love-keyboard

name	love-keyboard
description	Provides an interface to the user's keyboard. Use this skill when working with keyboard operations, key events, text input, or any keyboard-related operations in LÖVE games.
license	MIT
metadata	{"author":"Ron Dekker <rondekker.nl>"}

When to use this skill

Provides an interface to the user's keyboard. Use this skill when working with keyboard operations, key events, text input, or any keyboard-related operations in LÖVE games.

Common use cases

• Handling keyboard input and key presses
• Managing text input and keyboard events
• Implementing keyboard-based game controls
• Working with keyboard modifiers and special keys
• Supporting international keyboard layouts

Functions

• love.keyboard.getKeyFromScancode(scancode: Scancode) -> key: KeyConstant: Gets the key corresponding to the given hardware scancode. Unlike key constants, Scancodes are keyboard layout-independent. For example the scancode 'w' will be generated if the key in the same place as the 'w' key on an American keyboard is pressed, no matter what the key is labelled or what the user's operating system settings are. Scancodes are useful for creating default controls that have the same physical locations on on all systems.
• love.keyboard.getScancodeFromKey(key: KeyConstant) -> scancode: Scancode: Gets the hardware scancode corresponding to the given key. Unlike key constants, Scancodes are keyboard layout-independent. For example the scancode 'w' will be generated if the key in the same place as the 'w' key on an American keyboard is pressed, no matter what the key is labelled or what the user's operating system settings are. Scancodes are useful for creating default controls that have the same physical locations on on all systems.
• love.keyboard.hasKeyRepeat() -> enabled: boolean: Gets whether key repeat is enabled.
• love.keyboard.hasScreenKeyboard() -> supported: boolean: Gets whether screen keyboard is supported.
• love.keyboard.hasTextInput() -> enabled: boolean: Gets whether text input events are enabled.
• love.keyboard.isDown - Checks whether a certain key is down. Not to be confused with love.keypressed or love.keyreleased.
  • love.keyboard.isDown(key: KeyConstant) -> down: boolean: No description
  • love.keyboard.isDown(key: KeyConstant, ...: KeyConstant) -> anyDown: boolean: No description
• love.keyboard.isScancodeDown(scancode: Scancode, ...: Scancode) -> down: boolean: Checks whether the specified Scancodes are pressed. Not to be confused with love.keypressed or love.keyreleased. Unlike regular KeyConstants, Scancodes are keyboard layout-independent. The scancode 'w' is used if the key in the same place as the 'w' key on an American keyboard is pressed, no matter what the key is labelled or what the user's operating system settings are.
• love.keyboard.setKeyRepeat(enable: boolean): Enables or disables key repeat for love.keypressed. It is disabled by default.
• love.keyboard.setTextInput - Enables or disables text input events. It is enabled by default on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and disabled by default on iOS and Android. On touch devices, this shows the system's native on-screen keyboard when it's enabled.
  • love.keyboard.setTextInput(enable: boolean): No description
  • love.keyboard.setTextInput(enable: boolean, x: number, y: number, w: number, h: number): On iOS and Android this variant tells the OS that the specified rectangle is where text will show up in the game, which prevents the system on-screen keyboard from covering the text.

Enums

• KeyConstant: All the keys you can press. Note that some keys may not be available on your keyboard or system.

  • a: The A key
  • b: The B key
  • c: The C key
  • d: The D key
  • e: The E key
  • f: The F key
  • g: The G key
  • h: The H key
  • i: The I key
  • j: The J key
  • k: The K key
  • l: The L key
  • m: The M key
  • n: The N key
  • o: The O key
  • p: The P key
  • q: The Q key
  • r: The R key
  • s: The S key
  • t: The T key
  • u: The U key
  • v: The V key
  • w: The W key
  • x: The X key
  • y: The Y key
  • z: The Z key
  • 0: The zero key
  • 1: The one key
  • 2: The two key
  • 3: The three key
  • 4: The four key
  • 5: The five key
  • 6: The six key
  • 7: The seven key
  • 8: The eight key
  • 9: The nine key
  • space: Space key
  • !: Exclamation mark key
  • ": Double quote key
  • #: Hash key
  • $: Dollar key
  • &: Ampersand key
  • ': Single quote key

Examples

Handling key presses

function love.keypressed(key, scancode, isrepeat)
  if key == "escape" then
    love.event.quit()
  elseif key == "space" then
    player.jump()
  elseif key == "w" or key == "up" then
    player.moveForward()
  end
end

Text input

function love.textinput(text)
  -- Handle text input for chat or UI
  if chatting then
    chatMessage = chatMessage .. text
  end
end

function love.keypressed(key)
  if key == "backspace" and chatting then
    -- Remove last character
    chatMessage = chatMessage:sub(1, -2)
  elseif key == "return" and chatting then
    -- Send chat message
    sendChatMessage(chatMessage)
    chatMessage = ""
  end
end

Best practices

• Handle both key names and scancodes appropriately
• Support keyboard remapping for accessibility
• Consider international keyboard layouts
• Test keyboard input on different platforms
• Be mindful of keyboard repeat behavior

Platform compatibility

• Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux): Full keyboard support
• Mobile (iOS, Android): Limited to on-screen keyboards
• Web: Full keyboard support in browser environment