List of Keys, Mouse Buttons, and Joystick Controls


Mouse (mouse hotkeys require Windows NT/2000/XP or later)

LButton - the left mouse button
RButton - the right mouse button
MButton - the middle or wheel mouse button

WheelDown - this is equivalent to rotating the mouse wheel down (toward you)
WheelUp - the opposite of the above. When WheelDown/Up are used as hotkeys, A_EventInfo contains the number of turns/notches.

Supported only in Windows 2000/XP or later:
XButton1 - a button that appears only on certain mice
XButton2 - a button that appears only on certain mice

Keyboard

Note: The names of the letter and number keys are the same as that single letter or digit. For example: b is the "b" key and 5 is the "5" key.

Space - the spacebar
Tab
Enter (or Return)
Escape (or Esc)
Backspace (or BS)

Delete (or Del)
Insert (or Ins)
Home
End
PgUp
PgDn
Up
Down
Left
Right

ScrollLock
CapsLock
NumLock

NumpadDiv - the slash key
NumpadMult - the asterisk key
NumpadAdd - the plus key
NumpadSub - the minus key
NumpadEnter - the Enter key

The following keys are used when Numlock is OFF:
NumpadDel
NumpadIns
NumpadClear - same physical key as Numpad5 on most keyboards
NumpadUp
NumpadDown
NumpadLeft
NumpadRight
NumpadHome
NumpadEnd
NumpadPgUp
NumpadPgDn

The following keys are used when Numlock is ON:
Numpad0
Numpad1
Numpad2
Numpad3
Numpad4
Numpad5
Numpad6
Numpad7
Numpad8
Numpad9
NumpadDot - the decimal point (period) key

F1 through F24 - The 12 or more function keys at the top of most keyboards.

AppsKey - this is the key that invokes the right-click context menu.

LWin - the left windows key
RWin - the right windows key. Note: unlike Control/Alt/Shift, there is no generic/neutral "Win" key because the OS does not support it.
Control (or Ctrl)
Alt
Shift
Note: The hotkeys Shift::, Alt::, and Control:: fire upon release of the key unless they have the tilde prefix such as ~Alt::. By contrast, a specific left or right hotkey such as LAlt:: fires upon press-down.

Note: For the most part, these next 6 keys are not supported by Windows 95/98/Me. Use the above instead:
LControl (or LCtrl) - the left control key
RControl (or RCtrl) - the right control key
LShift
RShift
LAlt - the left Alt key
RAlt - Note: If your keyboard layout has AltGr instead of RAlt, you can probably use it as a hotkey prefix via <^>! as described here. In addition, "LControl & RAlt::" would make AltGr itself into a hotkey.

PrintScreen
CtrlBreak
Pause
Break -- Since this is synonymous with Pause, use ^CtrlBreak in hotkeys instead of ^Pause or ^Break.

Help - this probably doesn't exist on most keyboards. It's usually not the same as F1.
Sleep - note that the sleep key on some keyboards might not work with this.

The following exist only on Multimedia or Internet keyboards that have extra buttons or keys:
Browser_Back
Browser_Forward
Browser_Refresh
Browser_Stop
Browser_Search
Browser_Favorites
Browser_Home
Volume_Mute
Volume_Down
Volume_Up
Media_Next
Media_Prev
Media_Stop
Media_Play_Pause
Launch_Mail
Launch_Media
Launch_App1
Launch_App2

SCnnn (where nnn is the scan code of a key) - Recognizes unusual keys not mentioned above. See Special Keys for details.

VKnn (where nn is the hexadecimal virtual key code of a key) - Although this rarely-used method is supported in all versions, only in v1.0.38.02+ does it prevent certain types of hotkeys from requiring the keyboard hook. For example, the following hotkey does not use the keyboard hook, but as a side-effect it is triggered by pressing either Home or NumpadHome: ^VK24::MsgBox You pressed Home or NumpadHome while holding down Control.

