Template:Key press

This template uses Lua: Module:Key (sandbox)

This template uses TemplateStyles: Template:Key press/styles.css

This template is used in MediaWiki:Clearyourcache, and on approximately 5,500 pages. Changes to it can cause immediate changes to the Wikipedia user interface. To avoid major disruption, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandboxor/testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Please discuss changes on the talk page before implementing them.

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 not be used as parameters.

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

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).

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}} → #

Some key names have a fitting Unicode character. This template automatically adds such "icons" to the following key names among others.

• {{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}} → →

There are no characters for the Windows key and Menu key. So this template shows approximate characters for them, namely the SQUARED PLUS and STRICTLY EQUIVALENT TO from the Mathematical Operators Unicode block:

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

In some cases, the automatic recognition of tokens and consequently the addition of symbols may not be desired; in these cases the token recognition can be suppressed by HTML encoding the text, e.g. {{key press|Enter}} will give Enter (plain text) instead of ↵ Enter (token).

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

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↗

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

• {{Key top}} – produces a similar visual effect, but includes more symbols and does not directly support key combinations (e.g. ⇬ Caps Lock)
• {{Button}} – produces a similar visual effect but without the semantic markup (e.g. sample text); more for representing interface elements.
• {{Kbd}} – to indicate user input (of any kind) without making it look like keys or buttons