pub struct KeySequence<'a> { /* private fields */ }
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Notice these docs are heavy WIP and not very relevent yet

In its most common form, a key sequence describes a combination of keys that must be used together to perform some action. Key sequences are used with QAction objects to specify which keyboard shortcuts can be used to trigger actions.

Key sequences can be constructed for use as keyboard shortcuts in three different ways:

  • For standard shortcuts, a standard key can be used to request the platform-specific key sequence associated with each shortcut.
  • For custom shortcuts, human-readable strings such as “Ctrl+X” can be used, and these can be translated into the appropriate shortcuts for users of different languages. Translations are made in the “QShortcut” context.
  • For hard-coded shortcuts, integer key codes can be specified with a combination of values defined by the Qt::Key and Qt::Modifier enum values. Each key code consists of a single Qt::Key value and zero or more modifiers, such as Qt::SHIFT, Qt::CTRL, Qt::ALT and Qt::META.

For example, {Ctrl P} might be a sequence used as a shortcut for printing a document, and can be specified in any of the following ways:

Note that, for letters, the case used in the specification string does not matter. In the above examples, the user does not need to hold down the {Shift} key to activate a shortcut specified with . However, for other keys, the use of {Shift} as an unspecified extra modifier key can lead to confusion for users of an application whose keyboards have different layouts to those used by the developers. See the Keyboard Layout Issues section below for more details.

It is preferable to use standard shortcuts where possible. When creating key sequences for non-standard shortcuts, you should use human-readable strings in preference to hard-coded integer values.

QKeySequence objects can be cast to a QString to obtain a human-readable translated version of the sequence. Similarly, the toString() function produces human-readable strings for use in menus. On MacOS , the appropriate symbols are used to describe keyboard shortcuts using special keys on the Macintosh keyboard.

An alternative way to specify hard-coded key codes is to use the Unicode code point of the character; for example, ‘A’ gives the same key sequence as Qt::Key_A.

Note: On MacOS , references to , Qt::CTRL, Qt::Key_Control and Qt::ControlModifier correspond to the Command keys on the Macintosh keyboard, and references to , Qt::META, Qt::Key_Meta and Qt::MetaModifier correspond to the Control keys. Developers on MacOS can use the same shortcut descriptions across all platforms, and their applications will automatically work as expected on MacOS .

Standard Shortcuts

QKeySequence defines many standard keyboard shortcuts to reduce the amount of effort required when setting up actions in a typical application. The table below shows some common key sequences that are often used for these standard shortcuts by applications on four widely-used platforms. Note that on MacOS , the Ctrl value corresponds to the Command keys on the Macintosh keyboard, and the Meta value corresponds to the Control keys.

  • StandardKey

  • Windows

  • MacOS

  • KDE Plasma

  • GNOME

  • HelpContents

  • F1

  • Ctrl+?

  • F1

  • WhatsThis

  • Shift+F1

  • Open

  • Ctrl+O

  • Close

  • Ctrl+F4, Ctrl+W

  • Ctrl+W, Ctrl+F4

  • Ctrl+W

  • Save

  • Ctrl+S

  • Quit

  • Ctrl+Q

  • SaveAs

  • Ctrl+Shift+S

  • Ctrl+Shift+S

  • New

  • Ctrl+N

  • Delete

  • Del

  • Del, Meta+D

  • Del, Ctrl+D

  • Cut

  • Ctrl+X, Shift+Del

  • Ctrl+X, Meta+K

  • Ctrl+X, F20, Shift+Del

  • Copy

  • Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Ins

  • Ctrl+C

  • Ctrl+C, F16, Ctrl+Ins

  • Paste

  • Ctrl+V, Shift+Ins

  • Ctrl+V, Meta+Y

  • Ctrl+V, F18, Shift+Ins

  • Preferences

  • Ctrl+,

  • Undo

  • Ctrl+Z, Alt+Backspace

  • Ctrl+Z

  • Ctrl+Z, F14

  • Redo

  • Ctrl+Y, Shift+Ctrl+Z, Alt+Shift+Backspace

  • Ctrl+Shift+Z

  • Back

  • Alt+Left, Backspace

  • Ctrl+[

  • Alt+Left

  • Forward

  • Alt+Right, Shift+Backspace

  • Ctrl+]

