Template:Keystroke

Template documentation

  Note: In spite of what the error message above may suggest, the template works. Scroll down to see it in action in the template's documentation.

The {{keystroke}} template is designed to illustrate keys and keystrokes on a computer keyboard, and is a slight modification of the template Key press in Wikipedia (en). It is especially useful when creating help pages or documentation.

{{keystroke}} works similar to {{kbd}}, but have some additional options:

• Multiple key name input, giving one template call for up to ten keys in a single combination.
• Unicode symbols for keys that always or at least sometimes lack textual identification, for different OSs.
• Wikilinking to the articles on the keys in Wikipedia (en).
• Japanese and Korean language input keys.

Parameters

There is 1 required parameter, and 9 optional ones, all unnamed. The syntax for {{keystroke}} is:

{{keystroke|key1 |key2 |key3 |key4 |key5 |…|key10 }}

Required parameter

1 (unnamed)

Key name

Entering at least one parameter is required for the template to work.

If this parameter is left out, the template will break and display an error message.

Example

key1 }}

→

key1

Usage

{{keystroke|1}}

Optional parameters

2–10 (unnamed)

Additional key names

To create a keystroke combination, use the first parameter with the parameters 2 through 10. The displayed keys will be separated by plus signs.

The template can take up to 10 key name parameters to display keystroke combinations. If you enter 11 or more key names, it will display an error message.

Example

key1 |key2 }}

→

key1+key2

Usage

{{keystroke|1|2|3|4|5|…|10}}

Letters and other case-dependant characters

For clarity, you should always use the same case on your virtual key, as the equivalent character on your keyboard. That usually means using uppercase letters, even when describing input of lowercase letters.

Example

To describe how to type the lowercase letter a:

A}}

→

A

Hence, to describe how to enter an uppercase letter, you should combine the letter with the appropriate modifier key (usually ⇧ Shift).

Example

Describing how to type the uppercase letter A:

shift|A}}

→

⇧ Shift+A

Wiki markup characters

Some wiki markup characters, like the pipe symbol (|), the semicolon (;) and the equals sign (=), need to be entered using templates, HTML entities, or the character aliases that have been created for this template (see the table under Available values below). It's recommended to use the aliases in order to make the wikicode easier to read.

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

Example

[[;]]}}

→

;

Unicode symbols and wikilinking

Some keys have an option of being displayed with just text, with a symbol & text, with wikilinked text, or with a symbol & wikilinked text.

Unicode symbols

For keys that can be optionally fitted with a symbol, the symbol is inserted by appending "-uc" to the end of the value string.

Keys that more often than not have a symbol instead of text, e.g. the Windows key (Win), will always show with both the symbol and text. And keys such as arrow keys, punctuation characters, etc. only show the symbol. There are no characters for the Windows key (due to copyrights) and the Menu key. Instead, this template shows approximate characters for them.

Examples

space}}	→	Space bar
space-uc}}	→	␣ Space bar
win}}	→	⊞ Win

Unicode symbols in the template

Modifier keys			Alphanumeric keys			Lock keys
Key	Unicode symbol		Key	Unicode symbol		Key	Unicode symbol
Alt	⎇		Backspace	←		Caps Lock	⇪
Command (Cmd)	⌘		Enter	↵		Number Lock	⇭
Compose	⎄		Enter (Mac)	⌤		Scroll Lock	⇳
Control (Ctrl)	⎈		Spacebar	␣
Meta	◆		Tabulator (Tab)	↹
Option (Opt)	⌥
Shift	⇧
Win	⊞
Cursor keys			System command keys			Miscellaneous
Key	Unicode symbol		Key	Unicode symbol		Key	Unicode symbol
Up	↑		Escape (Esc)	⎋		Korean Won	₩
Down	↓		Menu	≣
Left	←		Print Screen	⎙
Right	→

Wikilinks

Some keys can be wikilinked to make them link to the character's/key's English Wikipedia article. That is acheived by enclosing the value string in double brackets, i.e. by wikilinking them.

Example

[[space]]}}

→

Space bar

Both symbol and wikilink

You can of course combine the two features described above.

