Template:Key press/doc

"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}} → Template:Key press

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}} → Template:Key press

{{key press|Ctrl|Alt|Del}} → Template:Key press

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}} → Template:Key press + Template:Key press + Template:Key press

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

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 Template:Key press key while typing 0177 with the numeric keypad:

{{key press|Alt|0}}{{key press|1|7|7|chain=}} → Template:Key pressTemplate:Key press

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}} → Template:Key press

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]]}} → Template:Key press

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 “<syntaxhighlight lang="mediawiki" class="" style="" inline="1">|</syntaxhighlight>”, the semicolon “<syntaxhighlight lang="mediawiki" class="" style="" inline="1">;</syntaxhighlight>” and the equals sign “<syntaxhighlight lang="mediawiki" class="" style="" inline="1">=</syntaxhighlight>”, need to be entered using the {{!}} ({{Pipe}}), {{;}} and {{=}} templates or as an HTML entity <syntaxhighlight lang="html" class="" style="" inline="1">|</syntaxhighlight> (<syntaxhighlight lang="html" class="" style="" inline="1">|</syntaxhighlight>), <syntaxhighlight lang="html" class="" style="" inline="1">;</syntaxhighlight> (<syntaxhighlight lang="html" class="" style="" inline="1">;</syntaxhighlight>), <syntaxhighlight lang="html" class="" style="" inline="1">=</syntaxhighlight> (<syntaxhighlight lang="html" class="" style="" inline="1">=</syntaxhighlight>) respectively:

• {{key press|{{!}}}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press||}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|{{;}}}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|&#59;}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|{{=}}}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|=}} → Template:Key press

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

• {{key press|[[|]]}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|[[;]]}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|[[=]]}} → Template:Key press

Most markup characters also have alias templates:

• {{key press|pipe}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|semicolon}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|equals}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|colon}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|asterisk}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|hash}} → Template:Key press

Key symbols

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

• {{key press|Shift}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Tab}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Enter}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Option}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Opt}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Command}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Cmd}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Caps Lock}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Up}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Down}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Left}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Right}} → Template:Key press

Windows key and Menu key

Old-style Windows key

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}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|Menu}} → Template:Key press

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 Template:Key press (plain text) instead of Template:Key press (token).

Video games

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

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}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|c-left}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|r-up}} → Template:Key press

Stick specific diagonals are also supported:

• {{key press|l-nw}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|c-se}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|r-ne}} → Template:Key press

PlayStation

• {{key press|ex}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|circle}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|triangle}} → Template:Key press
• {{key press|square}} → Template:Key press

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Key press in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Key press

<templatedata> { "description": "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.", "params": { "1": { "label": "First key", "description": "First key", "type": "string/line", "required": true }, "2": { "label": "Second key", "description": "Optional key press in combination as the first.", "type": "string/line", "required": false }, "3": { "label": "Third key", "inherits": "2" }, "4": { "label": "Fourth key", "inherits": "2" }, "5": { "label": "Fifth key", "inherits": "2" }, "6": { "label": "Sixth key", "inherits": "2" }, "7": { "label": "Seventh key", "inherits": "2" }, "8": { "label": "Eighth key", "inherits": "2" }, "9": { "label": "Ninth key", "inherits": "2" }, "10": { "label": "Tenth key", "inherits": "2" }, "chain": { "label": "Chaining character", "description": "Character between chained key presses", "default": "+", "inherits": "2" }, "chain first": { "description": "Character between first and second key to press", "inherits": "chain" }, "chain second": { "description": "Character between second and third key to press", "inherits": "chain" }, "chain third": { "description": "Character between third and fourth key to press", "inherits": "chain" }, "chain fourth": { "description": "Character between fourth and fifth key to press", "inherits": "chain" } } } </templatedata>

See also

• {{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