  • Alt+Right

  • Refresh

  • F5

  • Ctrl+R, F5

  • ZoomIn

  • Ctrl+Plus

  • ZoomOut

  • Ctrl+Minus

  • FullScreen

  • F11, Alt+Enter

  • Ctrl+Meta+F

  • F11, Ctrl+Shift+F

  • Ctrl+F11

  • Print

  • Ctrl+P

  • AddTab

  • Ctrl+T

  • Ctrl+Shift+N, Ctrl+T

  • Ctrl+T

  • NextChild

  • Ctrl+Tab, Forward, Ctrl+F6

  • Ctrl+}, Forward, Ctrl+Tab

  • Ctrl+Tab, Forward, Ctrl+Comma

  • Ctrl+Tab, Forward

  • PreviousChild

  • Ctrl+Shift+Tab, Back, Ctrl+Shift+F6

  • Ctrl+{, Back, Ctrl+Shift+Tab

  • Ctrl+Shift+Tab, Back, Ctrl+Period

  • Ctrl+Shift+Tab, Back

  • Find

  • Ctrl+F

  • FindNext

  • F3, Ctrl+G

  • Ctrl+G

  • F3

  • Ctrl+G, F3

  • FindPrevious

  • Shift+F3, Ctrl+Shift+G

  • Ctrl+Shift+G

  • Shift+F3

  • Ctrl+Shift+G, Shift+F3

  • Replace

  • Ctrl+H

  • (none)

  • Ctrl+R

  • Ctrl+H

  • SelectAll

  • Ctrl+A

  • Deselect

  • Ctrl+Shift+A

  • Bold

  • Ctrl+B

  • Italic

  • Ctrl+I

  • Underline

  • Ctrl+U

  • MoveToNextChar

  • Right

  • Right, Meta+F

  • Right

  • MoveToPreviousChar

  • Left

  • Left, Meta+B

  • Left

  • MoveToNextWord

  • Ctrl+Right

  • Alt+Right

  • Ctrl+Right

  • MoveToPreviousWord

  • Ctrl+Left

  • Alt+Left

  • Ctrl+Left

  • MoveToNextLine

  • Down

  • Down, Meta+N

  • Down

  • MoveToPreviousLine

  • Up

  • Up, Meta+P

  • Up

  • MoveToNextPage

  • PgDown

  • PgDown, Alt+PgDown, Meta+Down, Meta+PgDown, Meta+V

  • PgDown

  • MoveToPreviousPage

  • PgUp

  • PgUp, Alt+PgUp, Meta+Up, Meta+PgUp

  • PgUp

  • MoveToStartOfLine

  • Home

  • Ctrl+Left, Meta+Left

  • Home

  • MoveToEndOfLine

  • End

  • Ctrl+Right, Meta+Right

  • End, Ctrl+E

  • MoveToStartOfBlock

  • (none)

  • Alt+Up, Meta+A

  • (none)

  • MoveToEndOfBlock

  • (none)

  • Alt+Down, Meta+E

  • (none)

  • MoveToStartOfDocument

  • Ctrl+Home

  • Ctrl+Up, Home

  • Ctrl+Home

  • MoveToEndOfDocument

  • Ctrl+End

  • Ctrl+Down, End

  • Ctrl+End

  • SelectNextChar

  • Shift+Right

  • SelectPreviousChar

  • Shift+Left

  • SelectNextWord

  • Ctrl+Shift+Right

  • Alt+Shift+Right

  • Ctrl+Shift+Right

  • SelectPreviousWord

  • Ctrl+Shift+Left

  • Alt+Shift+Left

  • Ctrl+Shift+Left

  • SelectNextLine

  • Shift+Down

  • SelectPreviousLine

  • Shift+Up

  • SelectNextPage

  • Shift+PgDown

  • SelectPreviousPage

  • Shift+PgUp

  • SelectStartOfLine

  • Shift+Home

  • Ctrl+Shift+Left

  • Shift+Home

  • SelectEndOfLine

  • Shift+End

  • Ctrl+Shift+Right

  • Shift+End

  • SelectStartOfBlock

  • (none)

  • Alt+Shift+Up, Meta+Shift+A

  • (none)

  • SelectEndOfBlock

  • (none)

  • Alt+Shift+Down, Meta+Shift+E

  • (none)

  • SelectStartOfDocument

  • Ctrl+Shift+Home

  • Ctrl+Shift+Up, Shift+Home

  • Ctrl+Shift+Home

  • SelectEndOfDocument

  • Ctrl+Shift+End

  • Ctrl+Shift+Down, Shift+End

  • Ctrl+Shift+End

  • DeleteStartOfWord

  • Ctrl+Backspace

  • Alt+Backspace

  • Ctrl+Backspace

  • DeleteEndOfWord

  • Ctrl+Del

  • (none)

