SendKeys.SendWait("{%}") writes "5" instead of "%"

Question

I am writing an app which uses SendKeys to send text at the cursor whenever text is available. Each time the app has to write the percentage sign, it writes number 5 instead. I send 10{%} and my output is 105. I can't figure how to simply make the % symbol appear.

From MSDN :

The plus sign (+), caret (^), percent sign (%), tilde (~), and parentheses () have special meanings to SendKeys. To specify one of these characters, enclose it within braces ({}). For example, to specify the plus sign, use "{+}". To specify brace characters, use "{{}" and "{}}".

Here is a really simple sample to reproduce the issue (ConsoleApp with System.Windows.Forms reference)

namespace ConsoleApp4
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);

            string text = "10{%}";

            // Output SHOULD be "10%"
            // Output IS "105"
            System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys.SendWait(text);

            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

Output is 105 instead of 10%.

I can't figure this out, how can I write % symbol using SendKeys ?

@Jawad i'll try to be more clear in my question for it's not the same issue : i just can't write '%' with sendkeys — Raphaël, Dec 09 '19 at 14:56
@VillageTech : `"\{"` is an unrecognized escape sequence, and adding `@` before throws a System.ArgumentException : `Keyword "%\" is not valid.'` @Jimi : the output is still `105` — Raphaël, Dec 09 '19 at 15:09
this works, thanks! is this for it doesn't work with `{%}` on AZERTY keyboards ? — Raphaël, Dec 09 '19 at 15:23
On QWERTY keyboards, % is Shift+5. I just made you send the Shift+ù key instead. (I just figured, since you have the trema in your name, that you were using an AZERTY keyboard... de rien ;) ) — Laurent LA RIZZA, Dec 09 '19 at 15:24
yeah, got it with the key combination used. but that should not be this way no ? merci beaucoup en tout cas :D — Raphaël, Dec 09 '19 at 15:28
Remember, with `SendKeys`, you're sending keys, not characters. I wonder why `{%}` does not correctly locate the `ù` key though. — Laurent LA RIZZA, Dec 09 '19 at 15:32
especially as keys such as `(`, `)`, `{` or `~` which has different keys combination in fr-fr and en-us works perfectly fine — Raphaël, Dec 09 '19 at 16:03

Laurent LA RIZZA · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-02T14:43:05.437

5

string text = "10+ù";

Your culture is fr-fr, you're using an AZERTY keyboard. % is located in shift position with regards to ù, so it should do the trick.

UPDATE: I finally took the time to look it up : https://referencesource.microsoft.com/#System.Windows.Forms/winforms/Managed/System/WinForms/SendKeys.cs,a40b41f572ed230f

Have a look at the keywords array. Indeed, {%} and {^} are treated specially and really mean Shift+5 and Shift+6 regardless of keyboard layout. This explains why you're getting 105 when feeding 10{%} to the function with an AZERTY layout.

edited Jun 02 '21 at 14:43

answered Dec 09 '19 at 15:29

Laurent LA RIZZA

2,905
1
23
41

Thanks for the further explanation ! – Raphaël Aug 12 '21 at 15:34

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 09 '19 at 15:04

1

Use the @ operator before the string value for a string literal.

E.g. string text = @"10{%}";

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/tokens/verbatim

answered Dec 09 '19 at 15:04

dunnel123

384
1
8

The output for `System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys.SendWait(@"10{%}");` is still `105` in my application. Does this work on your environment ? – Raphaël Dec 09 '19 at 15:11
2

Yeah I see `10%` in my environment. VS 2019 .NET 4.7.2 using a new console app project – dunnel123 Dec 09 '19 at 15:14
I just tried with the exact same configuration without success, I must be missing something somewhere else – Raphaël Dec 09 '19 at 15:19
1

@Raphael, what locale are you using? `en-us` (english) ? What are keyboard settings in the OS? It seems that it is detected by OS like `[SHIFT}+'%'`, so maybe your PC is something egzotic? – VillageTech Dec 09 '19 at 15:22
1

Can you run `Get-Culture` in Powershell and tell me the culture you're using? – dunnel123 Dec 09 '19 at 15:22
2

@VillageTech : Please. AZERTY is not THAT exotic :) – Laurent LA RIZZA Dec 09 '19 at 15:24
@VillageTech nope, i'm using `fr-fr` with an azerty keyboard @dunnel123 : 1036 | fr-FR – Raphaël Dec 09 '19 at 15:25
2

Ok, so there's a bug on sendkeys with azerty keayboards :/ thank you very much for your time! – Raphaël Dec 09 '19 at 15:26
1

@Raphaël see Laurents answer, he's cracked it :) – dunnel123 Dec 09 '19 at 15:30

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

0

That is weird Raphaël. I copy-pasted your code in a Sample C# project and I get 10% as the output. Are you using any of the mentioned supported platforms, from the link you have provided -

Applies to

.NET Core

3.0

.NET Framework

4.8 4.7.2 4.7.1 4.7 4.6.2 4.6.1 4.6 4.5.2 4.5.1 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.0 1.1

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Dec 09 '19 at 15:30

Samarth

11
1
6

1

Laurent solved this : as I'm using an AZERTY keyboard, `{%}` is understood as QWERTY and the key combination results in `5` instead of `%`, which is weird indeed. Thank you for testing! – Raphaël Dec 09 '19 at 15:33
nice. Happy to help – Samarth Dec 09 '19 at 15:38
@Raphaël: Well, it's weird that it still correctly locates the `'`key, but not the `{%}`. I suppose, because `%` has meaning for `SendKeys`, that MS just hard-coded the `{%}` behaviour as `Shift+5`, disregarding exotic keyboard layouts such as AZERTY. – Laurent LA RIZZA Dec 09 '19 at 15:54
"Please. AZERTY is not THAT exotic :)". :). It's really likely as `^` behave the same and gives `6` – Raphaël Dec 09 '19 at 16:05

SendKeys.SendWait("{%}") writes "5" instead of "%"

3 Answers3

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