Keyboard class

Keyboard provides an api for managing a virtual keyboard. The high level api is Keyboard.type(), which takes raw characters and generates proper keydown, keypress/input, and keyup events on your page.

Signature

export declare abstract class Keyboard

Remarks

For finer control, you can use Keyboard.down(), Keyboard.up(), and Keyboard.sendCharacter() to manually fire events as if they were generated from a real keyboard.

On macOS, keyboard shortcuts like ⌘ A -> Select All do not work. See #1313.

The constructor for this class is marked as internal. Third-party code should not call the constructor directly or create subclasses that extend the Keyboard class.

Example 1

An example of holding down Shift in order to select and delete some text:

await page.keyboard.type('Hello World!');
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowLeft');

await page.keyboard.down('Shift');
for (let i = 0; i < ' World'.length; i++)
  await page.keyboard.press('ArrowLeft');
await page.keyboard.up('Shift');

await page.keyboard.press('Backspace');
// Result text will end up saying 'Hello!'

Example 2

An example of pressing A

await page.keyboard.down('Shift');
await page.keyboard.press('KeyA');
await page.keyboard.up('Shift');

Methods

Method	Modifiers	Description
down(key, options)		Dispatches a keydown event. Remarks: If key is a single character and no modifier keys besides Shift are being held down, a keypress/input event will also generated. The text option can be specified to force an input event to be generated. If key is a modifier key, Shift, Meta, Control, or Alt, subsequent key presses will be sent with that modifier active. To release the modifier key, use Keyboard.up(). After the key is pressed once, subsequent calls to Keyboard.down() will have repeat set to true. To release the key, use Keyboard.up(). Modifier keys DO influence Keyboard.down(). Holding down Shift will type the text in upper case.
press(key, options)		Shortcut for Keyboard.down() and Keyboard.up(). Remarks: If key is a single character and no modifier keys besides Shift are being held down, a keypress/input event will also generated. The text option can be specified to force an input event to be generated. Modifier keys DO effect Keyboard.press(). Holding down Shift will type the text in upper case.
sendCharacter(char)		Dispatches a keypress and input event. This does not send a keydown or keyup event. Remarks: Modifier keys DO NOT effect Keyboard.sendCharacter. Holding down Shift will not type the text in upper case.
type(text, options)		Sends a keydown, keypress/input, and keyup event for each character in the text. Remarks: To press a special key, like Control or ArrowDown, use Keyboard.press(). Modifier keys DO NOT effect keyboard.type. Holding down Shift will not type the text in upper case.
up(key)		Dispatches a keyup event.