The SendKeys method sends one or more keystrokes to the active window as if
they were typed at the keyboard. This method is similar to VB's SendKeys
method.
Each ordinary key can be represented by the character of the key itself. For
example, the key sequence ABCD can be represented simply by "ABCD". Some
special keys, such as the control keys, function keys, '{', '}', '[', ']',
etc... are encoded in a string enclosed by braces ({}).
The following table shows the list of special characters and their respective
encoding for SendKeys.
| Key | Code |
| { | {{} |
| } | {}} |
| [ | {[} |
| ] | {]} |
| ~ | {~} |
| + | {+} |
| ^ | {^} |
| % | {%} |
| BACKSPACE | {BACKSPACE}, {BS}, or {BKSP} |
| BREAK | {BREAK} |
| CAPS LOCK | {CAPSLOCK} |
| DEL or DELETE | {DELETE} or {DEL} |
| DOWN ARROW | {DOWN} |
| END | {END} |
| ENTER | {ENTER} or ~ |
| ESC | {ESC} |
| HELP | {HELP} |
| HOME | {HOME} |
| INS or INSERT | {INSERT} or {INS} |
| LEFT ARROW | {LEFT} |
| NUM LOCK | {NUMLOCK} |
| PAGE DOWN | {PGDN} |
| PAGE UP | {PGUP} |
| PRINT SCREEN | {PRTSC} |
| RIGHT ARROW | {RIGHT} |
| SCROLL LOCK | {SCROLLLOCK} |
| TAB | {TAB} |
| UP ARROW | {UP} |
| F1 | {F1} |
| F2 | {F2} |
| F3 | {F3} |
| F4 | {F4} |
| F5 | {F5} |
| F6 | {F6} |
| F7 | {F7} |
| F8 | {F8} |
| F9 | {F9} |
| F10 | {F10} |
| F11 | {F11} |
| F12 | {F12} |
| F13 | {F13} |
| F14 | {F14} |
| F15 | {F15} |
| F16 | {F16} |
To specify keys combined with any combination of the SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT
keys, precede the key code with one or more of the following codes:
| Key | Code |
| + | SHIFT |
| ^ | CTRL |
| % | ALT |
For example, the following strKeyString produces the CTRL-ALT-DELETE
keystroke combination: "^%{DELETE}"
The following VBScript code creates an instance of Notepad and types the
words "Hello World!" ten times into Notepad.
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "notepad", 9
WScript.Sleep 500 ' Give Notepad some time to load
For i = 1 To 10
WshShell.SendKeys "Hello World!"
WshShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"
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