Binding arrow keys in JS/jQuery

How do I go about binding a function to left and right arrow keys in Javascript and/or jQuery? I looked at the js-hotkey plugin for jQuery (wraps the built-in bind function to add an argument to recognize specific keys), but it doesn't seem to support arrow keys.

document.onkeydown = function(e) {
	switch(e.which) {
		case 37: // left
		break;
		
		case 38: // up
		break;
		
		case 39: // right
		break;
		
		case 40: // down
		break;
		
		default: return; // exit this handler for other keys
	}
	e.preventDefault(); // prevent the default action (scroll / move caret)
};

If you need to support IE8, start the function body as e = e || window.event; switch(e.which || e.keyCode) {.

(edit 2020)
Note that KeyboardEvent.which is now deprecated. See this example using KeyboardEvent.key for a more modern solution to detect arrow keys.

$(document).keydown(function(e){
    if (e.which == 37) { 
       alert("left pressed");
       return false;
    }
});

Character codes:

> 37 - left > > 38 - up > > 39 - right > > 40 - down

You can use the keyCode of the arrow keys (37, 38, 39 and 40 for left, up, right and down):

$('.selector').keydown(function (e) {
  var arrow = { left: 37, up: 38, right: 39, down: 40 };

  switch (e.which) {
    case arrow.left:
      //..
      break;
    case arrow.up:
      //..
      break;
    case arrow.right:
      //..
      break;
    case arrow.down:
      //..
      break;
  }
});

Check the above example here.

This is a bit late, but HotKeys has a very major bug which causes events to get executed multiple times if you attach more than one hotkey to an element. Just use plain jQuery.

$(element).keydown(function(ev) {
    if(ev.which == $.ui.keyCode.DOWN) {
        // your code
        ev.preventDefault();
    }
});

I've simply combined the best bits from the other answers:

$(document).keydown(function(e){
    switch(e.which) {
        case $.ui.keyCode.LEFT:
        // your code here
        break;

        case $.ui.keyCode.UP:
        // your code here
        break;

        case $.ui.keyCode.RIGHT:
        // your code here
        break;

        case $.ui.keyCode.DOWN:
        // your code here
        break;

        default: return; // allow other keys to be handled
    }

    // prevent default action (eg. page moving up/down)
    // but consider accessibility (eg. user may want to use keys to choose a radio button)
    e.preventDefault();
});

You can use KeyboardJS. I wrote the library for tasks just like this.

KeyboardJS.on('up', function() { console.log('up'); });
KeyboardJS.on('down', function() { console.log('down'); });
KeyboardJS.on('left', function() { console.log('right'); });
KeyboardJS.on('right', function() { console.log('left'); });

Checkout the library here => http://robertwhurst.github.com/KeyboardJS/

A terse solution using plain Javascript (thanks to Sygmoral for suggested improvements):

document.onkeydown = function(e) {
    switch (e.keyCode) {
        case 37:
            alert('left');
            break;
        case 39:
            alert('right');
            break;
    }
};

Also see https://stackoverflow.com/a/17929007/1397061.

Are you sure jQuery.HotKeys doesn't support the arrow keys? I've messed around with their demo before and observed left, right, up, and down working when I tested it in IE7, Firefox 3.5.2, and Google Chrome 2.0.172...

EDIT: It appears jquery.hotkeys has been relocated to Github: https://github.com/jeresig/jquery.hotkeys

Instead of using return false; as in the examples above, you can use e.preventDefault(); which does the same but is easier to understand and read.

You can use jQuery bind:

$(window).bind('keydown', function(e){
	if (e.keyCode == 37) {
		console.log('left');
	} else if (e.keyCode == 38) {
		console.log('up');
	} else if (e.keyCode == 39) {
		console.log('right');
	} else if (e.keyCode == 40) {
		console.log('down');
	}
});

Example of pure js with going right or left

        window.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
            // go to the right
            if (e.keyCode == 39) {

            }
            // go to the left
            if (e.keyCode == 37) {

            }
        });

You can check wether an arrow key is pressed by:

$(document).keydown(function(e){
    if (e.keyCode > 36 && e.keyCode < 41) { 
       alert( "arrowkey pressed" );
       return false;
    }
});

A robust Javascript library for capturing keyboard input and key combinations entered. It has no dependencies.

http://jaywcjlove.github.io/hotkeys/

hotkeys('right,left,up,down', function(e, handler){
    switch(handler.key){
        case "right":console.log('right');break
        case "left":console.log('left');break
        case "up":console.log('up');break
        case "down":console.log('down');break
    }
});

prevent arrow only available for any object else SELECT, well actually i haven't tes on another object LOL. but it can stop arrow event on page and input type.

i already try to block arrow left and right to change the value of SELECT object using "e.preventDefault()" or "return false" on "kepress" "keydown" and "keyup" event but it still change the object value. but the event still tell you that arrow was pressed.

I came here looking for a simple way to let the user, when focused on an input, use the arrow keys to +1 or -1 a numeric input. I never found a good answer but made the following code that seems to work great - making this site-wide now.

$("input").bind('keydown', function (e) {
	if(e.keyCode == 40 && $.isNumeric($(this).val()) ) {
		$(this).val(parseFloat($(this).val())-1.0);
	} else if(e.keyCode == 38  && $.isNumeric($(this).val()) ) { 
		$(this).val(parseFloat($(this).val())+1.0);
	}
});	

With coffee & Jquery

  $(document).on 'keydown', (e) ->
    switch e.which
      when 37 then console.log('left key')
      when 38 then console.log('up key')
      when 39 then console.log('right key')
      when 40 then console.log('down key')
    e.preventDefault()