.keyCode vs. .which: Which Property Should You Use to Detect Enter Key Presses?

Determining Enter Key Press: .keyCode vs. .which

When capturing keypress events to check for the Enter key, developers may wonder which property to use: .keyCode or .which.

Browser Compatibility

The key difference between .keyCode and .which lies in their browser compatibility. .keyCode is supported by most browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. However, .which is initially supported only by Firefox and later adopted by Chrome and Opera.

jQuery Standardization

If jQuery is used for event handling, .which can be consistently used across browsers. jQuery standardizes the event properties and provides a cross-browser compatible solution for detecting the Enter keypress.

Handling Non-jQuery Cases

In situations where jQuery is not employed, a conditional check can be used to determine the appropriate property based on the browser:

var key = 'which' in e ? e.which : e.keyCode;

Alternatively, a failsafe approach is to use the following code, which will restore a 0 value if e.which is 0:

var key = e.which || e.keyCode || 0;

By understanding the compatibility differences and using the appropriate approach for the specific scenario, developers can reliably detect Enter keypresses in web applications.

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