- Qt 5.15
- Qt GUI
- C++ Classes
- QKeyEvent
- Qt 5.15.18 Reference Documentation

# QKeyEvent Class

The QKeyEvent class describes a key event. More...

Header: | #include <QKeyEvent>
qmake: | QT += gui
Inherits: | QInputEvent

- List of all members, including inherited members

## Public Functions

| QKeyEvent(Type type, int key, Qt::KeyboardModifiers modifiers, quint32 nativeScanCode, quint32 nativeVirtualKey, quint32 nativeModifiers, const QString &text = QString(), bool autorep = false, ushort count = 1)
| QKeyEvent(Type type, int key, Qt::KeyboardModifiers modifiers, const QString &text = QString(), bool autorep = false, ushort count = 1)
int | count() const
bool | isAutoRepeat() const
int | key() const
bool | matches(QKeySequence::StandardKey key) const
Qt::KeyboardModifiers | modifiers() const
quint32 | nativeModifiers() const
quint32 | nativeScanCode() const
quint32 | nativeVirtualKey() const
QString | text() const

## Detailed Description

Key events are sent to the widget with keyboard input focus when keys are pressed or released.

A key event contains a special accept flag that indicates whether the receiver will handle the key event. This flag is set by default for QEvent::KeyPress and QEvent::KeyRelease, so there is no need to call accept() when acting on a key event. For QEvent::ShortcutOverride the receiver needs to explicitly accept the event to trigger the override. Calling ignore() on a key event will propagate it to the parent widget. The event is propagated up the parent widget chain until a widget accepts it or an event filter consumes it.

The QWidget::setEnabled() function can be used to enable or disable mouse and keyboard events for a widget.

The event handlers QWidget::keyPressEvent(), QWidget::keyReleaseEvent(), QGraphicsItem::keyPressEvent() and QGraphicsItem::keyReleaseEvent() receive key events.

See also QFocusEvent and QWidget::grabKeyboard().

## Member Function Documentation

### QKeyEvent::QKeyEvent(Type type, int key, Qt::KeyboardModifiers modifiers, quint32 nativeScanCode, quint32 nativeVirtualKey, quint32 nativeModifiers, const QString &text = QString(), bool autorep = false, ushort count = 1)

Constructs a key event object.

The type parameter must be QEvent::KeyPress, QEvent::KeyRelease, or QEvent::ShortcutOverride.

Int key is the code for the Qt::Key that the event loop should listen for. If key is 0, the event is not a result of a known key; for example, it may be the result of a compose sequence or keyboard macro. The modifiers holds the keyboard modifiers, and the given text is the Unicode text that the key generated. If autorep is true, isAutoRepeat() will be true. count is the number of keys involved in the event.

In addition to the normal key event data, also contains nativeScanCode, nativeVirtualKey and nativeModifiers. This extra data is used by the shortcut system, to determine which shortcuts to trigger.

### QKeyEvent::QKeyEvent(Type type, int key, Qt::KeyboardModifiers modifiers, const QString &text = QString(), bool autorep = false, ushort count = 1)

Constructs a key event object.

The type parameter must be QEvent::KeyPress, QEvent::KeyRelease, or QEvent::ShortcutOverride.

Int key is the code for the Qt::Key that the event loop should listen for. If key is 0, the event is not a result of a known key; for example, it may be the result of a compose sequence or keyboard macro. The modifiers holds the keyboard modifiers, and the given text is the Unicode text that the key generated. If autorep is true, isAutoRepeat() will be true. count is the number of keys involved in the event.

### int QKeyEvent::count() const

Returns the number of keys involved in this event. If text() is not empty, this is simply the length of the string.

See also Qt::WA_KeyCompression.

### bool QKeyEvent::isAutoRepeat() const

Returns `true` if this event comes from an auto-repeating key; returns `false` if it comes from an initial key press.

Note that if the event is a multiple-key compressed event that is partly due to auto-repeat, this function could return either true or false indeterminately.

### int QKeyEvent::key() const

Returns the code of the key that was pressed or released.

See Qt::Key for the list of keyboard codes. These codes are independent of the underlying window system. Note that this function does not distinguish between capital and non-capital letters, use the text() function (returning the Unicode text the key generated) for this purpose.

A value of either 0 or Qt::Key_unknown means that the event is not the result of a known key; for example, it may be the result of a compose sequence, a keyboard macro, or due to key event compression.

See also Qt::WA_KeyCompression.

### bool QKeyEvent::matches(QKeySequence::StandardKey key) const

Returns `true` if the key event matches the given standard key; otherwise returns `false`.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

### Qt::KeyboardModifiers QKeyEvent::modifiers() const

Returns the keyboard modifier flags that existed immediately after the event occurred.

Warning: This function cannot always be trusted. The user can confuse it by pressing both Shift keys simultaneously and releasing one of them, for example.

See also QGuiApplication::keyboardModifiers().

### quint32 QKeyEvent::nativeModifiers() const

Returns the native modifiers of a key event. If the key event does not contain this data 0 is returned.

Note: The native modifiers may be 0, even if the key event contains extended information.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

### quint32 QKeyEvent::nativeScanCode() const

Returns the native scan code of the key event. If the key event does not contain this data 0 is returned.

Note: The native scan code may be 0, even if the key event contains extended information.

Note: On macOS, this function is not useful, because there is no way to get the scan code from the system APIs. The function always returns 1 (or 0 in the case explained above).

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

### quint32 QKeyEvent::nativeVirtualKey() const

Returns the native virtual key, or key sym of the key event. If the key event does not contain this data 0 is returned.

Note: The native virtual key may be 0, even if the key event contains extended information.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

### QString QKeyEvent::text() const

Returns the Unicode text that this key generated.

Return values when modifier keys such as Shift, Control, Alt, and Meta are pressed differ among platforms and could return an empty string.

Note: key() will always return a valid value, independent of modifier keys.

See also Qt::WA_KeyCompression.