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This is a small post about how to convert key codes to key names and/or convert key names to key codes. Comes with sample code for GameMaker and a generic version.

Mostly published because it covers majority of common and semi-common buttons.

The idea

You fill up a couple of global lookup tables with human-readable names and key codes that you got via experimentation (keyboard_lastkey in GameMaker, keyboard events or even from just polling all available buttons in other languages) and use those later.

If your language of choice has fast and fancy switch statements, you may use those instead, but it is rare that such functionality is used at frequency where performance matters too much.

For GameMaker

First, the initialization. This would have to be done once on game start:

var l_c2s = ds_map_create();
global.keyboard_key_to_name = l_c2s;
var l_s2c = ds_map_create();
global.keyboard_name_to_key = l_s2c;
var l_k, l_c, l_s, l_slq;
l_c2s[?27] = "Escape";
l_s2c[?"escape"] = 27;
l_s2c[?"esc"] = 27;
l_c2s[?32] = "Space";
l_s2c[?"space"] = 32;
l_s2c[?"spacebar"] = 32;
l_c2s[?13] = "Enter";
l_s2c[?"enter"] = 13;
l_s2c[?"return"] = 13;
l_c2s[?37] = "Left";
l_s2c[?"left"] = 37;
l_c2s[?39] = "Right";
l_s2c[?"right"] = 39;
l_c2s[?38] = "Up";
l_s2c[?"up"] = 38;
l_c2s[?40] = "Down";
l_s2c[?"down"] = 40;
l_c2s[?8] = "Backspace";
l_s2c[?"backspace"] = 8;
l_s2c[?"bksp"] = 8;
l_c2s[?9] = "Tab";
l_s2c[?"tab"] = 9;
l_c2s[?16] = "Shift";
l_s2c[?"shift"] = 16;
l_c2s[?17] = "Control";
l_s2c[?"control"] = 17;
l_s2c[?"ctrl"] = 17;
l_c2s[?18] = "Alt";
l_s2c[?"alt"] = 18;
l_c2s[?19] = "Pause";
l_s2c[?"pause"] = 19;
l_s2c[?"break"] = 19;
l_c2s[?20] = "Capslock";
l_s2c[?"capslock"] = 20;
l_s2c[?"caps"] = 20;
l_c2s[?160] = "LeftShift";
l_s2c[?"leftshift"] = 160;
l_s2c[?"lshift"] = 160;
l_c2s[?161] = "RightShift";
l_s2c[?"rightshift"] = 161;
l_s2c[?"rshift"] = 161;
l_c2s[?162] = "LeftControl";
l_s2c[?"leftcontrol"] = 162;
l_s2c[?"lcontrol"] = 162;
l_s2c[?"lctrl"] = 162;
l_c2s[?163] = "RightControl";
l_s2c[?"rightcontrol"] = 163;
l_s2c[?"rcontrol"] = 163;
l_s2c[?"rctrl"] = 163;
l_c2s[?164] = "LeftAlt";
l_s2c[?"leftalt"] = 164;
