KeyboardEventUtils is a utility module for handling keyboard events in React applications. It provides helper functions to check for specific key presses, optionally with modifier keys (e.g., Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Meta) and by default strict check for the key.

Features

• Detects specific key presses such as Enter, Tab, Escape, arrow keys, and more.
• Supports checking for modifier keys (Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Meta/Cmd).
• Simplifies keyboard event handling in React components.

Installing

  npm i key-event-utils

Importing the Utility

import {KeyboardEventUtils} from 'key-event-utils';

Usage

Each key has a corresponding function to check if it was pressed. For example:

function handleKeyDown(event: React.KeyboardEvent) {
  if (KeyboardEventUtils.isEnterKey(event)) {
    console.log("Enter key pressed! No modifiers Pressed");
  }
if (KeyboardEventUtils.isEnterKey(event,"*")) {
    console.log("Enter key pressed!"); // Any modifiers is allowed
  }
  if (KeyboardEventUtils.isEscapeKey(event, "ctrl")) {
    console.log("Escape key pressed with Ctrl!");
  }
}

You can specify modifiers as a string; Case doesn’t matter ctrl, Ctrl or CTRL will work. Supported modifiers are:

• ctrl
• alt
• shift
• meta or cmd, mentioning one modifier itself will work, no need for OS specific.

Some methods can also used for strict check for modifiers

  function handleKeyDown(event: React.KeyboardEvent) {
    if ( ( event.key === "v" || event.key === "v" ) && KeyboardEventUtils.isCtrlKeyPressed(event)) {
      console.log("Ctrl + V");
    }
    if ( ( event.key === "v" || event.key === "v" ) && KeyboardEventUtils.isCtrlKeyPressed(event,"ctrl + shift") ) {
      console.log("Ctrl + V");
    }
  }

Keys Supported

The following keys are supported and its corresponding methods:

• Enter -isEnterKey
• Tab - isTabKey
• Escape - isEscapeKey
• Backspace - isBackspaceKey
• Delete - isDeleteKey
• Arrow keys: ArrowUp, ArrowDown, ArrowLeft, ArrowRight - isUpArrowKey ... got the pattern right?

The following methods are used for strict checks for modifiers:

• Shift - isShiftKey
• Ctrl - isCtrlKey
• Alt - isAltKey
• Cmd or Meta - isCmdKey or isMetaKey

Maintainer

• Sasikumar