Mousetrap

Mousetrap is a simple library for handling keyboard shortcuts in Javascript.

It is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.

It is around 2kb minified and gzipped and 4.5kb minified, has no external dependencies, and has been tested in the following browsers:

Internet Explorer 6+
Safari
Firefox
Chrome

It has support for keypress, keydown, and keyup events on specific keys, keyboard combinations, or key sequences.

Getting started

Include mousetrap on your page before the closing </body> tag

html
<script src="/path/to/mousetrap.min.js"></script>

or install mousetrap from npm and require it

js
var Mousetrap = require('mousetrap');

Add some keyboard events to listen for

html
<script>
    // single keys
    Mousetrap.bind('4', function() { console.log('4'); });
    Mousetrap.bind("?", function() { console.log('show shortcuts!'); });
    Mousetrap.bind('esc', function() { console.log('escape'); }, 'keyup');

    // combinations
    Mousetrap.bind('command+shift+k', function() { console.log('command shift k'); });

    // map multiple combinations to the same callback
    Mousetrap.bind(['command+k', 'ctrl+k'], function() {
        console.log('command k or control k');

        // return false to prevent default browser behavior
        // and stop event from bubbling
        return false;
    });

    // gmail style sequences
    Mousetrap.bind('g i', function() { console.log('go to inbox'); });
    Mousetrap.bind('* a', function() { console.log('select all'); });

    // konami code!
    Mousetrap.bind('up up down down left right left right b a enter', function() {
        console.log('konami code');
    });
</script>

Why Mousetrap?

There are a number of other similar libraries out there so what makes this one different?

There are no external dependencies, no framework is required
You are not limited to keydown events (You can specify keypress, keydown, or keyup or let Mousetrap choose for you).
You can bind key events directly to special keys such as ? or * without having to specify shift+/ or shift+8 which are not consistent across all keyboards
It works with international keyboard layouts
You can bind Gmail like key sequences in addition to regular keys and key combinations
You can programatically trigger key events with the trigger() method
It works with the numeric keypad on your keyboard
The code is well documented/commented