MouseEvent: ctrlKey property

{{APIRef("Pointer Events")}}

The MouseEvent.ctrlKey read-only property is a boolean value that indicates whether the <kbd>ctrl</kbd> key was pressed or not when a given mouse event occurs.

On Macintosh keyboards, this key is labeled the <kbd>control</kbd> key. Also, note that on a Mac, a click combined with the <kbd>control</kbd> key is intercepted by the operating system and used to open a context menu, so ctrlKey is not detectable on click events.

Pinch-zooming using a trackpad also sends a simulated {{domxref("Element/wheel_event", "wheel")}} event with ctrlKey set to true.

Value

A boolean value, where true indicates that the key is pressed, and false indicates that the key is not pressed.

Examples

This example logs the ctrlKey property when you trigger a {{domxref("Element/mousemove_event", "mousemove")}} event.

HTML

<p id="log">The ctrl key was pressed while the cursor was moving: false</p>

JavaScript

const log = document.querySelector("#log");
window.addEventListener("mousemove", logKey);

function logKey(e) {
  log.textContent = `The ctrl key was pressed while the cursor was moving: ${e.ctrlKey}`;
}

Result

{{EmbedLiveSample("Examples")}}

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• {{ domxref("MouseEvent") }}