keycuts is a modern Javascript library for handling keyboard shortcuts. It supports listening for key combinations, key sequences and a mix of both. keycuts has no external dependencies and a small footprint (~8kb, gzipped ~3kb).

• keycuts Homepage
• keycuts Demo

Installation

Install with npm or Yarn.

$ npm install keycuts --save
# or
$ yarn add keycuts

Alternatively you can download the distributed library and link it into your webpage.

<script src="keycuts.min.js"></script>

Usage

// Import using ES6 modules syntax
import { Keys } from 'keycuts'
// or when linked directly in the webpage
const Keys = keycuts.Keys

// Create a new object (without any parameter it is directly attached
// to the window object)
const keys = new Keys()

// Trigger a provided callback when a specific key combination is pressed
keys.bind(['Control', 'a'], () => {
  // triggered when Control and a are pressed
})

// You can also provide the shortcut using a string syntax
keys.bind('Control + a', () => {
  // triggered when Control and a are pressed
})

// Sequences of key or key combinations are supported too
key.bind([['Control', 'a'], ['Alt', 'b']], () => {
  // triggered when Control and a followed by Control and b are pressed
})

// And the appropriate string syntax
key.bind('Control + a > Control + b', () => {
  // triggered when Control and a followed by Control and b are pressed
})

// Watch every keydown or keyup event and have access
// to the current key sequence
key.watch((event, sequence) => {
  // acces the currently pressed key combo
  const combo = sequence[sequence.length - 1]
})

But keycuts can do more! The full documentation, API reference and a demo can be found on the keycuts homepage.

Development

For development fetch the code from Github and install the dependencies.

$ git clone https://github.com/medihack/keycuts.git
$ cd keycuts
$ npm install # or yarn install

keycuts uses Webpack to transpile the source code (src/) into a minified and non-minified bundle in the dist/ folder.

$ npm run build

You can easily start a development server with the demo which automatically recompiles the code and refreshes the page when the source files are modified (files under dist/ stay untouched).

// Start a development server on port 8000
$ npm run start

// Just visit localhost:8000 in your browser

Run the test suite (using Jest) once or automatically when a source or test file was changed.

// Run all tests once
$ npm run test
// or contiously
$ npm run test:watch

More scripts to manage the library can be found in the scripts section in the (./package.json) file.

To contribute, please fork, add your patch, write tests for it and submit a pull request.

Contributions

Logo by Torsten Kühr (werkst.de)

License

MIT © Kai Schlamp