How to prevent user from typing in text field without disabling the field?

Question

I tried:

$(\'input\').keyup(function() {

   $(this).attr(\'val\', \'\');

});

but it removes the entered text slightly after a letter is enter

Answer 1

If you want to prevent the user from adding anything, but provide them with the ability to erase characters:

Setting the maxlength attribute of an input to "0" makes it so that the user is unable to add content, but still erase content as they wish.

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But If you want it to be truly constant and unchangeable:

Setting the onkeydown attribute to return false makes the input ignore user keypresses on it, thus preventing them from changing or affecting the value.