Template:Key press/doc

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This is the {{key press}} template primarily designed to illustrate keys and keystrokes on a computer keyboard. With additional parameters, a single template can even illustrate a combination of multiple simultaneous keystrokes. A sequence of keystrokes, on the other hand, need to be demonstrated with separate templates.

Example:

{{key press|A}}A

Keystroke combinations[edit source]

To illustrate keystroke combinations, just use extra parameters:

{{key press|Alt|P}} Alt+P
{{key press|Ctrl|Alt|Del}}^ Ctrl+ Alt+ Del

This template currently handles up to 10 key name parameters, which should be more than enough to accommodate for any possible combination of simultaneous keystrokes. If it gets too many key name parameters it reports the page into Category:Wikipedia keypress template parameter needs fixing. This means we can easily find those pages and fix them, or we can discover if we need to make this template take more parameters.

When you feed several key names to this template, it adds a "+" (or whatever the contents of the optional chain parameter) with no spaces around. This means it won't line wrap. But when you show key combinations for instance in a table then that might cause too wide items. Then instead manually build the key combination with spaces around the "+" so it can line wrap:

{{key press|Ctrl}} + Alt + Del^ Ctrl + Alt + Del
{{key press|Ctrl|Alt|Del|}}^ Ctrl + Alt + Del

On the other hand, to illustrate Windows Alt codes you might want to use separate templates with no intervening punctuation or space. In most Windows systems in North America and Western Europe, for example, the plus-minus sign (±) can be entered by holding down the Alt key while typing 0177 (with the numeric keypad):

{{key press|Alt|0}}177 Alt+0177

An example of a use case where more than 5 might be used is explaining usage of a macro (keyboard shortcut) created by a third-party application:

{{Key press|Ctrl|Alt|Shift|Win|Menu|fn|L}}^ Ctrl+ Alt+ Shift+ Win+ Menu+Fn+L

Wikilinks[edit source]

If there is an article about the key you can wikilink the key's name like any other wiki text. Like this:

  • {{key press|[[Alt key|Alt]]}} Alt

If you are wikilinking the keys, please ensure that you are piping to the correct page (e.g. [[Control key|Ctrl]] instead of [[Ctrl]], which leads to a disambiguation page).

Wiki markup characters[edit source]

Some wiki markup character, like the pipe symbol, the semicolon and the equals sign, need to be entered using the {{!}}, {{;}} and {{=}} templates or as an HTML entity |, &#59;, = respectively:

  • {{key press|{{!}}}}|
  • {{key press||}}|
  • {{key press|{{|}}}};
  • {{key press|&#59;}};
  • {{key press|{{=}}}}=
  • {{key press|=}}=

However, if the characters are marked as wikilinks, they can be entered as such:

  • {{key press|[[|]]}}|
  • {{key press|[[;]]}};
  • {{key press|[[=]]}}=

Most markup characters also have aliases:

  • {{key press|pipe}}|
  • {{key press|semicolon}};
  • {{key press|equals}}=
  • {{key press|colon}}:
  • {{key press|asterisk}}*
  • {{key press|hash}}#

Key symbols[edit source]

Some key names have a fitting Unicode character. This template automatically adds such "icons" to the following key names among others (see also Arrows exception below).

  • {{key press|^Control}}^ Control
  • {{key press|Ctrl}}^ Ctrl
  • {{key press|Alt}} Alt
  • {{key press|Shift}} Shift
  • {{key press|Esc}} Esc
  • {{key press|Tab}}Tab
  • {{key press|Enter}} Enter
  • {{key press|Return}} Return
  • {{key press|-Return}} Return
  • {{key press|Option}} Option
  • {{key press|Opt}} Opt
  • {{key press|Compose}} Compose
  • {{key press|Command}} Command
  • {{key press|Cmd}} Cmd
  • {{key press|Ins}} Ins
  • {{key press|Del}} Del
  • {{key press|Backspace}} Backspace
  • {{key press|Home}} Home
  • {{key press|End}} End
  • {{key press|PgUp}} PgUp
  • {{key press|PgDn}} PgDn
  • {{key press|Num Lock}}Num
  • {{key press|Caps Lock}} Caps Lock
  • {{key press|Scroll Lock}}Scroll
  • {{key press|Prt Scr}} PrtScr
  • {{key press|Prtsc}} PrtScr
  • {{key press|Pause}} Pause
  • {{key press|Break}} Break
Windows and Menu keys[edit source]
File:AltGr Win Menu Ctrl key.jpg
Windows key and Menu key
File:Ctl wndws alt.jpg
Old-style Windows key

There are no characters for the Windows key and Menu key. Besides, the Windows logo is trademarked. So this template shows approximate characters for them in the following way:

  • {{key press|Win}} Win
  • {{key press|Menu}} Menu
A key parameter[edit source]

If "key" is included at the end of any template parameter, only a symbol and no text is output (see also Arrows exception below).

  • {{key press|^Control key}}^
  • {{key press|Ctrl key}}^
  • {{key press|Alt key}}
  • {{key press|Shift key}}
  • {{key press|Esc key}}
  • {{key press|Tab key}}
  • {{key press|Enter key}}
  • {{key press|Return key}}
  • {{key press|-Return key}}
  • {{key press|Option key}}
  • {{key press|Opt key}}
  • {{key press|Compose key}}
  • {{key press|Command key}}
  • {{key press|Cmd key}}
  • {{key press|Ins key}}
  • {{key press|Del key}}
  • {{key press|Backspace key}}
  • {{key press|Home key}}
  • {{key press|End key}}
  • {{key press|PgUp key}}
  • {{key press|PgDn key}}
  • {{key press|Num Lock key}}
  • {{key press|Caps Lock key}}
  • {{key press|Scroll Lock key}}
  • {{key press|Prt Scr key}}
  • {{key press|Prtsc key}}
  • {{key press|Pause key}}
  • {{key press|Break key}}
Arrows exception[edit source]

There is a little difference with arrow keys encoding. They are coded as:

  • {{key press|Up key}} Up
  • {{key press|Down key}} Down
  • {{key press|Left key}} Left
  • {{key press|Right key}} Right
  • {{key press|.Up}} Up
  • {{key press|.Down}} Down
  • {{key press|.Left}} Left
  • {{key press|.Right}} Right
  • {{key press|Up}}
  • {{key press|Down}}
  • {{key press|Left}}
  • {{key press|Right}}
  • {{key press|.Up key}}
  • {{key press|.Down key}}
  • {{key press|.Left key}}
  • {{key press|.Right key}}

Video games[edit source]

Video game controllers often have specialized input labels that do not map easily. The following are mappings for various game consoles and input features.

Directional input[edit source]

The following should only be used when the input sequence uses something other than the primary input or mixes input between directional devices.

  • {{key press|l-down}}L↓
  • {{key press|c-left}}C←
  • {{key press|r-up}}R↑

Stick specific diagonals are also supported:

  • {{key press|l-nw}}L↖
  • {{key press|c-se}}C↘
  • {{key press|r-ne}}R↗
PlayStation[edit source]
  • {{key press|ex}}×
  • {{key press|circle}}
  • {{key press|triangle}}
  • {{key press|square}}

Technical details[edit source]

This template calls {{key press/core}}, which holds the code that otherwise would be repeated several times in {{key press}}, thus simplifying the code.

Not to be confused with[edit source]

  • {{Button}} – Produces a similar visual effect, but without the semantic markup, e.g. sample text.