Enter key press behaves like a Tab in Javascript

You could programatically iterate the form elements adding the onkeydown handler as you go. This way you can reuse the code.

If you can I would reconsider doing this: the default action of pressing <Enter> while in a form submits the form and anything you do to change this default action / expected behaviour could cause some usability issues with the site.

I had a simular need. Here is what I did:

  <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
function convertEnterToTab() {
if(event.keyCode==13) {
event.keyCode = 9;
}
}
document.onkeydown = convertEnterToTab;
</script>

Changing this behaviour actually creates a far better user experience than the default behaviour implemented natively. Consider that the behaviour of the enter key is already inconsistent from the user's point of view, because in a single line input, enter tends to submit a form, while in a multi-line textarea, it simply adds a newline to the contents of the field.

I recently did it like this (uses jQuery):

$('input.enterastab, select.enterastab, textarea.enterastab').live('keydown', function(e) {
if (e.keyCode==13) {
var focusable = $('input,a,select,button,textarea').filter(':visible');
focusable.eq(focusable.index(this)+1).focus();
return false;
}
});

This is not terribly efficient, but works well enough and is reliable - just add the 'enterastab' class to any input element that should behave in this way.

I've had a similar problem, where I wanted to press + on the numpad to tab to the next field. Now I've released a library that I think will help you.

PlusAsTab: A jQuery plugin to use the numpad plus key as a tab key equivalent.

Since you want enter/↵ instead, you can set the options. Find out which key you want to use with the jQuery event.which demo.

JoelPurra.PlusAsTab.setOptions({
// Use enter instead of plus
// Number 13 found through demo at
// https://api.jquery.com/event.which/
key: 13
});


// Matches all inputs with name "a[]" (needs some character escaping)
$('input[name=a\\[\\]]').plusAsTab();

You can try it out yourself in the PlusAsTab enter as tab demo.

I used the logic suggested by Andrew which is very effective. And this is my version:

$('body').on('keydown', 'input, select', function(e) {
if (e.key === "Enter") {
var self = $(this), form = self.parents('form:eq(0)'), focusable, next;
focusable = form.find('input,a,select,button,textarea').filter(':visible');
next = focusable.eq(focusable.index(this)+1);
if (next.length) {
next.focus();
} else {
form.submit();
}
return false;
}
});

KeyboardEvent's keycode (i.e: e.keycode) depreciation notice :- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent/keyCode

I have it working in only JavaScript. Firefox won't let you update the keyCode, so all you can do is trap keyCode 13 and force it to focus on the next element by tabIndex as if keyCode 9 was pressed. The tricky part is finding the next tabIndex. I have tested this only on IE8-IE10 and Firefox and it works:

function ModifyEnterKeyPressAsTab(event)
{
var caller;
var key;
if (window.event)
{
caller = window.event.srcElement; //Get the event caller in IE.
key = window.event.keyCode; //Get the keycode in IE.
}
else
{
caller = event.target; //Get the event caller in Firefox.
key = event.which; //Get the keycode in Firefox.
}
if (key == 13) //Enter key was pressed.
{
cTab = caller.tabIndex; //caller tabIndex.
maxTab = 0; //highest tabIndex (start at 0 to change)
minTab = cTab; //lowest tabIndex (this may change, but start at caller)
allById = document.getElementsByTagName("input"); //Get input elements.
allByIndex = []; //Storage for elements by index.
c = 0; //index of the caller in allByIndex (start at 0 to change)
i = 0; //generic indexer for allByIndex;
for (id in allById) //Loop through all the input elements by id.
{
allByIndex[i] = allById[id]; //Set allByIndex.
tab = allByIndex[i].tabIndex;
if (caller == allByIndex[i])
c = i; //Get the index of the caller.
if (tab > maxTab)
maxTab = tab; //Get the highest tabIndex on the page.
if (tab < minTab && tab >= 0)
minTab = tab; //Get the lowest positive tabIndex on the page.
i++;
}
//Loop through tab indexes from caller to highest.
for (tab = cTab; tab <= maxTab; tab++)
{
//Look for this tabIndex from the caller to the end of page.
for (i = c + 1; i < allByIndex.length; i++)
{
if (allByIndex[i].tabIndex == tab)
{
allByIndex[i].focus(); //Move to that element and stop.
return;
}
}
//Look for the next tabIndex from the start of page to the caller.
for (i = 0; i < c; i++)
{
if (allByIndex[i].tabIndex == tab + 1)
{
allByIndex[i].focus(); //Move to that element and stop.
return;
}
}
//Continue searching from the caller for the next tabIndex.
}


