char

The char event is fired when a character is typed on the keyboard.

The char event is different to a key press. Sometimes multiple key presses may result in one character being typed (for instance, on some European keyboards). Similarly, some keys (e.g. Ctrl) do not have any corresponding character. The key should be used if you want to listen to key presses themselves.

Return values

1. string: The event name.
2. string: The string representing the character that was pressed.

Example

Prints each character the user presses:

while true do
    local event, character = os.pullEvent("char")
    print(character .. " was pressed.")
end

See also

• key To listen to any key press.