l_s2c[?"lalt"] = 164;
l_c2s[?165] = "RightAlt";
l_s2c[?"rightalt"] = 165;
l_s2c[?"ralt"] = 165;
l_c2s[?91] = "Windows";
l_s2c[?"windows"] = 91;
l_s2c[?"system"] = 91;
l_s2c[?"win"] = 91;
l_s2c[?"sys"] = 91;
l_c2s[?92] = "RightWindows";
l_s2c[?"rightwindows"] = 92;
l_s2c[?"rightsystem"] = 92;
l_s2c[?"rwin"] = 92;
l_s2c[?"rsys"] = 92;
l_c2s[?33] = "PageUp";
l_s2c[?"pageup"] = 33;
l_s2c[?"pgup"] = 33;
l_c2s[?34] = "PageDown";
l_s2c[?"pagedown"] = 34;
l_s2c[?"pgdown"] = 34;
l_c2s[?35] = "End";
l_s2c[?"end"] = 35;
l_c2s[?36] = "Home";
l_s2c[?"home"] = 36;
l_c2s[?44] = "PrintScreen";
l_s2c[?"printscreen"] = 44;
l_s2c[?"prtscr"] = 44;
l_s2c[?"sysrq"] = 44;
l_c2s[?45] = "Insert";
l_s2c[?"insert"] = 45;
l_s2c[?"ins"] = 45;
l_c2s[?46] = "Delete";
l_s2c[?"delete"] = 46;
l_s2c[?"del"] = 46;
l_c2s[?145] = "ScrollLock";
l_s2c[?"scrolllock"] = 145;
l_s2c[?"scrlck"] = 145;
l_c2s[?186] = "Semicolon";
l_s2c[?"semicolon"] = 186;
l_s2c[?"colon"] = 186;
l_s2c[?":"] = 186;
l_s2c[?";"] = 186;
l_c2s[?187] = "Equals";
l_s2c[?"equals"] = 187;
l_s2c[?"="] = 187;
l_c2s[?188] = "Comma";
l_s2c[?"comma"] = 188;
l_s2c[?"less"] = 188;
l_s2c[?","] = 188;
l_s2c[?"<"] = 188;
l_c2s[?189] = "Underscore";
l_s2c[?"underscore"] = 189;
l_s2c[?"_"] = 189;
l_c2s[?190] = "Period";
l_s2c[?"period"] = 190;
l_s2c[?"dot"] = 190;
l_s2c[?"more"] = 190;
l_s2c[?"."] = 190;
l_s2c[?">"] = 190;
l_c2s[?191] = "Slash";
l_s2c[?"slash"] = 191;
l_s2c[?"?"] = 191;
l_s2c[?"/"] = 191;
l_c2s[?192] = "Tilde";
l_s2c[?"tilde"] = 192;
l_s2c[?"~"] = 192;
l_s2c[?"`"] = 192;
l_c2s[?219] = "OpenBracket";
l_s2c[?"openbracket"] = 219;
l_s2c[?"["] = 219;
l_s2c[?"{"] = 219;
l_c2s[?220] = "BackSlash";
l_s2c[?"backslash"] = 220;
l_s2c[?chr(92)/* "\" */] = 220;
l_s2c[?"|"] = 220;
l_c2s[?221] = "CloseBracket";
l_s2c[?"closebracket"] = 221;
l_s2c[?"]"] = 221;
l_s2c[?"}"] = 221;
l_c2s[?222] = "Quote";
l_s2c[?"quote"] = 222;
l_s2c[?"apostrophe"] = 222;
l_s2c[?"'"] = 222;
l_s2c[?chr(34)/* '"' */] = 222;
for (l_k = 65; l_k <= 90; l_k += 1) {
    l_c = chr(l_k);
    l_c2s[?l_k] = l_c;
    l_slq = string_lower(l_c);
    l_s2c[?l_slq] = l_k;
}
l_c2s[?48] = "D0";
l_s2c[?"d0"] = 48;
l_s2c[?"dig0"] = 48;
l_s2c[?"digit0"] = 48;