//The caller was the last element with the highest tabIndex,
//so find the first element with the lowest tabIndex.
for (i = 0; i < allByIndex.length; i++)
{
if (allByIndex[i].tabIndex == minTab)
{
allByIndex[i].focus(); //Move to that element and stop.
return;
}
}
}
}

To use this code, add it to your html input tag:

<input id="SomeID" onkeydown="ModifyEnterKeyPressAsTab(event);" ... >

Or add it to an element in javascript:

document.getElementById("SomeID").onKeyDown = ModifyEnterKeyPressAsTab;

A couple other notes:

I only needed it to work on my input elements, but you could extend it to other document elements if you need to. For this, getElementsByClassName is very helpful, but that is a whole other topic.

A limitation is that it only tabs between the elements that you have added to your allById array. It does not tab around to the other things that your browser might, like toolbars and menus outside your html document. Perhaps this is a feature instead of a limitation. If you like, trap keyCode 9 and this behavior will work with the tab key too.

I reworked the OPs solution into a Knockout binding and thought I'd share it. Thanks very much :-)

Here's a Fiddle

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/knockout/knockout-2.2.1.js" type="text/javascript"></script>




</head>
<body>


<div data-bind="nextFieldOnEnter:true">
<input type="text" />
<input type="text" />
<select>
<option value="volvo">Volvo</option>
<option value="saab">Saab</option>
<option value="mercedes">Mercedes</option>
<option value="audi">Audi</option>
</select>
<input type="text" />
<input type="text" />
</div>




<script type="text/javascript">
ko.bindingHandlers.nextFieldOnEnter = {
init: function(element, valueAccessor, allBindingsAccessor) {
$(element).on('keydown', 'input, select', function (e) {
var self = $(this)
, form = $(element)
, focusable
, next
;
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
focusable = form.find('input,a,select,button,textarea').filter(':visible');
var nextIndex = focusable.index(this) == focusable.length -1 ? 0 : focusable.index(this) + 1;
next = focusable.eq(nextIndex);
next.focus();
return false;
}
});
}
};


ko.applyBindings({});
</script>
</body>
</html>

You can use my code below, tested in Mozilla, IE, and Chrome

   // Use to act like tab using enter key
$.fn.enterkeytab=function(){
$(this).on('keydown', 'input, select,', function(e) {
var self = $(this)
, form = self.parents('form:eq(0)')
, focusable
, next
;
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
focusable = form.find('input,a,select,button').filter(':visible');
next = focusable.eq(focusable.index(this)+1);
if (next.length) {
next.focus();
} else {
alert("wd");
//form.submit();
}
return false;
}
});


}

How to Use?

$("#form").enterkeytab(); // enter key tab

Thank you for the good script.

I have just added the shift event on the above function to go back between elements, I thought someone may need this.

$('body').on('keydown', 'input, select, textarea', function(e) {
var self = $(this)
, form = self.parents('form:eq(0)')
, focusable
, next
, prev
;


if (e.shiftKey) {
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
focusable =   form.find('input,a,select,button,textarea').filter(':visible');
prev = focusable.eq(focusable.index(this)-1);


if (prev.length) {
prev.focus();
} else {
form.submit();
}
}
}
else
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
focusable = form.find('input,a,select,button,textarea').filter(':visible');
next = focusable.eq(focusable.index(this)+1);
if (next.length) {
next.focus();
} else {
form.submit();
}
return false;
}
});

Here is an angular.js directive to make enter go to the next field using the other answers as inspiration. There is some, perhaps, odd looking code here because I only use the jQlite packaged with angular. I believe most of the features here work in all browsers > IE8.