Examples

[[space-uc]]}}	→	␣ Space bar
[[win]]}}	→	⊞ Win

Available values

Alphanumeric keys

Group	Key	Value				Notes
		Text	Link	Symbol + text	Symbol + link
Letters	A–Z	A–Z
	a–z	a–z				Avoid lowercase, if possible
	Other letters	(as above)
Digits	0–9	0–9
	Other digits	(as above)
Punctuation	Colon	colon	[[colon]]
	Semicolon	semicolon	[[semicolon]]
	Spacebar	space	[[space]]	space-uc	[[space-uc]]

Cursor keys

Group	Key		Value				Notes
			Text	Link	Symbol + text	Symbol + link
Deletion	Backspace				backspace	[[backspace]]
	Delete		del	[[del]]			Short name
			delete	[[delete]]			Long name
	Insert		insert	[[insert]]
Locking	Caps Lock		caps	[[caps]]	caps-uc	[[caps-uc]]
	Num Lock		num	[[num]]	num-uc	[[num-uc]]
	Scroll Lock		scroll	[[scroll]]	scroll-uc	[[scroll-uc]]
Navigation	Arrows	Down			down	[[down]]	No text
		Left			left	[[left]]	No text
		Right			right	[[right]]	No text
		Up			up	[[up]]	No text
	End		end	[[end]]
	Home		home	[[home]]
	Page Down		pgdn	[[pgdn]]
	Page Up		pgup	[[pgup]]
	Tabulator				tab	[[tab]]	Short name
					tabulator	[[tabulator]]	Long name

Modifier keys and letters

Modifier keys

Key	Value				Notes
	Text	Link	Text + symbol	Link + symbol
Alt	alt	[[alt]]	alt-uc	[[alt-uc]]
Alt Gr	altgr	[[altgr]]
Command (Cmd)			command	[[command]]	Long name
			cmd	[[cmd]]	Short name
Compose	compose	[[compose]]	compose-uc	[[compose-uc]]
Control (Ctrl)	control	[[control]]	control-uc	[[control-uc]]	Long name
	ctrl	[[ctrl]]	ctrl-uc	[[ctrl-uc]]	Short name
Enter			enter	[[enter]]
			entermac	[[entermac]]	Some Mac keyboards
Fn	fn	[[fn]]
Meta	meta	[[meta]]	meta-uc	[[meta-uc]]
Option (Opt)			option	[[option]]	Long name
			opt	[[opt]]	Short name
Shift			shift	[[shift]]
Windows (Win)			windows	[[windows]]}}	Long name
			win	[[win]]}}	Short name

Modifier letters (dead keys)

Modifier letters, or dead keys, are the keys on your keyboard, that are used to combine, for example, diacritic marks (umlaut, accents, circumflex, etc.) with matching letters. When such a key is pressed, nothing seems to happen, hence the term "dead key". Diacritics are used in many languages, and most localized keyboard layouts have a set of the commonmost ones for the locale and the nearby regions, together with special, precomposed letters.

Producing a diacritic letter is done by first pressing the letter modifier with the diacritic you want, and then the letter onto which the diacritic should be inserted.

Examples

^+E	→	ê
^+⇧ Shift+E	→	Ê

If you want to type only the diacritic, you press its key and then press the spacebar.

Example

^+␣ Space bar

→

^

Characters, letters or diacritic marks that aren't featured on your keyboard have to be entered using HTML entities or, if you have a numeric keypad, Alt codes.

Examples

© (decimal HTML character entity)	→	©
Alt+0169 (unicode value)	→	©
Alt+Num+00A9 (hexadecimal unicode value)	→	©

NB! Alt codes can usually only be entered via the numeric keypad, i.e. not by using the row of digits above the letter keys.

System command keys

Key	Value				Notes
	Text	Link	Text + symbol	Link + symbol
Break	break	[[break]]			Also called Pause (see below)
Escape (Esc)	escape	[[escape]]	escape-uc	[[escape-uc]]	Long name
	esc	[[esc]]	esc-uc	[[esc-uc]]	Short name
Menu			menu	[[menu]]
Pause	pause	[[pause]]			Also called Break (see above)
Print screen (Prt Sc)	printscreen	[[printscreen]]	printscreen-uc	[[printscreen-uc]]	Long name
	prtsc	[[prtsc]]	prtsc-uc	[[prtsc-uc]]	Short name
System Request (SysRq)	systemrequest	[[systemrequest]]			Long name
	sysrq	[[sysrq]]			Short name

Language input keys

Japanese

Key	Value				Notes
	Text	Link	Text + symbol	Link + symbol
Conversion (henkan)	henkan				Same output
	conversion
Non-Conversion (muhenkan)	muhenkan				Same output
	nonconversion
Half-width (hankaku)	hankaku				Same output
	half
Full-width (zenkaku)	zenkaku				Same output
	full
Kanji	kanji
Half-width/Full-width (hankaku/zenkaku)	haze				Same output
	halffull
Half-width/Full-width/Kanji (hankaku/zenkaku/kanji)	hazeka
Katakana	kata
Hiragana	hira
Rōmaji	roma
Katakana/hiragana	kahi
Katakana/hiragana/rōmaji	kahiro
Alphanumeric (eisū)	eisu				Same output
	alphanumeric

