int getch(void);
int wgetch(WINDOW *win);
int mvgetch(int y, int x);
int mvwgetch(WINDOW *win, int y, int x);
int ungetch(int ch);
int has_key(int ch);
Unless noecho has been set, then the character will also be echoed into the designated window according to the following rules: if the character is the current erase character, left arrow, or backspace, the cursor is moved one space to the left and that screen position is erased as if delch had been called. If the character value is any other KEY_ define, the user is alerted with a beep call. Otherwise the character is simply output to the screen.
If the window is not a pad, and it has been moved or modified since the last call to wrefresh, wrefresh will be called before another character is read.
If keypad is TRUE, and a function key is pressed, the token for that function key is returned instead of the raw characters. Possible function keys are defined in <curses.h> as macros with values outside the range of 8-bit characters whose names begin with KEY_. Thus, a variable intended to hold the return value of a function key must be of short size or larger.
When a character that could be the beginning of a function key is received (which, on modern terminals, means an escape character), curses sets a timer. If the remainder of the sequence does not come in within the designated time, the character is passed through; otherwise, the function key value is returned. For this reason, many terminals experience a delay between the time a user presses the escape key and the escape is returned to the program.
The ungetch routine places ch back onto the input queue to be returned by the next call to wgetch. There is just one input queue for all windows.
| Name | Key name |
| KEY_BREAK | Break key |
| KEY_DOWN | The four arrow keys ... |
| KEY_UP | |
| KEY_LEFT | |
| KEY_RIGHT | |
| KEY_HOME | Home key (upward+left arrow) |
| KEY_BACKSPACE | Backspace |
| KEY_F0 |
Function keys; space for 64 keys is reserved.
|
| KEY_F(n) |
For 0 ≤ n ≤ 63
|
| KEY_DL | Delete line |
| KEY_IL | Insert line |
| KEY_DC | Delete character |
| KEY_IC | Insert char or enter insert mode |
| KEY_EIC | Exit insert char mode |
| KEY_CLEAR | Clear screen |
| KEY_EOS | Clear to end of screen |
| KEY_EOL | Clear to end of line |
| KEY_SF | Scroll 1 line forward |
| KEY_SR | Scroll 1 line backward (reverse) |
| KEY_NPAGE | Next page |
| KEY_PPAGE | Previous page |
| KEY_STAB | Set tab |
| KEY_CTAB | Clear tab |
| KEY_CATAB | Clear all tabs |
| KEY_ENTER | Enter or send |
| KEY_SRESET | Soft (partial) reset |
| KEY_RESET | Reset or hard reset |
| KEY_PRINT | Print or copy |
| KEY_LL | Home down or bottom (lower left) |
| KEY_A1 | Upper left of keypad |
| KEY_A3 | Upper right of keypad |
| KEY_B2 | Center of keypad |
| KEY_C1 | Lower left of keypad |
| KEY_C3 | Lower right of keypad |
| KEY_BTAB | Back tab key |
| KEY_BEG | Beg(inning) key |
| KEY_CANCEL | Cancel key |
| KEY_CLOSE | Close key |
| KEY_COMMAND | Cmd (command) key |
| KEY_COPY | Copy key |
| KEY_CREATE | Create key |
| KEY_END | End key |
| KEY_EXIT | Exit key |
| KEY_FIND | Find key |
| KEY_HELP | Help key |
| KEY_MARK | Mark key |
| KEY_MESSAGE | Message key |
| KEY_MOUSE | Mouse event read |
| KEY_MOVE | Move key |
| KEY_NEXT | Next object key |
| KEY_OPEN | Open key |
| KEY_OPTIONS | Options key |
| KEY_PREVIOUS | Previous object key |
| KEY_REDO | Redo key |
| KEY_REFERENCE | Ref(erence) key |
| KEY_REFRESH | Refresh key |
| KEY_REPLACE | Replace key |
| KEY_RESIZE | Screen resized |
| KEY_RESTART | Restart key |
| KEY_RESUME | Resume key |
| KEY_SAVE | Save key |
| KEY_SBEG | Shifted beginning key |
| KEY_SCANCEL | Shifted cancel key |
| KEY_SCOMMAND | Shifted command key |
