character-codes-from-keyboard-listeners.md

Character Codes from Keyboard Listeners

If I create the following keyboard event listeners for keydown, keypress, and keyup:

window.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) { console.log("Keydown: " + e.charCode + ", " + e.keyCode); });
window.addEventListener('keypress', function(e) { console.log("Keypress: " + e.charCode + ", " + e.keyCode); });
window.addEventListener('keyup', function(e) { console.log("Keyup: " + e.charCode + ", " + e.keyCode); });

and then I press A, my browser console will read the following:

Keydown: 0, 65
Keypress: 65, 65
Keyup: 0, 65

and if I then press a, my browser console will read:

Keydown: 0, 65
Keypress: 97, 97
Keyup: 0, 65

The keypress event seems to be the way to go. Regardless, there seems to be quite a bit of incompatibility and lack of support across browsers for various aspects of the keyboard events.