Prevent form submission on Enter key press

Question

I have a form with two text boxes, one select drop down and one radio button. When the enter key is pressed, I want to call my JavaScript function, but when I press it, the form is submitted.

How do I prevent the form from being submitted when the enter key is pressed?

Solution 1

if(characterCode == 13)
{
    return false; // returning false will prevent the event from bubbling up.
}
else
{
    return true;
}

Ok, so imagine you have the following textbox in a form:

<input id="scriptBox" type="text" onkeypress="return runScript(event)" />

In order to run some "user defined" script from this text box when the enter key is pressed, and not have it submit the form, here is some sample code. Please note that this function doesn't do any error checking and most likely will only work in IE. To do this right you need a more robust solution, but you will get the general idea.

function runScript(e) {
    //See notes about 'which' and 'key'
    if (e.keyCode == 13) {
        var tb = document.getElementById("scriptBox");
        eval(tb.value);
        return false;
    }
}

returning the value of the function will alert the event handler not to bubble the event any further, and will prevent the keypress event from being handled further.

NOTE:

It's been pointed out that keyCode is now deprecated. The next best alternative which has also been deprecated.

Unfortunately the favored standard key, which is widely supported by modern browsers, has some dodgy behavior in IE and Edge. Anything older than IE11 would still need a polyfill.

Furthermore, while the deprecated warning is quite ominous about keyCode and which, removing those would represent a massive breaking change to untold numbers of legacy websites. For that reason, it is unlikely they are going anywhere anytime soon.

Solution 2

Use both event.which and event.keyCode:

function (event) {
    if (event.which == 13 || event.keyCode == 13) {
        //code to execute here
        return false;
    }
    return true;
};

Solution 3

event.key === "Enter"

More recent and much cleaner: use event.key. No more arbitrary number codes!

NOTE: The old properties (.keyCode and .which) are Deprecated.

const node = document.getElementsByClassName("mySelect")[0];
node.addEventListener("keydown", function(event) {
    if (event.key === "Enter") {
        event.preventDefault();
        // Do more work
    }
});

Modern style, with lambda and destructuring

node.addEventListener("keydown", ({key}) => {
    if (key === "Enter") // Handle press
})

Mozilla Docs

Supported Browsers

Solution 4

If you're using jQuery:

$('input[type=text]').on('keydown', function(e) {
    if (e.which == 13) {
        e.preventDefault();
    }
});

Solution 5

Detect Enter key pressed on whole document:

$(document).keypress(function (e) {
    if (e.which == 13) {
        alert('enter key is pressed');
    }
});

http://jsfiddle.net/umerqureshi/dcjsa08n/3/

View more solutions

Comments

[Dushan Perera]

I cant override onsubmit as i have another form submit in this page

[the_drow]

yes you can. Javascript is prototype based language. document.forms["form_name"].onsubmit = fucntion() {}

[Dushan Perera]

I have another delete procedure to run when the form is submitted.So i want to maintain as it is

[Admin]

Is this a situation where PreventDefualt can be used?

[Les]

Yes, instead of the return false.

[Wk_of_Angmar]

Instead of eval, you could build an array of the valid functions, then use .indexOf() to check whether the user's input is in that array, and call the function if it is. Reduces scope for errors/users screwing up.

[Alex Spurling]

Why both event.which and event.keyCode?

[user568109]

Some browsers support which others support keyCode. It is good practice to include both.

[Manish Singh]

Also use the keydown event instead of keyup or keypress

[Pierre-Olivier Vares]

keyup is fired AFTER the submission, and can't therefore cancel it.

[Don Cheadle]

@Agiagnoc but what event should this be attached to ?

[john-jones]

@manish, keypress gives you more information to play with than keydown/up. stackoverflow.com/a/9905293/322537

[Anders Kitson]

IE does not support just event.keyCode, tested on a new windows tablet and return key wasn't firing my functions. Adding which as stated above should fix any IE bugs.

[Donatas Navidonskis]

set var charCode = parseInt((e.which) ? e.which : e.keyCode); and then compare if(charCode == 13) { // execute } return false;

[John Slegers]

keyCode is now deprecated

[eddyparkinson]

Why has client_id etc been included here? Is the code legit?

[Nico Haase]

This question is more than eight years old. Typescript did not exist then. So are you sure you're not answering an other question?

[clockw0rk]

isn't this just a macro or alias? is there any benefit in terms of performance by using this code?

[Gibolt]

keyCode is deprecated. This is more readable and maintainable than a magic integer in your code

[Jing He]

@Shyju if you want to run both: the action defined in the form tag and also the javascript triggered when pressing the submit button, you can just remove the code return false;, then both action will be triggered.

[Danziger]

While I agree with your note about keyCode and which being deprecated, I think developers should help make that transition by not supporting such legacy browsers, especially now that IE is officially dead and Edge has adopted Chromium. Anyway, a nice tool to inspect the different identifiers keys have is keyjs.dev

[Danziger]

For those wondering how to find the key value for different keys, you can use keyjs.dev

[Alexander Nied]

In 2021, I believe this is the correct answer.

[Tamil Vendhan Kanagarasu]

Readable, yes! Cleaner? 13 is more clean than Enter. There was no questions like, is it "Enter" or "enter". If you can remember "Enter", you can always remember 13. It takes less room.

[Greggory Wiley]

Only works if you install jquery.

[Dozie]

@Josh, @JohnSlegers, @Danziger KeyboardEvent.code is now supported in major browser versions. So this response can be refactored to use: if (e.code === "Enter")

[NetXpert]

"abitrary"?! It has existed as a standard since the development of ASCII, ~1961! Itself having been based-upon / derived-from work that began with teletype machines starting 40 years before that! Though it may have begun as such, here, now, in 2022, 60+ years on from the development of that standard, and the ubiquitous implementations that stem therefrom, knowing that 0x0d / (dec)13 represents a carriage-return is well-beyond being just some 'arbitrary' value, and anyone who's been coding for longer than a year should know it as naturally/intrinsically as they know how to breathe air...🙄

[Gibolt]

Yes, the history is real. However the numbers are arbitrary, just like the arrangement of keys on a keyboard. Few devs have the list of char/key mappings memorized