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# Event binding
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Event binding allows you to listen for and respond to user actions such as keystrokes, mouse movements, clicks, and touches.
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< div class = "alert is-helpful" >
See the < live-example > < / live-example > for a working example containing the code snippets in this guide.
< / div >
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## Binding to events
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To bind to an event you use the Angular event binding syntax.
This syntax consists of a target event name within parentheses to the left of an equal sign, and a quoted template statement to the right.
In the following example, the target event name is `click` and the template statement is `onSave()` .
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< code-example language = "html" header = "Event binding syntax" >
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< button (click)="onSave()"> Save< /button>
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< / code-example >
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The event binding listens for the button's click events and calls the component's `onSave()` method whenever a click occurs.
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< div class = "lightbox" >
< img src = 'generated/images/guide/template-syntax/syntax-diagram.svg' alt = "Syntax diagram" >
< / div >
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## Custom events with `EventEmitter`
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[Directives ](guide/built-in-directives ) typically raise custom events with an Angular [EventEmitter ](api/core/EventEmitter ) as follows.
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1. The directive creates an `EventEmitter` and exposes it as a property.
1. The directive then calls `EventEmitter.emit(data)` to emit an event, passing in message data, which can be anything.
1. Parent directives listen for the event by binding to this property and accessing the data through the `$event` object.
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Consider an `ItemDetailComponent` that presents item information and responds to user actions.
Although the `ItemDetailComponent` has a delete button, it doesn't contain the functionality to delete the hero.
It can only raise an event reporting the user's delete request.
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< code-example path = "event-binding/src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.html" header = "src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.html (template)" region = "line-through" > < / code-example >
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The component defines a `deleteRequest` property that returns an `EventEmitter` .
When the user clicks **Delete** , the component invokes the `delete()` method, telling the `EventEmitter` to emit an `Item` object.
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< code-example path = "event-binding/src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.ts" header = "src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.ts (deleteRequest)" region = "deleteRequest" > < / code-example >
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The hosting parent component binds to the `deleteRequest` event of the `ItemDetailComponent` as follows.
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< code-example path = "event-binding/src/app/app.component.html" header = "src/app/app.component.html (event-binding-to-component)" region = "event-binding-to-component" > < / code-example >
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When the `deleteRequest` event fires, Angular calls the parent component's `deleteItem()` method with the item.
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### Determining an event target
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To determine an event target, Angular checks if the name of the target event matches an event property of a known directive.
In the following example, Angular checks to see if `myClick` is an event on the custom `ClickDirective` .
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< code-example path = "event-binding/src/app/app.component.html" region = "custom-directive" header = "src/app/app.component.html" > < / code-example >
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If the target event name, `myClick` fails to match an element event or an output property of `ClickDirective` , Angular reports an "unknown directive" error.
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< hr / >
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## What's next
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For more information on how event binding works, see [How event binding works ](guide/event-binding-concepts ).