l_s2c[?"0"] = 48;
l_c2s[?49] = "D1";
l_s2c[?"d1"] = 49;
l_s2c[?"dig1"] = 49;
l_s2c[?"digit1"] = 49;
l_s2c[?"1"] = 49;
l_c2s[?50] = "D2";
l_s2c[?"d2"] = 50;
l_s2c[?"dig2"] = 50;
l_s2c[?"digit2"] = 50;
l_s2c[?"2"] = 50;
l_c2s[?51] = "D3";
l_s2c[?"d3"] = 51;
l_s2c[?"dig3"] = 51;
l_s2c[?"digit3"] = 51;
l_s2c[?"3"] = 51;
l_c2s[?52] = "D4";
l_s2c[?"d4"] = 52;
l_s2c[?"dig4"] = 52;
l_s2c[?"digit4"] = 52;
l_s2c[?"4"] = 52;
l_c2s[?53] = "D5";
l_s2c[?"d5"] = 53;
l_s2c[?"dig5"] = 53;
l_s2c[?"digit5"] = 53;
l_s2c[?"5"] = 53;
l_c2s[?54] = "D6";
l_s2c[?"d6"] = 54;
l_s2c[?"dig6"] = 54;
l_s2c[?"digit6"] = 54;
l_s2c[?"6"] = 54;
l_c2s[?55] = "D7";
l_s2c[?"d7"] = 55;
l_s2c[?"dig7"] = 55;
l_s2c[?"digit7"] = 55;
l_s2c[?"7"] = 55;
l_c2s[?56] = "D8";
l_s2c[?"d8"] = 56;
l_s2c[?"dig8"] = 56;
l_s2c[?"digit8"] = 56;
l_s2c[?"8"] = 56;
l_c2s[?57] = "D9";
l_s2c[?"d9"] = 57;
l_s2c[?"dig9"] = 57;
l_s2c[?"digit9"] = 57;
l_s2c[?"9"] = 57;
for (l_k = 112; l_k < 136; l_k += 1) {
    l_c = "F" + string(l_k - 111);
    l_c2s[?l_k] = l_c;
    l_slq = string_lower(l_c);
    l_s2c[?l_slq] = l_k;
}
l_c2s[?144] = "Numlock";
l_s2c[?"numlock"] = 144;
l_c2s[?111] = "Divide";
l_s2c[?"divide"] = 111;
l_s2c[?"div"] = 111;
l_s2c[?"numdiv"] = 111;
l_s2c[?"/"] = 111;
l_c2s[?106] = "Multiply";
l_s2c[?"multiply"] = 106;
l_s2c[?"mul"] = 106;
l_s2c[?"nummul"] = 106;
l_s2c[?"*"] = 106;
l_c2s[?107] = "Add";
l_s2c[?"add"] = 107;
l_s2c[?"plus"] = 107;
l_s2c[?"numadd"] = 107;
l_s2c[?"+"] = 107;
l_c2s[?109] = "Subtract";
l_s2c[?"subtract"] = 109;
l_s2c[?"minus"] = 109;
l_s2c[?"numsub"] = 109;
l_s2c[?"-"] = 109;
l_c2s[?110] = "NumpadDelete";
l_s2c[?"numpaddelete"] = 110;
l_s2c[?"numdel"] = 110;
l_s2c[?"numperiod"] = 110;
for (l_k = 96; l_k < 106; l_k += 1) {
    l_c = string(l_k - 96);
    l_s = "Numpad" + l_c;
    l_c2s[?l_k] = l_c;
    l_slq = string_lower(l_c);
    l_s2c[?l_slq] = l_k;
    l_s = "Num" + l_c;
    l_slq = string_lower(l_s);
    l_s2c[?l_slq] = l_k;
}
l_s2c[?""] = 0;
l_s2c[?"none"] = 0;
l_c2s[?0] = "None";
for (l_k = 1; l_k < 256; l_k += 1) {
    l_s = "Key" + string(l_k);
    if (!ds_map_exists(l_c2s, l_k)) l_c2s[?l_k] = l_s;
    l_slq = string_lower(l_s);
    l_s2c[?l_slq] = l_k;
}

