 <p>Just use <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/event.preventDefault" rel="nofollow">preventDefault</a> and it will work</p> <pre><code>$("#txt1").bind('keydown', function (e) { if (e.which == 9) { $("#txt2").focus(); e.preventDefault() } } ); </code></pre> <p>BTW, its much better to use direct selectors with ids (#txt2 instead of input[id$=txt2]).</p>