'PrintScreen').

On some keyboards (especially those found on laptops or other portable computers), the function keys ('F1' ... 'F12') are defined to have other primary functions (like controlling display brightness or audio volume) and require that a separate 'Fn' key be pressed to make them act as function keys. Unfortunately, the primary functions assigned to these keys varies widely from one manufacturer to the next. Because of this, the code is always set to the function key name.

For keyboards that provide more than 12 function keys, the code value follows the pattern shown above with 'F' followed by the function key number - 'F13', 'F14', 'F15', and so on.

Note: Apple keyboards may have 'Eject' or 'Power' keys in the Function section. The code values for these keys are defined in the Media Keys section.

2.1.6 Media Keys

Keys that fall outside the sections listed above are referred to as "media keys" since they commonly provide "media" functions like play, pause or volume control.

These are extra keys that many keyboard manufacturers add, but do not have a consistent location. These keys are often distinct from normal typing keys in appearance and may be recessed in the keyboard.

On laptop keyboards, these keys are often merged with the Function keys, with the "media" interpretation being the primary function of the key and the "function key" interpretation requiring the 'Fn' key to be pressed at the same time. In this configuration the code should be set to match the function key ('F1' ... 'F12'). When the keys are merged in this fashion, the code values are taken from the function key value since the "media" value is not consistent across keyboards.

2.1.7 Legacy Keys and Non-Standard Keys

These keys are not found on modern standard keyboards. They are listed here for reference purposes.

The following keys may be found on non-standard international keyboards.