How to get LOCALIZED character on keypress?

Question

I need to get localized character on keypress event. For example: on a Czech keyboard I need to get ř not 5 character (key code 53) (see Czech keyb

Answer 1

And make sure you are using 'keypress', but not 'keydown' event.

If you use 'keydown' String.fromCharCode(event.keyCode || event.which), it won't return you a localised character. At least this was an issue for me on OS X with Chrome / FF.

Answer 2

Using the keypress event will give you the character typed, regardless of keyboard layout.

document.onkeypress = function(evt) {
    evt = evt || window.event;
    var charCode = evt.which || evt.keyCode;
    var charTyped = String.fromCharCode(charCode);
    alert("Character typed: " + charTyped);
};

Here's my usual link to Jan Wolter's excellent page documenting JavaScript key handling: http://unixpapa.com/js/key.html