This is the {{key press}} template primarily designed to illustrate keys and keystrokes on a computer keyboard.

Example:

{{key press|A}} produces A
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If there is an article about the key you can wikilink the key's name like any other wiki text. Like this:

{{key press|[[Alt key|Alt]]}} produces Alt

If you are wikilinking the keys, please ensure that you are piping to the correct page (e.g. [[Control key|Ctrl]] instead of [[Ctrl]], which leads to a disambiguation page).

Wiki characters

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Some wiki markup character, like the pipe symbol, the semicolon and the equals sign, need to be entered using the {{!}}, {{;}} and {{=}} templates:

{{key press|{{!}}}} produces |
{{key press|{{;}}}} produces ;
{{key press|{{=}}}} produces =

However, if the characters are marked as wikilinks, they can be entered as such:

{{key press|[[|]]}} produces |
{{key press|[[;]]}} produces ;
{{key press|[[=]]}} produces =

If you don't want to mark the characters as links, {{key press|<nowiki>|</nowiki>}} is also an option.

Key symbols

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Some key names have a fitting unicode character. This template automatically adds such "icons" to the following key names:

{{key press|Caps Lock}} produces ⇪ Caps Lock
{{key press|Shift}} produces ⇧ Shift
{{key press|Enter}} produces ↵ Enter
{{key press|Tab}} produces Tab ↹
{{key press|Backspace}} produces ← Backspace
{{key press|Cmd}} produces ⌘ Cmd
{{key press|Opt}} produces ⌥ Opt
{{key press|Up}} produces
{{key press|Down}} produces
{{key press|Left}} produces
{{key press|Right}} produces
Windows key and Menu key
Old-style Windows key

There are no characters for the Windows key and Menu key. Besides, the Windows logo is trademarked. So this template shows approximate characters for them in the following way:

{{key press|Win}} produces ⊞ Win
{{key press|Menu}} produces ≣ Menu

Video games

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Video game controllers often have specialized input labels that do not map easily. The following are mappings for various game consoles and input features.

Directional input
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The following should only be used when the input sequence uses something other than the primary input or mixes input between directional devices.

{{key press|l-down}} produces L↓
{{key press|c-left}} produces C←
{{key press|r-up}} produces R↑

Stick specific diagonals are also supported:

{{key press|l-nw}} produces L↖
{{key press|c-se}} produces C↘
{{key press|r-ne}} produces R↗
PlayStation
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{{key press|ex}} produces ×
{{key press|circle}} produces
{{key press|triangle}} produces
{{key press|square}} produces

Not to be confused with

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  • {{Button}} – produces a similar visual effect, but without the semantic markup, e.g. sample text