Template:Key press

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"Template:Key" redirects here. For map key templates, see Category:Legend templates.

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

As lower-case alphabetic characters a–z do not appear on most keyboards, they should Template:Tooltip not be used as parameters.

Keystroke combinations

To illustrate keystroke combinations, just use extra parameters:

{{key press|Alt|P}} → Alt+P

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

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 that might cause items to be too wide. Instead manually build the key combination with spaces around the "+" so it can line wrap:

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

{{key press|Ctrl|Alt|Del|chain= + }} → Ctrl + Alt + Del

To illustrate sequences where all keys do not need to be pressed simultaneously, the plus signs can be omitted by setting chain=. For example, in most Windows systems in North America and Western Europe, Alt codes can be used to insert the plus-minus sign (±) by holding down the Alt key while typing 0177 with the numeric keypad:

{{key press|Alt|0}} + {{key press|1|7|7|chain=}} → 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

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. [[Alt key|Alt]] instead of [[Alt]], which leads to a disambiguation page).

Wiki markup characters

Some wiki markup characters, like the pipe symbol “|”, the semicolon “;” and the equals sign “=”, need to be entered using the {{!}} ({{Pipe}}), {{;}} and {{=}} templates or as an HTML entity | (|), &#59; (&#x3B;), = (=) 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 alias templates:

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

Key symbols

Several keys have a corresponding Unicode character. This template automatically adds such "icons" to the following key names:

• {{key press|Shift}} → ⇧ Shift
• {{key press|Tab}} → Tab ↹
• {{key press|Enter}} → ↵ Enter
• {{key press|Option}} → ⌥ Option
• {{key press|Opt}} → ⌥ Opt
• {{key press|Command}} → ⌘ Command
• {{key press|Cmd}} → ⌘ Cmd
• {{key press|Caps Lock}} → ⇪ Caps Lock
• {{key press|Up}} → ↑
• {{key press|Down}} → ↓
• {{key press|Left}} → ←
• {{key press|Right}} → →

Windows key and Menu key

Old-style Windows key

There is no character for the Windows key or the Menu key, so this template uses as approximations the SQUARED PLUS and STRICTLY EQUIVALENT TO characters from the Mathematical Operators Unicode block:

• {{key press|Win}} → ⊞ Win
• {{key press|Menu}} → ≣ Menu

Symbol suppression

In some cases, the automatic recognition of tokens and consequent addition of symbols may not be desired. In these cases, token recognition can be suppressed with the use of HTML encoding. For example:

• {{key press|Enter}} → Enter
• {{key press|Enter}} → ↵ Enter

Video games

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

Directional input

The following should be used only 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

• {{key press|ex}} → ×
• {{key press|circle}} → ○
• {{key press|triangle}} → △
• {{key press|square}} → □

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. Click here to see a monthly parameter usage report for this template based on this TemplateData.

TemplateData for Key press

Illustrates keys and keystrokes on a computer keyboard. Keys can include: Ctrl, Alt, Del, Opt, Menu, Left etc. console keys: ex, circle, triangle, square, and left right and center analog sticks: l-down, c-left, r-ne. The names are case insensitive.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
First key	1	First key	Line	required
Second key	2	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Third key	3	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Fourth key	4	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Fifth key	5	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Sixth key	6	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Seventh key	7	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Eighth key	8	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Ninth key	9	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Tenth key	10	Optional key press in combination as the first.	Line	optional
Chaining character	chain	Character between chained key presses Default +	Line	optional
Chaining character	chain first	Character between first and second key to press Default +	Line	optional
Chaining character	chain second	Character between second and third key to press Default +	Line	optional
Chaining character	chain third	Character between third and fourth key to press Default +	Line	optional
Chaining character	chain fourth	Character between fourth and fifth key to press Default +	Line	optional

See also

• {{Key top}} – produces a similar visual effect, but includes more symbols and does not directly support key combinations (e.g. Template:Key top)
• {{Button}} – produces a similar visual effect but without the semantic markup (e.g. Template:Button); more for representing interface elements.
• {{Kbd}} – to indicate user input (of any kind) without making it look like keys or buttons
• {{char}} – produces a simpler visual effect, just a thin surrounding box with no change to the font, used mainly for tiny graphemes (e.g., Template:Char)

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