How to detect Esc Key Press in React and how to handle it

Question

If you're looking for a document-level key event handling, then binding it during componentDidMount is the best way (as shown by Brad Colthurst's codepen example):

class ActionPanel extends React.Component {
  constructor(props){
    super(props);
    this.escFunction = this.escFunction.bind(this);
  }
  escFunction(event){
    if(event.keyCode === 27) {
      //Do whatever when esc is pressed
    }
  }
  componentDidMount(){
    document.addEventListener("keydown", this.escFunction, false);
  }
  componentWillUnmount(){
    document.removeEventListener("keydown", this.escFunction, false);
  }
  render(){
    return (   
      <input/>
    )
  }
}

Note that you should make sure to remove the key event listener on unmount to prevent potential errors and memory leaks.

EDIT: If you are using hooks, you can use this useEffect structure to produce a similar effect:

const ActionPanel = (props) => {
  const escFunction = useCallback((event) => {
    if(event.keyCode === 27) {
      //Do whatever when esc is pressed
    }
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    document.addEventListener("keydown", escFunction, false);

    return () => {
      document.removeEventListener("keydown", escFunction, false);
    };
  }, []);

  return (   
    <input />
  )
};

You'll want to listen for escape's keyCode (27) from the React SyntheticKeyBoardEvent onKeyDown:

const EscapeListen = React.createClass({
  handleKeyDown: function(e) {
    if (e.keyCode === 27) {
      console.log('You pressed the escape key!')
    }
  },

  render: function() {
    return (
      <input type='text'
             onKeyDown={this.handleKeyDown} />
    )
  }
})

Brad Colthurst's CodePen posted in the question's comments is helpful for finding key codes for other keys.

Another way to accomplish this in a functional component, is to use useEffect, like this:

import React, { useEffect } from 'react';

const App = () => {
  

  useEffect(() => {
    const handleEsc = (event) => {
       if (event.keyCode === 27) {
        console.log('Close')
      }
    };
    window.addEventListener('keydown', handleEsc);

    return () => {
      window.removeEventListener('keydown', handleEsc);
    };
  }, []);

  return(<p>Press ESC to console log "Close"</p>);
}

Instead of console.log, you can use useState to trigger something.

For a reusable React hook solution

import React, { useEffect } from 'react';

const useEscape = (onEscape) => {
    useEffect(() => {
        const handleEsc = (event) => {
            if (event.keyCode === 27) 
                onEscape();
        };
        window.addEventListener('keydown', handleEsc);

        return () => {
            window.removeEventListener('keydown', handleEsc);
        };
    }, []);
}

export default useEscape

Usage:

const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = useState(false);
useEscape(() => setIsOpen(false))