  • Ctrl+Del

  • DeleteEndOfLine

  • (none)

  • Ctrl+K

  • DeleteCompleteLine

  • (none)

  • Ctrl+U

  • InsertParagraphSeparator

  • Enter

  • InsertLineSeparator

  • Shift+Enter

  • Meta+Enter, Meta+O

  • Shift+Enter

  • Backspace

  • (none)

  • Meta+H

  • (none)

  • Cancel

  • Escape

  • Escape, Ctrl+.

  • Escape

Note that, since the key sequences used for the standard shortcuts differ between platforms, you still need to test your shortcuts on each platform to ensure that you do not unintentionally assign the same key sequence to many actions.

Keyboard Layout Issues

Many key sequence specifications are chosen by developers based on the layout of certain types of keyboard, rather than choosing keys that represent the first letter of an action’s name, such as {Ctrl S} (“Ctrl+S”) or {Ctrl C} (“Ctrl+C”). Additionally, because certain symbols can only be entered with the help of modifier keys on certain keyboard layouts, key sequences intended for use with one keyboard layout may map to a different key, map to no keys at all, or require an additional modifier key to be used on different keyboard layouts.

For example, the shortcuts, {Ctrl plus} and {Ctrl minus}, are often used as shortcuts for zoom operations in graphics applications, and these may be specified as and respectively. However, the way these shortcuts are specified and interpreted depends on the keyboard layout. Users of Norwegian keyboards will note that the {+} and {-} keys are not adjacent on the keyboard, but will still be able to activate both shortcuts without needing to press the {Shift} key. However, users with British keyboards will need to hold down the {Shift} key to enter the {+} symbol, making the shortcut effectively the same as

Although some developers might resort to fully specifying all the modifiers they use on their keyboards to activate a shortcut, this will also result in unexpected behavior for users of different keyboard layouts.

For example, a developer using a British keyboard may decide to specify as the key sequence in order to create a shortcut that coincidentally behaves in the same way as {Ctrl plus}. However, the {=} key needs to be accessed using the {Shift} key on Norwegian keyboard, making the required shortcut effectively {Ctrl Shift Shift =} (an impossible key combination).

As a result, both human-readable strings and hard-coded key codes can both be problematic to use when specifying a key sequence that can be used on a variety of different keyboard layouts. Only the use of standard shortcuts

guarantees that the user will be able to use the shortcuts that the developer intended.

Despite this, we can address this issue by ensuring that human-readable strings are used, making it possible for translations of key sequences to be made for users of different languages. This approach will be successful for users whose keyboards have the most typical layout for the language they are using.

GNU Emacs Style Key Sequences

Key sequences similar to those used in GNU Emacs , allowing up to four key codes, can be created by using the multiple argument constructor, or by passing a human-readable string of comma-separated key sequences.

For example, the key sequence, {Ctrl X} followed by {Ctrl C}, can be specified using either of the following ways:

Warning: A QApplication instance must have been constructed before a QKeySequence is created; otherwise, your application may crash.

See also: [Shortcut]

Licence

The documentation is an adoption of the original Qt Documentation and provided herein is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software Foundation.

Implementations

Returns the number of keys in the key sequence. The maximum is 4.

Returns true if the key sequence is empty; otherwise returns false.

Matches the sequence with seq. Returns ExactMatch if successful, PartialMatch if seq matches incompletely, and NoMatch if the sequences have nothing in common. Returns NoMatch if seq is shorter.

Returns the shortcut key sequence for the mnemonic in text, or an empty key sequence if no mnemonics are found.

For example, mnemonic(“E&xit”) returns Qt::ALT+Qt::Key_X , mnemonic(“&Quit”) returns ALT+Key_Q , and mnemonic(“Quit”) returns an empty QKeySequence.

We provide a list of common mnemonics

in English. At the time of writing, Microsoft and Open Group do not appear to have issued equivalent recommendations for other languages.

Returns a list of key bindings for the given key. The result of calling this function will vary based on the target platform. The first element of the list indicates the primary shortcut for the given platform. If the result contains more than one result, these can be considered alternative shortcuts on the same platform for the given key.

Swaps key sequence other with this key sequence. This operation is very fast and never fails.

Trait Implementations

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