SHOWKEY(Y)                                             SHOWKEY(Y)



NAME
       showkey - examine the codes sent by the keyboard

SYNOPSIS
       showkey    [-h|--help]    [-a|--ascii]    [-s|--scancodes]
       [-k|--keycodes]

DESCRIPTION
       showkey prints to standard output either the scan codes or
       the  keycode  or the `ascii' code of each key pressed.  In
       the first two modes the program runs until 10 seconds have
       elapsed  since  the  last  key  press or release event, or
       until it receives a suitable signal,  like  SIGTERM,  from
       another  process.   In `ascii' mode the program terminates
       when the user types ^D.

       When in scancode dump mode, showkey prints in  hexadecimal
       format  each  byte received from the keyboard to the stan-
       dard output. A new line is printed  when  an  interval  of
       about  0.1  seconds  occurs between the bytes received, or
       when the internal receive buffer fills  up.  This  can  be
       used  to  determine  roughly, what byte sequences the key-
       board sends at once on a given key press.  The  scan  code
       dumping  mode is primarily intended for debugging the key-
       board driver or other low level  interfaces.  As  such  it
       shouldn't be of much interest to the regular end-user.

       When  in  the default keycode dump mode, showkey prints to
       the standard output the keycode number or each key pressed
       or  released.  The kind of the event, press or release, is
       also reported.  Keycodes are numbers assigned by the  ker-
       nel  to each individual physical key. Every key has always
       only one associated keycode number, whether  the  keyboard
       sends  single  or  multiple  scan  codes when pressing it.
       Using showkey in this mode, you can find out what  numbers
       to use in your personalized keymap files.

       When  in `ascii' dump mode, showkey prints to the standard
       output the decimal, octal, and hexadecimal value(e) of the
       key pressed, according to he present keymap.

OPTIONS
       -h --help
              showkey  prints  to  the  standard error output its
              version number, a compile option and a short  usage
              message, then exits.

       -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.

SEE ALSO
       loadkeys(s), dumpkeys(s), keymaps(s)




                            1 Feb 1998                 SHOWKEY(Y)