how does the jquery ui menu work?

Question

When you review the API Docs, you will see under https://api.jqueryui.com/menu/ the following details:

Keyboard interaction

ENTER/SPACE: Invoke the focused menu item’s action, which may be opening a submenu.
UP: Move focus to the previous menu item.
DOWN: Move focus to the next menu item.
RIGHT: Open the submenu, if available.
LEFT: Close the current submenu and move focus to the parent menu item. If not in a submenu, do nothing.
ESCAPE: Close the current submenu and move focus to the parent menu item. If not in a submenu, do nothing.

Typing a letter moves focus to the first item whose title starts with that character. Repeating the same character cycles through matching items. Typing more characters within the one second timer matches those characters.

Disabled items can receive keyboard focus, but do not allow any other interaction.

So the Enter is already engaged and will trigger the select event for the Menu. You will then want to perform some action in the select callback.

$(function() {
  $("#menu").menu({
    select: function(e, ui) {
      console.log(ui.item.text().trim(), "Selected");
    }
  }).focus();
});

.ui-menu {
  width: 150px;
}

<link rel="stylesheet" href="//code.jquery.com/ui/1.13.0/themes/base/jquery-ui.css">
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.js"></script>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/ui/1.13.0/jquery-ui.js"></script>

<ul id="menu">
  <li class="ui-state-disabled">
    <div>Toys (n/a)</div>
  </li>
  <li>
    <div>Books</div>
  </li>
  <li>
    <div>Clothing</div>
  </li>
  <li>
    <div>Electronics</div>
    <ul>
      <li class="ui-state-disabled">
        <div>Home Entertainment</div>
      </li>
      <li>
        <div>Car Hifi</div>
      </li>
      <li>
        <div>Utilities</div>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <div>Movies</div>
  </li>
  <li>
    <div>Music</div>
    <ul>
      <li>
        <div>Rock</div>
        <ul>
          <li>
            <div>Alternative</div>
          </li>
          <li>
            <div>Classic</div>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </li>
      <li>
        <div>Jazz</div>
        <ul>
          <li>
            <div>Freejazz</div>
          </li>
          <li>
            <div>Big Band</div>
          </li>
          <li>
            <div>Modern</div>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </li>
      <li>
        <div>Pop</div>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li class="ui-state-disabled">
    <div>Specials (n/a)</div>
  </li>
</ul>

Giving it focus up front allows it to already be invoked.

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