A usefull command if are want to read keyboard input : showkey. Very useful to know keycodes when programming.
What is showkey ?#
showkey - examine the codes sent by the keyboard
How does it work ?#
showkey have only 3 options (4 with help) :
-s --scancodes: Starts showkey in scan code dump mode.-k --keycodes: Starts showkey in keycode dump mode. This is the default, when no command line options are present.-a --ascii: Starts showkey in `ascii' dump mode.
Note : Only -a will fully works on X mode (with a graphical terminal), -s and -k mode may work on X mode if you have root permissions else use a text console (TTY 1 to 6).
Example#
showkey -a
Press any keys - Ctrl-D will terminate this program
a 97 0141 0x61
z 122 0172 0x7a
e 101 0145 0x65
r 114 0162 0x72
t 116 0164 0x74
y 121 0171 0x79
_ 95 0137 0x5f
? 63 0077 0x3f
^? 127 0177 0x7f
^M 13 0015 0x0d
^C 3 0003 0x03
^D 4 0004 0x04