| KEY_SCOPY | Shifted copy key |
| KEY_SCREATE | Shifted create key |
| KEY_SDC | Shifted delete char key |
| KEY_SDL | Shifted delete line key |
| KEY_SELECT | Select key |
| KEY_SEND | Shifted end key |
| KEY_SEOL | Shifted clear line key |
| KEY_SEXIT | Shifted exit key |
| KEY_SFIND | Shifted find key |
| KEY_SHELP | Shifted help key |
| KEY_SHOME | Shifted home key |
| KEY_SIC | Shifted input key |
| KEY_SLEFT | Shifted left arrow key |
| KEY_SMESSAGE | Shifted message key |
| KEY_SMOVE | Shifted move key |
| KEY_SNEXT | Shifted next key |
| KEY_SOPTIONS | Shifted options key |
| KEY_SPREVIOUS | Shifted prev key |
| KEY_SPRINT | Shifted print key |
| KEY_SREDO | Shifted redo key |
| KEY_SREPLACE | Shifted replace key |
| KEY_SRIGHT | Shifted right arrow |
| KEY_SRSUME | Shifted resume key |
| KEY_SSAVE | Shifted save key |
| KEY_SSUSPEND | Shifted suspend key |
| KEY_SUNDO | Shifted undo key |
| KEY_SUSPEND | Suspend key |
| KEY_UNDO | Undo key |
Keypad is arranged like this:
| A1 | up | A3 |
| left | B2 | right |
| C1 | down | C3 |
The has_key routine takes a key value from the above list, and returns TRUE or FALSE according to whether the current terminal type recognizes a key with that value. Note that a few values do not correspond to a real key, e.g., KEY_RESIZE and KEY_MOUSE. See resizeterm(3NCURSES) for more details about KEY_RESIZE, and mouse(3NCURSES) for a discussion of KEY_MOUSE.
Note that some keys may be the same as commonly used control keys, e.g., KEY_ENTER versus control/M, KEY_BACKSPACE versus control/H. Some curses implementations may differ according to whether they treat these control keys specially (and ignore the terminfo), or use the terminfo definitions. Ncurses uses the terminfo definition. If it says that KEY_ENTER is control/M, getch will return KEY_ENTER when you press control/M.
When using getch, wgetch, mvgetch, or mvwgetch, nocbreak mode (nocbreak) and echo mode (echo) should not be used at the same time. Depending on the state of the tty driver when each character is typed, the program may produce undesirable results.
Note that getch, mvgetch, and mvwgetch may be macros.
Historically, the set of keypad macros was largely defined by the extremely function-key-rich keyboard of the AT&T 7300, aka 3B1, aka Safari 4. Modern personal computers usually have only a small subset of these. IBM PC-style consoles typically support little more than KEY_UP, KEY_DOWN, KEY_LEFT, KEY_RIGHT, KEY_HOME, KEY_END, KEY_NPAGE, KEY_PPAGE, and function keys 1 through 12. The Ins key is usually mapped to KEY_IC.
The echo behavior of these functions on input of KEY_ or backspace characters was not specified in the SVr4 documentation. This description is adopted from the XSI Curses standard.
The behavior of getch and friends in the presence of handled signals is unspecified in the SVr4 and XSI Curses documentation. Under historical curses implementations, it varied depending on whether the operating system's implementation of handled signal receipt interrupts a read(2) call in progress or not, and also (in some implementations) depending on whether an input timeout or non-blocking mode has been set.
Programmers concerned about portability should be prepared for either of two cases: (a) signal receipt does not interrupt getch; (b) signal receipt interrupts getch and causes it to return ERR with errno set to EINTR. Under the ncurses implementation, handled signals never interrupt getch.
The has_key function is unique to ncurses. We recommend that any code using it be conditionalized on the NCURSES_VERSION feature macro.
Comparable functions in the wide-character (ncursesw) library are described in get_wch(3NCURSES).