angular.module('myapp', [])
.directive('pdkNextInputOnEnter', function() {
var includeTags = ['INPUT', 'SELECT'];


function link(scope, element, attrs) {
element.on('keydown', function (e) {
// Go to next form element on enter and only for included tags
if (e.keyCode == 13 && includeTags.indexOf(e.target.tagName) != -1) {
// Find all form elements that can receive focus
var focusable = element[0].querySelectorAll('input,select,button,textarea');


// Get the index of the currently focused element
var currentIndex = Array.prototype.indexOf.call(focusable, e.target)


// Find the next items in the list
var nextIndex = currentIndex == focusable.length - 1 ? 0 : currentIndex + 1;


// Focus the next element
if(nextIndex >= 0 && nextIndex < focusable.length)
focusable[nextIndex].focus();


return false;
}
});
}


return {
restrict: 'A',
link: link
};
});

Here's how I use it in the app I'm working on, by just adding the pdk-next-input-on-enter directive on an element. I am using a barcode scanner to enter data into fields, the default function of the scanner is to emulate a keayboard, injecting an enter key after typing the data of the scanned barcode.

There is one side-effect to this code (a positive one for my use-case), if it moves focus onto a button, the enter keyup event will cause the button's action to be activated. This worked really well for my flow as the last form element in my markup is a button that I want activated once all the fields have been "tabbed" through by scanning barcodes.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app=myapp>
<head>
<script src="angular.min.js"></script>
<script src="controller.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="LabelPrintingController">
<div class='.container' pdk-next-input-on-enter>
<select ng-options="p for p in partNumbers" ng-model="selectedPart" ng-change="selectedPartChanged()"></select>
<h2>\{\{labelDocument.SerialNumber}}</h2>
<div ng-show="labelDocument.ComponentSerials">
<b>Component Serials</b>
<ul>
<li ng-repeat="serial in labelDocument.ComponentSerials">
\{\{serial.name}}<br/>
<input type="text" ng-model="serial.value" />
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<button ng-click="printLabel()">Print</button>
</div>
</body>
</html>

There are problems with all of the implementations given here. Some don't work properly with textareas and submit buttons, most don't allow you to use shift to go backwards, none of them use tabindexes if you have them, and none of them wrap around from the last to the first or the first to the last.

To have the [enter] key act like the [tab] key but still work properly with text areas and submit buttons use the following code. In addition this code allows you to use the shift key to go backwards and the tabbing wraps around front to back and back to front.

Source code: https://github.com/mikbe/SaneEnterKey

CoffeeScript

mbsd_sane_enter_key = ->
input_types = "input, select, button, textarea"
$("body").on "keydown", input_types, (e) ->
enter_key = 13
tab_key = 9


if e.keyCode in [tab_key, enter_key]
self = $(this)


# some controls should just press enter when pressing enter
if e.keyCode == enter_key and (self.prop('type') in ["submit", "textarea"])
return true


form = self.parents('form:eq(0)')


# Sort by tab indexes if they exist
tab_index = parseInt(self.attr('tabindex'))
if tab_index
input_array = form.find("[tabindex]").filter(':visible').sort((a,b) ->
parseInt($(a).attr('tabindex')) - parseInt($(b).attr('tabindex'))
)
else
input_array = form.find(input_types).filter(':visible')


# reverse the direction if using shift
move_direction = if e.shiftKey then -1 else 1
new_index = input_array.index(this) + move_direction


# wrap around the controls
if new_index == input_array.length
new_index = 0
else if new_index == -1
new_index = input_array.length - 1


move_to = input_array.eq(new_index)
move_to.focus()
move_to.select()


false


$(window).on 'ready page:load', ->
mbsd_sane_enter_key()

JavaScript

var mbsd_sane_enter_key = function() {
var input_types;
input_types = "input, select, button, textarea";


return $("body").on("keydown", input_types, function(e) {
var enter_key, form, input_array, move_direction, move_to, new_index, self, tab_index, tab_key;
enter_key = 13;
tab_key = 9;


if (e.keyCode === tab_key || e.keyCode === enter_key) {
self = $(this);


