keyboard scan codes in c linux and windows

2015-02-27

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Question

okay so i have a program i am writing , and basically i am going to be taking input for keyboard keys such as left arrow, right arrow, up and down etc and my question is , in what is the best option to scan in these keys so that i can make my program run both in linux and windows

and what am i scanning exactly? am i supposed to scan the ascii values and store them in int? chars? or is it another way to do this ? i have searched the internet and i am finding that the kex values for keyboard scan codes are e0 4b e0 4d e0 48 e0 50

but when i actually scan the values using getchar() and store them into ints i get 4 values for each key pressed namely for example 27 91 67 10 , 27 91 68 10

i understand that each key has press release and other values attached to it , so should i be scanning for the 67 68 etc range?

or is there another way to do this

i am writing the program using c language

Answer

Open a terminal and use the command xev. You can then press any key you want and see its corresponding codes. You can also move and click the mouse to see what happens there.