Then, you could have a script like keyboard_key_name that does

/// keyboard_key_name(keycode:int)
var name = global.keyboard_key_to_name[?argument0];
if (name == undefined) return "";
return name;

and keyboard_key_code that does

/// keyboard_key_code(keyname:string)
var k = global.keyboard_name_to_key[?string_lower(argument0)];
if (k == undefined) return -1;
return k;

and use them as you please.

For other languages

To make this as generalized as possible, the code here is just a flattened version of original - in other words, a pile of calls to a function that you'd have to do the actual setup.

This is for converting key codes to key names:

setKeyName(27, "Escape");
setKeyName(32, "Space");
setKeyName(13, "Enter");
setKeyName(37, "Left");
setKeyName(39, "Right");
setKeyName(38, "Up");
setKeyName(40, "Down");
setKeyName(8, "Backspace");
setKeyName(9, "Tab");
setKeyName(16, "Shift");
setKeyName(17, "Control");
setKeyName(18, "Alt");
setKeyName(19, "Pause");
setKeyName(20, "Capslock");
setKeyName(160, "LeftShift");
setKeyName(161, "RightShift");
setKeyName(162, "LeftControl");
setKeyName(163, "RightControl");
setKeyName(164, "LeftAlt");
setKeyName(165, "RightAlt");
setKeyName(91, "Windows");
setKeyName(92, "RightWindows");
setKeyName(33, "PageUp");
setKeyName(34, "PageDown");
setKeyName(35, "End");
setKeyName(36, "Home");
setKeyName(44, "PrintScreen");
setKeyName(45, "Insert");
setKeyName(46, "Delete");
setKeyName(145, "ScrollLock");
setKeyName(186, "Semicolon");
setKeyName(187, "Equals");
setKeyName(188, "Comma");
setKeyName(189, "Underscore");
setKeyName(190, "Period");
setKeyName(191, "Slash");
setKeyName(192, "Tilde");
setKeyName(219, "OpenBracket");
setKeyName(220, "BackSlash");
setKeyName(221, "CloseBracket");
setKeyName(222, "Quote");
setKeyName(65, "A");
setKeyName(66, "B");
setKeyName(67, "C");
setKeyName(68, "D");
setKeyName(69, "E");
setKeyName(70, "F");
setKeyName(71, "G");
setKeyName(72, "H");
setKeyName(73, "I");
setKeyName(74, "J");
setKeyName(75, "K");
setKeyName(76, "L");
setKeyName(77, "M");
setKeyName(78, "N");
setKeyName(79, "O");
setKeyName(80, "P");
setKeyName(81, "Q");
setKeyName(82, "R");
setKeyName(83, "S");
setKeyName(84, "T");
setKeyName(85, "U");
setKeyName(86, "V");
setKeyName(87, "W");
setKeyName(88, "X");
setKeyName(89, "Y");
setKeyName(90, "Z");
setKeyName(48, "D0");
setKeyName(49, "D1");
setKeyName(50, "D2");
setKeyName(51, "D3");
setKeyName(52, "D4");
setKeyName(53, "D5");
setKeyName(54, "D6");
setKeyName(55, "D7");
setKeyName(56, "D8");
setKeyName(57, "D9");
setKeyName(112, "F1");
setKeyName(113, "F2");
setKeyName(114, "F3");
setKeyName(115, "F4");
setKeyName(116, "F5");
setKeyName(117, "F6");
setKeyName(118, "F7");
setKeyName(119, "F8");
setKeyName(120, "F9");
setKeyName(121, "F10");
setKeyName(122, "F11");
setKeyName(123, "F12");
setKeyName(124, "F13");
setKeyName(125, "F14");
setKeyName(126, "F15");
setKeyName(127, "F16");
setKeyName(128, "F17");
setKeyName(129, "F18");
setKeyName(130, "F19");
setKeyName(131, "F20");
setKeyName(132, "F21");
setKeyName(133, "F22");
setKeyName(134, "F23");
setKeyName(135, "F24");
setKeyName(144, "Numlock");
setKeyName(111, "Divide");
setKeyName(106, "Multiply");
setKeyName(107, "Add");
setKeyName(109, "Subtract");
setKeyName(110, "NumpadDelete");
setKeyName(96, "0");
setKeyName(97, "1");
setKeyName(98, "2");
setKeyName(99, "3");
setKeyName(100, "4");
setKeyName(101, "5");
setKeyName(102, "6");
setKeyName(103, "7");
setKeyName(104, "8");
setKeyName(105, "9");

