Prevent JavaScript keydown event from being handled multiple times while held down

by

Edit: It is now fully supported in every browser. except for Internet Explorer

If browser compatibility is not your main concern*, you could try accessing the .repeat property of the KeyboardEvent, as documented here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent/repeat

By doing something like this in your handler function:

function keyDown (e) {
  if (e.repeat) { return }

  // do stuff here
}

you could avoid the repeated keystrokes.

*: on the MDN site it states that it works in Firefox, and I have successfully used it in Chrome, so the two major browsers should have no problem with it

Leave a Comment

tech