js onkeypress not working until next input

user_8805742 0
Viewed 161

I am trying to insert a hyphen when the input size is exactly two. Here is my code

document.getElementById('numberInput').onkeypress = function() {
  if (this.value.length == 2) {
    this.value = this.value + '-';
  }
}
<input type="text" id="numberInput">

But the problem is the - doesn't appears until third character is inputted. Although the hyphen is placed properly, i mean after two characters.

How can i get hyphen right after entering two characters?

I tried onkeyup but the problem is it also fires when i press backspace button. When there are two characters, the hyphen appears but at that point if I press backspace and delete the hyphen it immediately comes back. So i choose onkeypress

javascript
3 Answers

the value of the input text box, during onKeyPress is always the value before the change. This allows the event listener to cancel the keypress.

To get the value after the field value has been updated, schedule a function to run on the next event loop. The usual way to do this is to call setTimeout with a timeout of 0:

document.getElementById('numberInput').onkeypress = function() {
  // arrow function keeps scope
  setTimeout(() => {
    // now it is the value after the keypress
    if (this.value.length == 2) {
      this.value = this.value + '-';
    }
  }, 0);
}
<input type="text" id="numberInput">

user_79411600

Why not hook onto the input event instead?

document.getElementById("numberInput")
  .addEventListener("input", function(e) {
    if (e.target.length === 2) {
      e.target.value += "-";
    }
  });
user_52804090

This is happening because of event loop. this.value is updated only after key press. So in this case you always end up with old state. I would recommend using other listener method, in this case oninput. And retrieving latest input value throughout function parameters

In your case fix would be:

document.getElementById('numberInput').oninput = function (event) {
  if (event.target.value.length === 2) {
    this.value = event.target.value + '-'
  }
}
user_144031960
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