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This is the {{}} 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}}→
As lower-case alphabetic characters a–z do not appear on most keyboards, they should generally not be used as parameters.
Keystroke combinations
To illustrate keystroke combinations, just use extra parameters:
{{key press|Alt|P}}→ +{{key press|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}}→ + +{{key press|Ctrl|Alt|Del|chain= + }}→ + +
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 key while typing 0177 with the numeric keypad:
{{key press|Alt|0}}+{{key press|1|7|7|chain=}}→ +
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}}→ ++++++
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]]}}→
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 | (|), ; (;), = (=) respectively:
{{key press|→{{!}}}}{{key press||}}→{{key press|→{{;}}}}{{key press|;}}→{{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}}→{{key press|Tab}}→{{key press|Enter}}→{{key press|Option}}→{{key press|Opt}}→{{key press|Command}}→{{key press|Cmd}}→{{key press|Caps Lock}}→{{key press|Up}}→{{key press|Down}}→{{key press|Left}}→{{key press|Right}}→
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}}→{{key press|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}}→{{key press|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}}→{{key press|c-left}}→{{key press|r-up}}→
Stick-specific diagonals are also supported:
{{key press|l-nw}}→{{key press|c-se}}→{{key press|r-ne}}→
PlayStation
{{key press|ex}}→{{key press|circle}}→{{key press|triangle}}→{{key press|square}}→
TemplateData
TemplateData for Key press
| 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
| Line | optional |
| Chaining character | chain first | Character between first and second key to press
| Line | optional |
| Chaining character | chain second | Character between second and third key to press
| Line | optional |
| Chaining character | chain third | Character between third and fourth key to press
| Line | optional |
| Chaining character | chain fourth | Character between fourth and fifth key to press
| Line | optional |
See also
{{Key top}}– produces a similar visual effect, but includes more symbols and does not directly support key combinations (e.g. ){{Button}}– produces a similar visual effect but without the semantic markup (e.g. ); 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., °)