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Modern web applications must listen for events and trigger functions in response to user actions every time a specific browser event occurs. These functions are called event handlers, and they are essential for building dynamic applications in React.

onKeyDownis one of the most useful events in React. It allows developers to track text input and validate its value dynamically.

Today's article will discuss how to handle events in React onKeyDown.

onKeyDownIs one of the most popular events for handling text input. This event is fired every time the user presses any key while a text input field is selected.

onKeyDownonKeyPressThe main difference between and similar events is what triggers them. onKeyDownThe events do not distinguish between keys used to type values ​​(numbers, A-z letters) and other keys (such as shift).

onKeyPressFires only for events that produce letters, numbers, or symbols. onKeyDownConsidered the more modern and widely supported event.

It's also onKeyPressmore consistent than events, no matter which version of React you're running.

Under normal circumstances, developers only listen for onKeyDownevents on text inputs.

<div>Elements are usually wrappers and do not accept any input. For this reason, <div>the default behavior of the element prevents from onKeyDownworking.

No need to worry, though, as a simple fix allows us to onKeyDownuse the for <div>the element. If you want to listen for the event <div>on a onKeyDown, you must set tabIndexthe property.

This property indicates <div>whether the element can be focused. It also Tabhandles the order of elements in keyboard navigation using the key.

Here's an example of a element that can listen onKeyDownfor events <div>:

class App extends Component {
  render() {
    return <div tabIndex="0" onKeyDown={() => console.log('key pressed')}>
          Some div
          </div>;
  }
}