Why doesn't keypress handle the delete key and the backspace key

javascript keypress jquery-events onkeypress
aarona picture aarona · Oct 12, 2010 · Viewed 10.3k times · Source

I'm not asking this because I need a work-a-around. I have one that works fine, but I want to know WHY it doesn't. Is this bug in Javascript (or JQuery because I was using the JQuery .keypress handler) or is there a specific reason why this is so?

Answer

Tim Down picture Tim Down · Oct 12, 2010

The keypress event is designed for handling a character typed by the user rather than detecting keyboard activity and the delete and backspace keys do not generate characters. Some browsers blur this line somewhat but the general principle is that the keyup and keydown events are there to detect any key being pressed and telling you about which key it is while keypress is for detecting an actual character being typed.

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