How to get the correct language and case for key press in JS event listener?

Question

I have the following jQuery event listener to get the key pressed in a text box:

$("#theInput").keyup(function (e) {
    var charCode = e.keyCode || e.which;
    alert(charCode);
    /* rest of the code */
});

My problem is how to accurately get the code for the letter typed. For instance, if I press the a key it will alert '65' - regardless of whether it was a or A. If I switch the input language to a foreign language (e.g. Japanese, Chinese, Thai) and press the a key, it still returns '65' rather than a different code to let me know the foreign character.

Is there a way to I fix this so it gives the correct language and case of the letter?

Answer 1

Keys are the same regardless of the language. You could get the case with .shiftKey, but the most reliable way is to save the actual characters:

$('#input').keyup(function(e){
  var character = this.value.slice(-1)
  console.log(character)
})

This is overly simplified, though, as text can be typed somewhere other than the end. You'd have to find the cursor position and then get the respective char.