AppleScript keystroke ignoring numbers

A very simple AppleScript like this:

tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "abc 123"
end tell

results in just “abc” being typed. Online resources suggest this should not be the case. Adding a delay between keystrokes didn't help.

What might be causing this or how can I determine what might be causing this?

Small side question: in AppleScript terminology, what is keystroke? A function, command, something else?

Solution 1:

Have a look at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18136567/applescript-keystroke-not-behaving-as-expected & the list of ANSI codes at How do I automate a key press in AppleScript?

It appears you're not the only one with the issue. One solution on there was to use the key code instead...

tell application "System Events"
    key code {18} using {command down}

It may depend on what app you're trying to send the keystrokes to - I just tested with an already-open blank document in Text Edit using

tell application "TextEdit" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "abc 123"
end tell

& it worked as expected.

A keystroke is the scripted equivalent of actually pressing that/those keys[s]

How about...

tell application "TextEdit" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "abc"
    keystroke space
    keystroke "123"
end tell

Solution 2:

Some more info about this issue that I've discovered is that when using keystroke with numbers, the System Events always sends them as ANSI_Keypad# characters (code 82-92) instead of what you might expect as ANSI_# characters (code 18-29).

For most Mac applications, this does not matter as OS X itself does not care about (use, support, etc) the NUMLOCK function on a Keypad, therefore the Keypad numbers are seen the same as keyboard numbers. However, it will pass the NUMLOCK keypress to the application if you have a keyboard/keypad that has this key.

There are a few applications that do monitor the NUMLOCK key (for example, VMware Fusion application when running a Windows VM) and will change the behavior based on the NUMLOCK state.

So for example, if the AppleScript sends keystroke "456" to a NUMLOCK aware application.

• If the NUMLOCK state is ON, the numbers "456" will appear.
• If the NUMLOCK state is OFF, the equivalent keys received are Left Arrow 5 Right Arrow

In the original question, the AppleScript sent abc 123 but most likely his application (which was not mentioned) was aware of the NUMLOCK state, which was currently OFF, and therefore executed the keys as abc [space] End Down Arrow Page Down

I put together a little AppleScript function that loops through the given string sending key code commands for any numbers and keystroke commands for any other characters.

on numberAsKeycode(theString)
  tell application "System Events"
    repeat with currentChar in (every character of theString)
      set cID to id of currentChar
      if ((cID ≥ 48) and (cID ≤ 57)) then
        key code {item (cID - 47) of {29, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 22, 26, 28, 25}}
      else
        keystroke currentChar
      end if
    end repeat
  end tell
end numberAsKeycode

set myString to "abc 123"
numberAsKeycode(myString)

Which executes the following

tell application "System Events"
  keystroke "a"
  keystroke "b"
  keystroke "c"
  keystroke " "
  key code {18}
  key code {19}
  key code {20}
end tell

Hope this helps :)

Solution 3:

As @user271866, I was having this problem and discovered that it was "Enable Mouse Keys" being checked in System Preferences that was affecting the behavior of keystroke.

I had an automator service I had been using to enter search terms into spotlight and copy & paste the result. When I got a new computer, I installed the service. I remembered also turning on mouse keys during the setup and as luck would have it, before I first ran the service today on this new computer, my Magic Mouse 2 battery died and I used mouse keys to to connect my old Magic Mouse. I then encountered erratic behavior from the service when I tried it. On a hunch, I tried disabling mouse keys and running the service and it worked! It pasted the numbers along with the rest of the string.

One thing to note is, it's not just numbers. Other characters on the numeric keypad (but not all) also will not get "typed out" by keystroke. . and / also will not work in a string supplied to keystroke. I thus modified @Insomniac_Software's code to create a working replacement/wrapper for the keystroke function:

--This is a replacement for the keystroke function, which fails when "Enable Mouse Keys" is checked in System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Mouse & Trackpad.  Keystroke will not "type out" any numbers, a dot ('.') or a slash ('/') that are in the supplied string when this option is enabled in System preferences.  This method is safe to use whether that setting is checked or not.  Call like this: my keystrokeForMouseKeys("your string")
on keystrokeForMouseKeys(theString)
    tell application "System Events"
        repeat with theChar in (every character of theString)
            set theCode to id of theChar
            if theCode is 44 then
                key code 44
                --Not sure why 46 (m) is what you get when you call id on "." but key code 47 types a "." and key code 46 types an 'm'...
            else if theCode is 46 then
                key code 47
            else if ((theCode ≥ 48) and (theCode ≤ 57)) then
                key code {item (theCode - 47) of {29, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 22, 26, 28, 25}}
            else
                keystroke theChar
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end keystrokeForMouseKeys

Now, if you call my keystrokeForMouseKeys("./0123456789"), you get:

./0123456789

Tested on macOS High Sierra 10.13.6.