C++ console keyboard events

Question

Is there any way to get key events in a Windows console? I need a way to get keydown and keyup events quickly without a GUI. I've tried using getch(), but it doesn't get keyups and waits until a key has been pressed to return.

You say "without a GUI" but most of the time ( that I know of ) on windows you are using a console inside of a window. In the cases where you do have a window you can hook that window and capture its messages. — Zac, Jan 14 '10 at 23:49

score 11 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 06 '13 at 17:25

11

Use ReadConsoleInput() API. Watch for events of kind KEY_EVENT. This won't work for all keydown events (Ctrl-key, shift-key, Pause-key cannot be read), but most can be read.

Use GetNumberOfConsoleInputEvents to avoid blocking.

edited Nov 06 '13 at 17:25

Nathan Kidd

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answered Jan 14 '10 at 22:05

Seva Alekseyev

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score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 14 '10 at 22:38

You can use GetKeyState or GetAsyncKeyState, but that won't give you keydown/keyup events. It will only tell you what keys are currently down.

So if you really need to get the keydown/keyup events, you could install a hook. A Console window has a window handle that is owned by code in Windows and a message pump, also owned by code in Windows.

You can get the window handle of of the console window by using GetConsoleWindowThen install a WH_CALLWNDPROC hook using SetWindowsHookEx to listen in on messages send to the console window.

You might try a WH_MSGFILTER hook instead. I don't know if this works for console windows, but it would generate less messages to be ignored if it does work.

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 31 '12 at 00:09

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I was just curious, how comes such a logical question doesn't have any explanation on Google, So one has to ask it here. So I googled for: "keyboard events console application" and guess what ... first 2 links are interesting (but unfortunately, not exactly answers to your question):

Processing mouse / keyboard input on MSDN.
Console event handlers (like Ctrl-C and window close button).

edited Mar 31 '12 at 00:09

Abel

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answered Jan 14 '10 at 23:05

Moisei

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I googled the same thing a guess what... the third link pointed to this page. – avakar Jan 14 '10 at 23:07

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 14 '10 at 22:06

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There are a number of ways. GetKeyboardState would be one of the most obvious.

answered Jan 14 '10 at 22:06

Jerry Coffin

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score -2 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 17 '16 at 19:29

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You can also try SetConsoleCtrlHandler

edited Jul 17 '16 at 19:29

Flexo

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answered Jul 17 '16 at 08:34

kuba

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C++ console keyboard events

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