keyIsDown()

Checks whether a certain key is down

Example

# W keyCode = 87
if keyIsDown(87):
    # move square up
    # ...
    
# S keyCode = 83
if keyIsDown(83):
    # move square down
    # ...
    
# A keyCode = 65
if keyIsDown(83):
    # move square left
    # ...
    
# D keyCode = 68
if keyIsDown(83):
    # move square right
    # ...
Example Full Code
def setup():
  createCanvas(400,400)
  textAlign(CENTER, CENTER)
  textSize(20)
  

squareX = 175
squareY = 100
squareSize = 50

def draw():
  global squareX, squareY, squareSize
  background("hotpink")

  fill(255, 255, 28)
  noStroke()

  if keyIsDown(87):
    squareY += 1
    text('"W" is Down(Pressed) now',200,350)
    
  if keyIsDown(83):
    squareY -= 1
    text('"S" is Down(Pressed) now',200,350)

  if keyIsDown(65):
    squareX -= 1
    text('"A" is Down(Pressed) now',200,350)

  if keyIsDown(68):
    squareX += 1
    text('"D" is Down(Pressed) now',200,350) 

  stroke('black')
  fill (112,88,255) 
  square(squareX,squareY,squareSize)

Default inputs

keyIsDown(VALUE)
InputDescription

VALUE

key code of the key being checked

Description

The keyIsDown() function checks if a certain key is currently down (Pressed). It returns True if that key is down, and False if it does not. (Boolean datatype)

For example, keyIsDown(38)checks whether the up arrow is being pushed, since 38 is its keycode.

Similarly, keyIsDown(UP_ARROW)checks for the same thing, because UP_ARROW is a constant that stores the key code of the up arrow, other such constants include DOWN_ARROW, ENTER and SHIFT.

In general, you can search the web for: key code of ### or look at this website.

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