Keyboard test
Press any key to check your keyboard. Keys you have already pressed stay marked, so you can see what is left.
This keyboard test checks all 104 or 105 keys of your board in the browser and reads the physical key position separately from the character it produces, which is why QWERTZ, AZERTY and the Polish programmer layout are drawn the way your board actually is.
The key tester needs a physical keyboard. On a phone, try the typing test instead.
The keyboard is taken over. Hold Esc to leave.
Or simply press any key.
Nothing here yet. Press any key.
Click here to check Esc, F11 and Tab as well. The page goes full screen and takes over the keyboard, and you leave by holding Esc for two seconds.
How to read the keyboard on screen
- Held down now
- Already answered
- Dead key in this layout
- Answered twice
What the check found
Double presses
Not pressed yet
Not pressed is not the same as broken. Work through the list to be sure.
Your last twelve presses
On the left where the key sits, next to it the character that came out. On QWERTZ and AZERTY the two differ, and that is right.
| Place | Character | Side | Gap |
|---|
What the browser will not let you check
The Windows or Command key, Ctrl plus Alt plus Delete, Alt plus Tab, and in some browsers Ctrl plus W and Ctrl plus T belong to the system, and no web page ever gets them. That is a limit of the system, not of this site. Check the Windows key in your system settings, and Ctrl plus Alt plus Delete on the sign in screen.
How this test works
Every press tells the page two things. The first is where the key sits, which never changes when you switch layout in your system. The second is the character that place produces right now. The keyboard on screen is drawn from the place and labelled with the character, so the same key reads Y on one layout and Z on another. Keys marked as dead produce nothing on their own and wait for your next press to build a letter with an accent.
Who this is for
For anyone checking a keyboard before returning it, after a spill, after cleaning it, or before buying a used one. And for anyone who has just changed layout and wants to see where the characters moved.
How to read the result
A key that never lights up has two possible causes: the switch is gone, or the layout does not send it at all. Try the same key in a text field before you decide. Double presses shorter than 45 ms point to a worn switch and usually get worse over the following weeks. A board that stops registering at four or five held keys is normal for cheap membrane models and matters mostly in games.
Layouts, standards and units on this page
- ISO/IEC 9995
- ISO/IEC 9995 is the standard that numbers the key positions and defines the 105 key arrangement used across Europe, where the Enter key is tall and the left Shift is short.
- ANSI, QWERTZ, AZERTY
- ANSI refers to the 104 key arrangement common in the United States, with a wide Enter and a backslash key above it. QWERTZ is the German variant, AZERTY the French one, and the Polish programmer layout keeps the ANSI arrangement and adds nine letters on the right Alt level.
- WPM, CPM, KPH
- WPM means words per minute, counting one word as five characters. CPM means characters per minute. KPH means keystrokes per hour, which is CPM multiplied by sixty and the figure used in German language job adverts.
- Dvorak, Colemak
- Dvorak and Colemak are alternative letter arrangements designed to shorten finger travel. This site does not draw them yet: the five layouts above are the ones it gets right, and naming a layout it cannot draw would be worse than leaving it out.
Where to go next
Updated: