How to detect that arrow key is pressed using C under Linux or Solaris?

Question

What is the best way to detect in a C program that arrow key is pressed under Linux or Solaris?

As I know there is no standard C function that can do it. I don't want to use int86 function. I need to do it in a portable way.

Edit: I am asking about console applications.

Are you referring to a console application (i.e. no windows)? — David Z, Feb 20 '09 at 02:16

Steve Weet · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-19T10:00:11.013

6

You should look at the curses/ncurses library which will give you advanced screen and keyboard handling for console applications.

There is a lot of documentation available for curses, which is an extensive library.

There is a write-up on this very question available here

edited Apr 19 '12 at 10:00

answered Feb 20 '09 at 02:39

Steve Weet

This answer is spot-on. Especially if you want it portable, don't reinvent the wheel, just use a library and spare the headache. – ypnos Feb 20 '09 at 02:57
As pointed out by Francis the original Documentation link is now a 404. Repointed to a new source – Steve Weet Apr 19 '12 at 10:01
As of 2023, [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/75499310/6013016) is the solution – Scott Feb 20 '23 at 00:09

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 20 '09 at 11:32

2

I believe your program should switch into non-canonical mode to be able to read special characters

answered Feb 20 '09 at 11:32

dmityugov

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 20 '09 at 02:18

0

If you wanted to do this without using something like SDL, you should look into the select() statement and how to use it to read from console input.

answered Feb 20 '09 at 02:18

Suroot

3 Answers3