Javascript String.fromCharCode Case Sensitivity?

Question

I am simply listening for a keyup event of an input element and gather the results into a string like so

word=word+String.fromCharCode(key.keyCode);

The problem is that the word is in capital letters while I want it to be case-sensitive. For example if I type abcef my accumulated word becomes 'ABCEF' .

Note - I need a pure javascript solution (no libraries..) Any thoughts?

So what is the keycode for lower-case a ? Can't find an answer in google... — Joel Blum, Feb 18 '13 at 19:42
The 'keyup' event will return 65 for both, but a 'keypress' event should return 97 for lowercase! — adeneo, Feb 18 '13 at 19:45
@adeneo yep you nailed it !! that was the problem , I used keyup which behaves differently than expected . U can write that as an answer so I can accept it ... — Joel Blum, Feb 18 '13 at 19:58

adeneo · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-30T21:44:36.220

41

Events like keyup and keydown will return 65 for both a and A (and also true for event.shiftKey if that key is held down).

The keypress event returns different keycodes for upper and lower case letters, so to get this working case sensitive you should use the keypress event, and fromCharCode() will return the correct letter, case sensitive.

edited Sep 30 '16 at 21:44

answered Feb 18 '13 at 20:12

adeneo

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You can always check if event.shiftKey is true or false and apply a .toLowerCase() – Prusprus Aug 13 '14 at 18:42
I think you need to check, because some kepress events cannot be canceled like keydowns – Ayyash Jul 13 '17 at 04:45

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 18 '13 at 19:38

3

You can always call .toLowerCase()

word = word + String.fromCharCode(key.keyCode).toLowerCase();

Might make more sense to call .toLowerCase() just once, at the point you decide you're finished accumulating characters.

answered Feb 18 '13 at 19:38

Pointy

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I would recommend against this if a native solution is available. – marksyzm Dec 16 '15 at 15:48

Javascript String.fromCharCode Case Sensitivity?

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