Korean

Key	Value				Notes
	Text	Link	Text + symbol	Link + symbol
Hangul	hangul
Yeong	yeong
Hangul/yeong	ha/ye				With forward slash
	haye				Without forward slash
Hanja	hanja				Korean text
	hanjach				Chinese text
Won			wonsign		Only the symbol, no text
			wonen		English text
			wonko		Korean text

Markup character substitutes for this template

Character		Code
Name	Char	MozillaWiki template	HTML entity	Template alias
Asterisk	*		*	asterisk
Colon	:		:	colon
Equals sign	=	{{=}}	=	equals
Number sign	#		#	hash
Pipe symbol	|	}}	|	pipe
Semicolon	;	{{;}}	&#59;	semicolon

Examples

Correct use

Single keys

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
Letter a	A}}	A	Use uppercase for your virtual keys
Letter A	shift|A}}	⇧ Shift+A	If case is important, uppercase is denoted by including the appropriate modifier key
Letter ä	Ä}}	Ä	Direct input (e.g. on a Swedish keyboard)
	Ä}}	Ä	Using the umlaut letter modifier
	Ä}}	Ä	Using the HTML entity
Symbol ↑	up}}	↑
Symbol ₩ + korean text	wonko}}	₩ 원
Key name, long	option}}	⌥ Option
Key name, short	opt}}	⌥ Opt

Keystroke combinations

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
Two keys	alt|P}}	Alt+P
Three keys	ctrl|alt|del}}	Ctrl+Alt+Del

Line wrapping

When you feed several key names to this template, it adds a "+" with no spaces around. This means it won't line wrap. If you need the combinations to line wrap, e.g. in tables, build them one by one with spaces around the "+", or manipulate the chain template key, so they can line wrap. To insert blank characters, you have to use HTML entities; e.g. the standard space character is  .

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
One by one	ctrl}} + {{keystroke|alt}} + {{keystroke|del}}	Ctrl + Alt + Del
Change chain	ctrl|alt|del|chain= + }}	Ctrl + Alt + Del	For advanced users

Alt codes

To illustrate Windows Alt codes, you might want to use separate templates with no intervening punctuation or space. Do that by combining the Alt with the first character (often 0) in the first template, and then creating separate templates for the last digits.

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
First part	alt|0}}	Alt+0	Provides the plus sign
Parts 2-4	1}}	1
	7}}	7
	7}}	7
Resulting Alt code	alt|0}}{{keystroke|1}}{{keystroke|7}}{{keystroke|7}}	Alt+0177

Japanese combined language input keys

Some of the Japanese language input keys combine several functions. In this template, they are fitted next to each other, making these keys wider than usual.

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
Hankaku/zenkaku	haze}}	半角 • 全角
Hankaku/zenkaku/kanji	hazeka}}	半角 • 全角 • 漢字
Katakana/hiragana	kahi}}	カタカナ • ひらがな
Katakana/hiragana/rōmaji	kahiro}}	カタカナ • ひらがな • ローマ字

Using wikilinks

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
Long name	{{keystroke|[[control]]}}	Control	The choice of name length doesn't affect the link, it points to the same target
Short name	{{keystroke|[[ctrl]]}}	Ctrl
Just text	{{keystroke|[[scroll]]}}	Scroll Lock	For keys with an option to show the symbol or not, see Available values above
With symbol	{{keystroke|[[scroll-uc]]}}	⇳ Scroll Lock

Incorrect use

Wikilinking non-linked keys

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
Any non-linked key	{{keystroke|[[A]]}}	A	Keys that aren't fitted with links in {{keystroke/core}} will link to a page with that name inside MozillaWiki, if it exists
External links	{{keystroke|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A A]}}	A	External links will show the symbol used by MediaWiki for such links; not recommended, due to cluttering

Input errors

Template-breaking errors

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
No parameter	{{keystroke}}		The 1st parameter is required; without it, the template will break
Empty 1st parameter	{{keystroke|}}
	{{keystroke||2|3|4}}
10 key names	{{keystroke|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10}}	1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10	As noted above, ten entries works fine, but …
≥ 11 key names	{{keystroke|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11}}		… eleven or more entries will cause an error

Fallbacks

Case	What you type	What you see	Notes
Empty 2nd–11th parameter	{{keystroke|1|2||4|5}}	1+2+4+5	You can leave a parameter empty if it is … a) surrounded by other parameters, or b) an empty last parameter The template will fall back to displaying the correctly entered parameter values
	{{keystroke|1|2|3|4|}}	1+2+3+4
	{{keystroke|1|2|3|4||}}	1+2+3+4
	{{keystroke|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|}}	1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10
	{{keystroke|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10||}}	1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10

Technical details

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

See also

• {{kbd}} – Produces a different visual effect, without unicode symbols