This is for converting lower-case key names (with variants where it made sense to) to key codes:

setKeyCode("escape", 27);
setKeyCode("esc", 27);
setKeyCode("space", 32);
setKeyCode("spacebar", 32);
setKeyCode("enter", 13);
setKeyCode("return", 13);
setKeyCode("left", 37);
setKeyCode("right", 39);
setKeyCode("up", 38);
setKeyCode("down", 40);
setKeyCode("backspace", 8);
setKeyCode("bksp", 8);
setKeyCode("tab", 9);
setKeyCode("shift", 16);
setKeyCode("control", 17);
setKeyCode("ctrl", 17);
setKeyCode("alt", 18);
setKeyCode("pause", 19);
setKeyCode("break", 19);
setKeyCode("capslock", 20);
setKeyCode("caps", 20);
setKeyCode("leftshift", 160);
setKeyCode("lshift", 160);
setKeyCode("rightshift", 161);
setKeyCode("rshift", 161);
setKeyCode("leftcontrol", 162);
setKeyCode("lcontrol", 162);
setKeyCode("lctrl", 162);
setKeyCode("rightcontrol", 163);
setKeyCode("rcontrol", 163);
setKeyCode("rctrl", 163);
setKeyCode("leftalt", 164);
setKeyCode("lalt", 164);
setKeyCode("rightalt", 165);
setKeyCode("ralt", 165);
setKeyCode("windows", 91);
setKeyCode("system", 91);
setKeyCode("win", 91);
setKeyCode("sys", 91);
setKeyCode("rightwindows", 92);
setKeyCode("rightsystem", 92);
setKeyCode("rwin", 92);
setKeyCode("rsys", 92);
setKeyCode("pageup", 33);
setKeyCode("pgup", 33);
setKeyCode("pagedown", 34);
setKeyCode("pgdown", 34);
setKeyCode("end", 35);
setKeyCode("home", 36);
setKeyCode("printscreen", 44);
setKeyCode("prtscr", 44);
setKeyCode("sysrq", 44);
setKeyCode("insert", 45);
setKeyCode("ins", 45);
setKeyCode("delete", 46);
setKeyCode("del", 46);
setKeyCode("scrolllock", 145);
setKeyCode("scrlck", 145);
setKeyCode("semicolon", 186);
setKeyCode("colon", 186);
setKeyCode(":", 186);
setKeyCode(";", 186);
setKeyCode("equals", 187);
setKeyCode("=", 187);
setKeyCode("comma", 188);
setKeyCode("less", 188);
setKeyCode(",", 188);
setKeyCode("<", 188);
setKeyCode("underscore", 189);
setKeyCode("_", 189);
setKeyCode("period", 190);
setKeyCode("dot", 190);
setKeyCode("more", 190);
setKeyCode(".", 190);
setKeyCode(">", 190);
setKeyCode("slash", 191);
setKeyCode("?", 191);
setKeyCode("/", 191);
setKeyCode("tilde", 192);
setKeyCode("~", 192);
setKeyCode("`", 192);
setKeyCode("openbracket", 219);
setKeyCode("[", 219);
setKeyCode("{", 219);
setKeyCode("backslash", 220);
setKeyCode("\\", 220); // (backslash character)
setKeyCode("|", 220);
setKeyCode("closebracket", 221);
setKeyCode("]", 221);
setKeyCode("}", 221);
setKeyCode("quote", 222);
setKeyCode("apostrophe", 222);
setKeyCode("'", 222);
setKeyCode("\"", 222); // (double quote character)
setKeyCode("a", 65);
setKeyCode("b", 66);
setKeyCode("c", 67);
setKeyCode("d", 68);
setKeyCode("e", 69);
setKeyCode("f", 70);
setKeyCode("g", 71);
setKeyCode("h", 72);
setKeyCode("i", 73);
setKeyCode("j", 74);
setKeyCode("k", 75);
setKeyCode("l", 76);
setKeyCode("m", 77);
setKeyCode("n", 78);
setKeyCode("o", 79);
setKeyCode("p", 80);
setKeyCode("q", 81);
