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HTML accesskey Attribute


Definition and Usage

The accesskey attribute specifies a shortcut key to activate/focus an element.

Note: The way of accessing the shortcut key is varying in different browsers: 

Browser Windows Linux Mac
Internet Explorer [Alt] + accesskey N/A
Chrome [Alt] + accesskey [Alt] + accesskey [Control] [Alt] + accesskey
Firefox [Alt] [Shift] + accesskey [Alt] [Shift] + accesskey [Control] [Alt] + accesskey
Safari [Alt] + accesskey N/A [Control] [Alt] + accesskey
Opera Opera 15 or newer: [Alt] + accesskey
Opera 12.1 or older: [Shift] [Esc] + accesskey

However, in most browsers the shortcut can be set to another combination of keys.

Tip: The behavior if more than one element has the same access key differs:

  • IE, Firefox: The next element with the pressed access key will be activated
  • Chrome, Safari: The last element with the pressed access key will be activated
  • Opera: The first element with the pressed access key will be activated

Applies to

The accesskey is part of the Global Attributes, and can be used on any HTML element.

Element Attribute
All HTML elements accesskey

Example

Two hyperlinks with specified accesskeys:

<a href="https://www.w3schools.com/html5" accesskey="h">HTML5</a><br>
<a href="https://www.w3schools.com/css3" accesskey="c">CSS3</a>
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Browser Support

Attribute
accesskey Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes