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Keyboard Modifiers

Description

The Keyboard.write() and Keyboard.press() and Keyboard.release() commands don’t work with every possible ASCII character, only those that correspond to a key on the keyboard. For example, backspace works, but many of the other non-printable characters produce unpredictable results. For capital letters (and other keys), what’s sent is shift plus the character (i.e. the equivalent of pressing both of those keys on the keyboard).

A modifier key is a special key on a computer keyboard that modifies the normal action of another key when the two are pressed in combination.

For more on ASCII values and the characters or functions they represent, see asciitable.com

For multiple key presses use Keyboard.press()

The Leonardo’s definitions for modifier keys are listed below:

Key Hexadecimal value Decimal value

KEY_LEFT_CTRL

0x80

128

KEY_LEFT_SHIFT

0x81

129

KEY_LEFT_ALT

0x82

130

KEY_LEFT_GUI

0x83

131

KEY_RIGHT_CTRL

0x84

132

KEY_RIGHT_SHIFT

0x85

133

KEY_RIGHT_ALT

0x86

134

KEY_RIGHT_GUI

0x87

135

KEY_UP_ARROW

0xDA

218

KEY_DOWN_ARROW

0xD9

217

KEY_LEFT_ARROW

0xD8

216

KEY_RIGHT_ARROW

0xD7

215

KEY_BACKSPACE

0xB2

178

KEY_TAB

0xB3

179

KEY_RETURN

0xB0

176

KEY_ESC

0xB1

177

KEY_INSERT

0xD1

209

KEY_DELETE

0xD4

212

KEY_PAGE_UP

0xD3

211

KEY_PAGE_DOWN

0xD6

214

KEY_HOME

0xD2

210

KEY_END

0xD5

213

KEY_CAPS_LOCK

0xC1

193

KEY_F1

0xC2

194

KEY_F2

0xC3

195

KEY_F3

0xC4

196

KEY_F4

0xC5

197

KEY_F5

0xC6

198

KEY_F6

0xC7

199

KEY_F7

0xC8

200

KEY_F8

0xC9

201

KEY_F9

0xCA

202

KEY_F10

0xCB

203

KEY_F11

0xCC

204

KEY_F12

0xCD

205