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Example

Set the access key of a link:

document.getElementById("myAnchor").accessKey = "w";
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More "Try it Yourself" examples below.

Definition and Usage

 

The accessKey property sets or returns the accesskey attribute of an element.

The accesskey attribute specifies a shortcut key to activate/focus an element.

Note: The way of accessing the shortcut key is varying in different browsers:

Browser Windows Linux Mac
Internet Explorer [Alt] + accesskey N/A
Chrome [Alt] + accesskey [Alt] + accesskey [Control] [Alt] + accesskey
Firefox [Alt] [Shift] + accesskey [Alt] [Shift] + accesskey [Control] [Alt] + accesskey
Safari [Alt] + accesskey N/A [Control] [Alt] + accesskey
Opera Opera 15 or newer: [Alt] + accesskey
Opera 12.1 or older: [Shift] [Esc] + accesskey

However, in most browsers the shortcut key can be set to another combination of keys.

Tip: The behavior if more than one element has the same access key differs:

Browser Support

 
Property
accessKey Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Syntax

 

Return the accessKey property:

HTMLElementObject.accessKey

Set the accessKey property:

HTMLElementObject.accessKey=character

Property Values


Value Description
character Specifies the shortcut key to activate/focus the element

Technical Details


Return Value: A character from the keyboard

More Examples

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Example

Get the accesskey of a link:

var x = document.getElementById("myAnchor").accessKey;

The result of x will be:

w
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Related Pages

 

HTML Reference: HTML accesskey Attribute