Joystick

Joy1 through Joy32: The buttons of the joystick. To help determine the button numbers for your joystick, use this test script. Note that hotkey prefix symbols such as ^ (control) and + (shift) are not supported (though GetKeyState can be used as a substitute). Also note that the pressing of joystick buttons always "passes through" to the active window if that window is designed to detect the pressing of joystick buttons.

Although the following Joystick control names cannot be used as hotkeys, they can be used with GetKeyState:
JoyX, JoyY, and JoyZ: The X (horizontal), Y (vertical), and Z (altitude/depth) axes of the joystick.
JoyR: The rudder or 4th axis of the joystick.
JoyU and JoyV: The 5th and 6th axes of the joystick.
JoyPOV: The point-of-view (hat) control.
JoyName: The name of the joystick or its driver.
JoyButtons: The number of buttons supported by the joystick (not always accurate).
JoyAxes: The number of axes supported by the joystick.
JoyInfo: Provides a string consisting of zero or more of the following letters to indicate the joystick's capabilities: Z (has Z axis), R (has R axis), U (has U axis), V (has V axis), P (has POV control), D (the POV control has a limited number of discrete/distinct settings), C (the POV control is continous/fine). Example string: ZRUVPD

Multiple Joysticks: If the computer has more than one and you want to use one beyond the first, include the joystick number in front of the control name. For example, 2joy1 is the second joystick's first button.

Note: If you have trouble getting a script to recognize your joystick, one person reported needing to specify a joystick number other than 1 even though only a single joystick was present. It is unclear how this situation arises or whether it is normal, but experimenting with the joystick number in the joystick test script can help determine if this applies to your system.

See Also:
Joystick remapping: methods of sending keystrokes and mouse clicks with a joystick.
Joystick-To-Mouse script: using a joystick as a mouse.

Hand-held Remote Controls

Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script.

Special Keys

If your keyboard or mouse has a key not listed above, you might still be able to make it a hotkey by using the following steps (requires Windows XP/2000/NT or later):

  1. Ensure that at least one script is running that is using the keyboard hook. You can tell if a script has the keyboard hook by opening its main window and selecting "View->Key history" from the menu bar.
  2. Double-click that script's tray icon to open its main window.
  3. Press one of the "mystery keys" on your keyboard.
  4. Select the menu item "View->Key history"
  5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Somewhere near the bottom are the key-down and key-up events for your key. NOTE: Some keys do not generate events and thus will not be visible here. If this is the case, you cannot directly make that particular key a hotkey because your keyboard driver or hardware handles it at a level too low for AutoHotkey to access. For possible solutions, see further below.
  6. If your key is detectible, make a note of the 3-digit hexadecimal value in the second column of the list (e.g. 159).
  7. To define this key as a hotkey, follow this example:
    SC159:: ; Replace 159 with your key's value.
    MsgBox, %A_ThisHotKey% was pressed.
    return

Reverse direction: To remap some other key to become a "mystery key", follow this example:

; Replace 159 with the value discovered above. Replace FF (if needed) with the
; key's virtual key, which can be discovered in the first column of the Key History screen.
#c::Send {vkFFsc159}

Alternate solutions: If your key or mouse button is not detectible by the Key History screen, one of the following might help:

  1. Reconfigure the software that came with your mouse or keyboard (sometimes accessible in the Control Panel or Start Menu) to have the "mystery key" send some other keystroke. Such a keystroke can then be defined as a hotkey in a script. For example, if you configure a mystery key to send Control+F1, you can then indirectly make that key as a hotkey by using ^F1:: in a script.

  2. Try searching the forum or asking for help there. There may be ways to detect certain keys and buttons using techniques such as DllCall, OnMessage, and RegisterRawInputDevices.

  3. The following is a last resort and generally should be attempted only in desperation. This is because the chance of success is low and it may cause unwanted side-effects that are difficult to undo:
    Disable or remove any extra software that came with your keyboard or mouse or change its driver to a more standard one such as the one built into the OS. This assumes there is such a driver for your particular keyboard or mouse and that you can live without the features provided by its custom driver and software.