setKeyCode("r", 82);
setKeyCode("s", 83);
setKeyCode("t", 84);
setKeyCode("u", 85);
setKeyCode("v", 86);
setKeyCode("w", 87);
setKeyCode("x", 88);
setKeyCode("y", 89);
setKeyCode("z", 90);
setKeyCode("d0", 48);
setKeyCode("dig0", 48);
setKeyCode("digit0", 48);
setKeyCode("0", 48);
setKeyCode("d1", 49);
setKeyCode("dig1", 49);
setKeyCode("digit1", 49);
setKeyCode("1", 49);
setKeyCode("d2", 50);
setKeyCode("dig2", 50);
setKeyCode("digit2", 50);
setKeyCode("2", 50);
setKeyCode("d3", 51);
setKeyCode("dig3", 51);
setKeyCode("digit3", 51);
setKeyCode("3", 51);
setKeyCode("d4", 52);
setKeyCode("dig4", 52);
setKeyCode("digit4", 52);
setKeyCode("4", 52);
setKeyCode("d5", 53);
setKeyCode("dig5", 53);
setKeyCode("digit5", 53);
setKeyCode("5", 53);
setKeyCode("d6", 54);
setKeyCode("dig6", 54);
setKeyCode("digit6", 54);
setKeyCode("6", 54);
setKeyCode("d7", 55);
setKeyCode("dig7", 55);
setKeyCode("digit7", 55);
setKeyCode("7", 55);
setKeyCode("d8", 56);
setKeyCode("dig8", 56);
setKeyCode("digit8", 56);
setKeyCode("8", 56);
setKeyCode("d9", 57);
setKeyCode("dig9", 57);
setKeyCode("digit9", 57);
setKeyCode("9", 57);
setKeyCode("f1", 112);
setKeyCode("f2", 113);
setKeyCode("f3", 114);
setKeyCode("f4", 115);
setKeyCode("f5", 116);
setKeyCode("f6", 117);
setKeyCode("f7", 118);
setKeyCode("f8", 119);
setKeyCode("f9", 120);
setKeyCode("f10", 121);
setKeyCode("f11", 122);
setKeyCode("f12", 123);
setKeyCode("f13", 124);
setKeyCode("f14", 125);
setKeyCode("f15", 126);
setKeyCode("f16", 127);
setKeyCode("f17", 128);
setKeyCode("f18", 129);
setKeyCode("f19", 130);
setKeyCode("f20", 131);
setKeyCode("f21", 132);
setKeyCode("f22", 133);
setKeyCode("f23", 134);
setKeyCode("f24", 135);
setKeyCode("numlock", 144);
setKeyCode("divide", 111);
setKeyCode("div", 111);
setKeyCode("numdiv", 111);
setKeyCode("/", 111);
setKeyCode("multiply", 106);
setKeyCode("mul", 106);
setKeyCode("nummul", 106);
setKeyCode("*", 106);
setKeyCode("add", 107);
setKeyCode("plus", 107);
setKeyCode("numadd", 107);
setKeyCode("+", 107);
setKeyCode("subtract", 109);
setKeyCode("minus", 109);
setKeyCode("numsub", 109);
setKeyCode("-", 109);
setKeyCode("numpaddelete", 110);
setKeyCode("numdel", 110);
setKeyCode("numperiod", 110);
setKeyCode("0", 96);
setKeyCode("num0", 96);
setKeyCode("1", 97);
setKeyCode("num1", 97);
setKeyCode("2", 98);
setKeyCode("num2", 98);
setKeyCode("3", 99);
setKeyCode("num3", 99);
setKeyCode("4", 100);
setKeyCode("num4", 100);
setKeyCode("5", 101);
setKeyCode("num5", 101);
setKeyCode("6", 102);
setKeyCode("num6", 102);
setKeyCode("7", 103);
setKeyCode("num7", 103);
setKeyCode("8", 104);
setKeyCode("num8", 104);
setKeyCode("9", 105);
setKeyCode("num9", 105);

Key codes are largely as per virtual key format, which is fairly standard, but does not match up with key codes on Android, for example.

Bonus: a tileset with images for virtual key codes specifically.

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