QShortcut Class

The QShortcut class is used to create keyboard shortcuts. More...

Header: #include <QShortcut>
CMake: find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Gui)
target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::Gui)
qmake: QT += gui
Inherits: QObject

Properties

Public Functions

QShortcut(QObject *parent)
(since 6.0) QShortcut(QKeySequence::StandardKey standardKey, QObject *parent, const char *member = nullptr, const char *ambiguousMember = nullptr, Qt::ShortcutContext context = Qt::WindowShortcut)
QShortcut(const QKeySequence &key, QObject *parent, const char *member = nullptr, const char *ambiguousMember = nullptr, Qt::ShortcutContext context = Qt::WindowShortcut)
virtual ~QShortcut()
bool autoRepeat() const
Qt::ShortcutContext context() const
bool isEnabled() const
QKeySequence key() const
(since 6.0) QList<QKeySequence> keys() const
void setAutoRepeat(bool on)
void setContext(Qt::ShortcutContext context)
void setEnabled(bool enable)
void setKey(const QKeySequence &key)
(since 6.0) void setKeys(QKeySequence::StandardKey key)
(since 6.0) void setKeys(const QList<QKeySequence> &keys)
void setWhatsThis(const QString &text)
QString whatsThis() const

Detailed Description

The QShortcut class provides a way of connecting keyboard shortcuts to Qt's signals and slots mechanism, so that objects can be informed when a shortcut is executed. The shortcut can be set up to contain all the key presses necessary to describe a keyboard shortcut, including the states of modifier keys such as Shift, Ctrl, and Alt.

In widget applications, certain widgets can use '&' in front of a character. This will automatically create a mnemonic (a shortcut) for that character, e.g. "E&xit" will create the shortcut Alt+X (use '&&' to display an actual ampersand). The widget might consume and perform an action on a given shortcut. On X11 the ampersand will not be shown and the character will be underlined. On Windows, shortcuts are normally not displayed until the user presses the Alt key, but this is a setting the user can change. On Mac, shortcuts are disabled by default. Call qt_set_sequence_auto_mnemonic() to enable them. However, because mnemonic shortcuts do not fit in with Aqua's guidelines, Qt will not show the shortcut character underlined.

For applications that use menus, it may be more convenient to use the convenience functions provided in the QMenu class to assign keyboard shortcuts to menu items as they are created. Alternatively, shortcuts may be associated with other types of actions in the QAction class.

The simplest way to create a shortcut for a particular widget is to construct the shortcut with a key sequence. For example:

 shortcut = new QShortcut(QKeySequence(tr("Ctrl+O", "File|Open")),
                          parent);

When the user types the key sequence for a given shortcut, the shortcut's activated() signal is emitted. (In the case of ambiguity, the activatedAmbiguously() signal is emitted.) A shortcut is "listened for" by Qt's event loop when the shortcut's parent widget is receiving events.

A shortcut's key sequence can be set with setKey() and retrieved with key(). A shortcut can be enabled or disabled with setEnabled(), and can have "What's This?" help text set with setWhatsThis().

See also QShortcutEvent, QKeySequence, and QAction.

Property Documentation

autoRepeat : bool

This property holds whether the shortcut can auto repeat

If true, the shortcut will auto repeat when the keyboard shortcut combination is held down, provided that keyboard auto repeat is enabled on the system. The default value is true.

Access functions:

bool autoRepeat() const
void setAutoRepeat(bool on)

context : Qt::ShortcutContext

This property holds the context in which the shortcut is valid

A shortcut's context decides in which circumstances a shortcut is allowed to be triggered. The normal context is Qt::WindowShortcut, which allows the shortcut to trigger if the parent (the widget containing the shortcut) is a subwidget of the active top-level window.

By default, this property is set to Qt::WindowShortcut.

Access functions:

Qt::ShortcutContext context() const
void setContext(Qt::ShortcutContext context)

enabled : bool

This property holds whether the shortcut is enabled

An enabled shortcut emits the activated() or activatedAmbiguously() signal when a QShortcutEvent occurs that matches the shortcut's key() sequence.

If the application is in WhatsThis mode the shortcut will not emit the signals, but will show the "What's This?" text instead.

By default, this property is true.

Access functions:

bool isEnabled() const
void setEnabled(bool enable)

See also whatsThis.

key : QKeySequence

This property holds the shortcut's primary key sequence

This is a key sequence with an optional combination of Shift, Ctrl, and Alt. The key sequence may be supplied in a number of ways:

 setKey(0);                  // no signal emitted
 setKey(QKeySequence());     // no signal emitted
 setKey(0x3b1);              // Greek letter alpha
 setKey(Qt::Key_D);              // 'd', e.g. to delete
 setKey('q');                // 'q', e.g. to quit
 setKey(Qt::CTRL | Qt::Key_P);       // Ctrl+P, e.g. to print document
 setKey("Ctrl+P");           // Ctrl+P, e.g. to print document

By default, this property contains an empty key sequence.

Access functions:

QKeySequence key() const
void setKey(const QKeySequence &key)

Member Function Documentation

[explicit] QShortcut::QShortcut(QObject *parent)

Constructs a QShortcut object for the parent, which should be a QWindow or a QWidget.

Since no shortcut key sequence is specified, the shortcut will not emit any signals.

See also setKey().

[explicit, since 6.0] QShortcut::QShortcut(QKeySequence::StandardKey standardKey, QObject *parent, const char *member = nullptr, const char *ambiguousMember = nullptr, Qt::ShortcutContext context = Qt::WindowShortcut)

Constructs a QShortcut object for the parent, which should be a QWindow or a QWidget.

The shortcut operates on its parent, listening for QShortcutEvents that match the standardKey. Depending on the ambiguity of the event, the shortcut will call the member function, or the ambiguousMember function, if the key press was in the shortcut's context.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

[explicit] QShortcut::QShortcut(const QKeySequence &key, QObject *parent, const char *member = nullptr, const char *ambiguousMember = nullptr, Qt::ShortcutContext context = Qt::WindowShortcut)

Constructs a QShortcut object for the parent, which should be a QWindow or a QWidget.

The shortcut operates on its parent, listening for QShortcutEvents that match the key sequence. Depending on the ambiguity of the event, the shortcut will call the member function, or the ambiguousMember function, if the key press was in the shortcut's context.

[virtual noexcept] QShortcut::~QShortcut()

Destroys the shortcut.

[since 6.0] QList<QKeySequence> QShortcut::keys() const

Returns the list of key sequences which trigger this shortcut.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also key and setKeys().

[since 6.0] void QShortcut::setKeys(QKeySequence::StandardKey key)

Sets the triggers to those matching the standard key key.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also key and keys().

[since 6.0] void QShortcut::setKeys(const QList<QKeySequence> &keys)

Sets keys as the list of key sequences that trigger the shortcut.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also key and keys().

void QShortcut::setWhatsThis(const QString &text)

Sets the shortcut's "What's This?" help text.

The text will be shown when a widget application is in "What's This?" mode and the user types the shortcut key() sequence.

To set "What's This?" help on a menu item (with or without a shortcut key), set the help on the item's action.

By default, the help text is an empty string.

This function has no effect in applications that don't use widgets.

See also whatsThis(), QWhatsThis::inWhatsThisMode(), and QAction::setWhatsThis().

QString QShortcut::whatsThis() const

Returns the shortcut's "What's This?" help text.

See also setWhatsThis().