// some controls should react as designed when pressing enter
if (e.keyCode === enter_key && (self.prop('type') === "submit" || self.prop('type') === "textarea")) {
return true;
}


form = self.parents('form:eq(0)');


// Sort by tab indexes if they exist
tab_index = parseInt(self.attr('tabindex'));
if (tab_index) {
input_array = form.find("[tabindex]").filter(':visible').sort(function(a, b) {
return parseInt($(a).attr('tabindex')) - parseInt($(b).attr('tabindex'));
});
} else {
input_array = form.find(input_types).filter(':visible');
}


// reverse the direction if using shift
move_direction = e.shiftKey ? -1 : 1;
new_index = input_array.index(this) + move_direction;


// wrap around the controls
if (new_index === input_array.length) {
new_index = 0;
} else if (new_index === -1) {
new_index = input_array.length - 1;
}


move_to = input_array.eq(new_index);
move_to.focus();
move_to.select();
return false;
}
});
};


$(window).on('ready page:load', function() {
mbsd_sane_enter_key();
}

Map [Enter] key to work like the [Tab] key

I've rewritten Andre Van Zuydam's answer, which didn't work for me, in jQuery. This caputures both Enter and Shift+Enter. Enter tabs forward, and Shift+Enter tabs back.

I've also rewritten the way self is initialized by the current item in focus. The form is also selected that way. Here's the code:

// Map [Enter] key to work like the [Tab] key
// Daniel P. Clark 2014


// Catch the keydown for the entire document
$(document).keydown(function(e) {


// Set self as the current item in focus
var self = $(':focus'),
// Set the form by the current item in focus
form = self.parents('form:eq(0)'),
focusable;


// Array of Indexable/Tab-able items
focusable = form.find('input,a,select,button,textarea,div[contenteditable=true]').filter(':visible');


function enterKey(){
if (e.which === 13 && !self.is('textarea,div[contenteditable=true]')) { // [Enter] key


// If not a regular hyperlink/button/textarea
if ($.inArray(self, focusable) && (!self.is('a,button'))){
// Then prevent the default [Enter] key behaviour from submitting the form
e.preventDefault();
} // Otherwise follow the link/button as by design, or put new line in textarea


// Focus on the next item (either previous or next depending on shift)
focusable.eq(focusable.index(self) + (e.shiftKey ? -1 : 1)).focus();


return false;
}
}
// We need to capture the [Shift] key and check the [Enter] key either way.
if (e.shiftKey) { enterKey() } else { enterKey() }
});

The reason textarea

is included is because we "do" want to tab into it. Also, once in, we don't want to stop the default behavior of Enter from putting in a new line.

The reason a and button

allow the default action, "and" still focus on the next item, is because they don't always load another page. There can be a trigger/effect on those such as an accordion or tabbed content. So once you trigger the default behavior, and the page does its special effect, you still want to go to the next item since your trigger may have well introduced it.

In all that cases, only works in Chrome and IE, I added the following code to solve that:

var key = (window.event) ? e.keyCode : e.which;

and I tested the key value on if keycode equals 13

    $('body').on('keydown', 'input, select, textarea', function (e) {
var self = $(this)
, form = self.parents('form:eq(0)')
, focusable
, next
;


var key = (window.event) ? e.keyCode : e.which;


if (key == 13) {
focusable = form.find('input,a,select,button,textarea').filter(':visible');
next = focusable.eq(focusable.index(this) + 1);
if (next.length) {
next.focus();
} else {
focusable.click();
}
return false;
}
});

This worked for me:

$(document).on('keydown', ':tabbable', function(e) {


if (e.key === "Enter") {
e.preventDefault();


var $canfocus = $(':tabbable:visible');
var index = $canfocus.index(document.activeElement) + 1;


if (index >= $canfocus.length) index = 0;
$canfocus.eq(index).focus();
}


});

The simplest vanilla JS snippet I came up with:

document.addEventListener('keydown', function (event) {
if (event.keyCode === 13 && event.target.nodeName === 'INPUT') {
var form = event.target.form;
var index = Array.prototype.indexOf.call(form, event.target);
form.elements[index + 1].focus();
event.preventDefault();
}
});

Works in IE 9+ and modern browsers.

