Keyboard

The keyboard module provides methods for retrieving input from the keyboard.

Detecting Key Presses

You can check if a key is currently pressed (and held down) using the isDown method. This method takes a single argument, which is the key to check specified as a string.

function update() {
  if (keyboard.isDown('w')) {
    // Move the player up
  }

  if (keyboard.isDown('a')) {
    // Move the player left
  }

  if (keyboard.isDown('s')) {
    // Move the player down
  }

  if (keyboard.isDown('d')) {
    // Move the player right
  }
}

To check if a key was pressed this frame, use the wasPressed method. This method takes a single argument, which is the key to check specified as a string.

function update() {
  if (keyboard.wasPressed('i')) {
    // Open the inventory
  }
}

The difference between isDown and wasPressed is that isDown will return true as long as the key is held down, while wasPressed will only return true once per key press.

Detecting Key Releases

You can check if a key is currently released (and not held down) using the isUp method. This method takes a single argument, which is the key to check specified as a string.

function update() {
  if (keyboard.isUp('space')) {
    // Space bar is not pressed
  }
}

To check if a key was released this frame, use the wasReleased method. This method takes a single argument, which is the key to check specified as a string.

function update() {
  if (keyboard.wasReleased('space')) {
    // Space bar was released this frame
  }
}

Similar to isDown and wasPressed, the difference between isUp and wasReleased is that isUp will return true as long as the key is not held down, while wasReleased will only return true once per key release.

Key Codes

The following table lists the key codes for each key on the keyboard.

Key Code	Key	Scan Code	Unicode
3	Cancel	cancel
8	Backspace	backspace	⌫
9	Tab	tab	↹
12	Clear	clear	⌧
13	Enter	enter	⏎
16	Shift	shiftleft	⇧
16	Shift	shiftright	⇧
17	Control	controlleft	⌃
17	Control	controlright	⌃
18	Alt	altleft	⌥
18	Alt	altright	⌥
19	Pause	pause	⎉
20	Caps Lock	capslock	⇪
27	Escape	escape	⎋
32	Space	space	␣
33	Page Up	pageup	⇞
34	Page Down	pagedown	⇟
35	End	end	⇟
36	Home	home	⇞
37	Left Arrow	left	←
38	Up Arrow	up	↑
39	Right Arrow	right	→
40	Down Arrow	down	↓
42	Print Screen	printscreen
45	Insert	insert	⌤
46	Delete	delete	⌦
48	0	0	0
49	1	1	1
50	2	2	2
51	3	3	3
52	4	4	4
53	5	5	5
54	6	6	6
55	7	7	7
56	8	8	8
57	9	9	9
65	A	a	A
66	B	b	B
67	C	c	C
68	D	d	D
69	E	e	E
70	F	f	F
71	G	g	G
72	H	h	H
73	I	i	I
74	J	j	J
75	K	k	K
76	L	l	L
77	M	m	M
78	N	n	N
79	O	o	O
80	P	p	P
81	Q	q	Q
82	R	r	R
83	S	s	S
84	T	t	T
85	U	u	U
86	V	v	V
87	W	w	W
88	X	x	X
89	Y	y	Y
90	Z	z	Z
91	Left Meta	metaleft	⌘
91	Right Meta	metaright	⌘
96	Numpad 0	numpad0	0
97	Numpad 1	numpad1	1
98	Numpad 2	numpad2	2
99	Numpad 3	numpad3	3
100	Numpad 4	numpad4	4
101	Numpad 5	numpad5	5
102	Numpad 6	numpad6	6
103	Numpad 7	numpad7	7
104	Numpad 8	numpad8	8
105	Numpad 9	numpad9	9
106	Numpad *	numpadmultiply	*
107	Numpad +	numpadadd	+
109	Numpad -	numpadsubtract	-
110	Numpad .	numpaddecimal	.
111	Numpad /	numpaddivide	/
112	F1	f1	F1
113	F2	f2	F2
114	F3	f3	F3
115	F4	f4	F4
116	F5	f5	F5
117	F6	f6	F6
118	F7	f7	F7
119	F8	f8	F8
120	F9	f9	F9
121	F10	f10	F10
122	F11	f11	F11
123	F12	f12	F12
144	Num Lock	numlock
145	Scroll Lock	scrolllock
160	^	^	^
161	!	!	!