I have the following code:

$('.field').keypress(function(event) {
    if (event.keyCode == 27) alert(event.keyCode);
});

I need to catch "Escape" pressing and do some actions. But now it code does't work. I have tried to use this code:

$('.field').keypress(function(event) {
    alert(event.keyCode);
});

I was pressing by Escape button, but it didn't work (I haven't seen any alerts). Please, tell me, how can I fix it?

I have the following code:

$('.field').keypress(function(event) {
    if (event.keyCode == 27) alert(event.keyCode);
});

I need to catch "Escape" pressing and do some actions. But now it code does't work. I have tried to use this code:

$('.field').keypress(function(event) {
    alert(event.keyCode);
});

I was pressing by Escape button, but it didn't work (I haven't seen any alerts). Please, tell me, how can I fix it?

• javascript
• jquery

• 1 jQuery normalises the keyCode in the event.which property. It's not an answer and won't solve the problem but just a tip – Esailija Commented Jul 19, 2012 at 13:25
• @Esailija: Talk about learning something every day...I thought it was keyCode that jQuery normalized (from which as necessary), but the docs are clear it's the other way around. Thanks. – T.J. Crowder Commented Jul 19, 2012 at 13:40

1 Answer 1

Use keydown or keyup rather than keypress. keypress only fires for keystrokes that result in characters, which (by convention) Esc doesn't (even though some charsets, such as ASCII, do have a character called "escape").

For more about handling keystrokes in JavaScript: JavaScript Madness: Keyboard Events