Keyboard

GDevelop gives access to all inputs made on the keyboard. This includes conditions to check if a key is held down, just pressed, or released.

Warning

Keyboard conditions do not work with on-screen virtual keyboards on touch devices. For mobile or touchscreen games, use mouse/touch conditions instead.

Any key pressed

This condition is true as long as any key on the keyboard is held down.

Any key released

This condition is true for one frame when any key is released.

Key pressed

This condition is true as long as the selected key is held down. Use this for continuous input such as moving a character while a direction key is held.

Key just pressed

This condition is true for one frame only — the frame when the key is first pressed. Use this for single-trigger actions such as jumping, firing, or opening a menu, where you want the action to happen once per key press and not repeat while the key is held.

Key released

This condition is true for one frame when the selected key is released.

Key pressed (text expression)

To test a key press using this condition, enter the key name as a text expression. For example, to check if the left arrow key is pressed, enter "Left" in the field.

Danger

Make sure that the key name is surrounded by quotes.

Key released (text expression)

To test a key release using this condition, enter the key name as a text expression. For example, to check if the left arrow key is released, enter "Left" in the field.

Last key pressed

The "Last key pressed" expression returns the name of the most recently pressed key as a string. For example, if the left arrow key was last pressed, the expression returns "Left".

Key names reference

The following key names can be used in the text-expression versions of keyboard conditions:

Category	Key names
Letters	a – z (lowercase)
Number row	Num0 – Num9
Numpad digits	Numpad0 – Numpad9
Arrow keys	Left, Right, Up, Down
Numpad arrows	NumpadLeft, NumpadRight, NumpadUp, NumpadDown
Function keys	F1 – F12
Modifiers	LShift, RShift, LControl, RControl, LAlt, RAlt
Special	Space, Return, Escape, Tab, Back, Delete, Insert
Navigation	Home, End, PageUp, PageDown
Numpad navigation	NumpadHome, NumpadEnd, NumpadPageUp, NumpadPageDown, NumpadReturn
Numpad operators	Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, NumpadAdd, NumpadSubtract, NumpadMultiply, NumpadDivide
Punctuation	SemiColon, Comma, Period, Quote, Slash, BackSlash, Equal, Dash, LBracket, RBracket, Tilde
Other	Pause, Menu, LSystem, RSystem

Reference

All actions, conditions and expressions are listed in the keyboard reference page.