Using JavaScript to detect the key pressed

Often it is useful to intercept the key pressed within an element of an HTML form, such as a text box. For this purpose you can use JavaScript to extract the code of the key that was pressed. Here is a snippet of code you can use—adapting it to your needs, of course.

function keyPressed(e){
  var code;
  if(window.event){ //IE
   code = e.keyCode;
  }
  else{ //other browsers
    code = e.which;
  }
  //check, for example, if the Enter key was pressed (code 13)
  if(code == 13){
    //Enter key pressed
  }
  else{
    //Another key pressed
  }
}

Note: keyCode is used by Internet Explorer while which is used by the other browsers.

Then, from within a form, you can call this function. For example:

<input onkeypress="javascript:keyPressed(event);" type="text" />