Vanilla js with support for Shift + Enter and ability to choose which HTML tags are focusable. Should work IE9+.

  onKeyUp(e) {
switch (e.keyCode) {
case 13: //Enter
var focusableElements = document.querySelectorAll('input, button')
var index = Array.prototype.indexOf.call(focusableElements, document.activeElement)
if(e.shiftKey)
focus(focusableElements, index - 1)
else
focus(focusableElements, index + 1)


e.preventDefault()
break;
}
function focus(elements, index) {
if(elements[index])
elements[index].focus()
}
}

Try this...

$(document).ready(function () {
$.fn.enterkeytab = function () {
$(this).on('keydown', 'input,select,text,button', function (e) {
var self = $(this)
, form = self.parents('form:eq(0)')
, focusable
, next
;
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
focusable = form.find('input,a,select').filter(':visible');
next = focusable.eq(focusable.index(this) + 1);
if (next.length) {
//if disable try get next 10 fields
if (next.is(":disabled")){
for(i=2;i<10;i++){
next = focusable.eq(focusable.index(this) + i);
if (!next.is(":disabled"))
break;
}
}
next.focus();
}
return false;
}
});
}
$("form").enterkeytab();
});

Many answers here uses e.keyCode and e.which that are deprecated.

Instead you should use e.key === 'Enter'.

Documentation: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent/keyCode

• I'm sorry but I can't test these snippets just now. Will come back later after testing it.

With HTML:

<body onkeypress="if(event.key==='Enter' && event.target.form){focusNextElement(event); return false;}">

With jQuery:

$(window).on('keypress', function (ev)
{
if (ev.key === "Enter" && ev.currentTarget.form) focusNextElement(ev)
}

And with Vanilla JS:

document.addEventListener('keypress', function (ev) {
if (ev.key === "Enter" && ev.currentTarget.form) focusNextElement(ev);
});

You can take focusNextElement() function from here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/35173443/3356679

Here's what I came up with.

form.addEventListener("submit", (e) => { //On Submit
let key = e.charCode || e.keyCode || 0 //get the key code
if (key = 13) { //If enter key
e.preventDefault()
const inputs = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll("form input")) //Get array of inputs
let nextInput = inputs[inputs.indexOf(document.activeElement) + 1] //get index of input after the current input
nextInput.focus() //focus new input
}
}

$("#form input , select , textarea").keypress(function(e){
if(e.keyCode == 13){
var enter_position = $(this).index();
$("#form input , select , textarea").eq(enter_position+1).focus();
}
});

Easiest way to solve this problem with the focus function of JavaScript as follows:

You can copy and try it @ home!

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" dir="ltr">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>


<input id="input1" type="text" onkeypress="pressEnter()" />
<input id="input2" type="text" onkeypress="pressEnter2()" />
<input id="input3" type="text"/>


<script type="text/javascript">
function pressEnter() {
// Key Code for ENTER = 13
if ((event.keyCode == 13)) {
document.getElementById("input2").focus({preventScroll:false});
}
}
function pressEnter2() {
if ((event.keyCode == 13)) {
document.getElementById("input3").focus({preventScroll:false});
}
}
</script>


</body>
</html>

function return2tab (div)
{
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (ev) {
if (ev.key === "Enter" && ev.target.nodeName === 'INPUT') {


var focusableElementsString = 'a[href], area[href], input:not([disabled]), select:not([disabled]), textarea:not([disabled]), button:not([disabled]), iframe, object, embed, [tabindex="0"], [contenteditable]';


let ol= div.querySelectorAll(focusableElementsString);


for (let i=0; i<ol.length; i++) {
if (ol[i] === ev.target) {
let o= i<ol.length-1? ol[i+1]: o[0];
o.focus(); break;
}
}
ev.preventDefault();
}
});
}