C Language and Libraries Help (clang.hlp) (Table of Contents; Topic list)
Important Notice
The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.
_bios_keybrd Constants
                                             Up Contents Index Back
─────Run-Time Library───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
  Constant:  _KEYBRD_READ, _KEYBRD_READY, _KEYBRD_SHIFTSTATUS,
             _NKEYBRD_READ, _NKEYBRD_READY, _NKEYBRD_SHIFTSTATUS
 
  Include:   <bios.h>
 
  Context:   _bios_keybrd
 
  Summary:   The <service> argument can be any one of the following
             manifest constants:
 
     Constant                 Meaning
 
     _KEYBRD_READ,            Reads the next character read from the
     _NKEYBRD_READ            keyboard. The _NKEYBRD_READ constant is
                              used with enhanced keyboards to obtain
                              the scan codes for function keys F11 and
                              F12 and the cursor control keys. If no
                              character has been typed, the call will
                              wait for one. If the low-order byte of
                              the return value is nonzero, it contains
                              the ASCII value of the character typed.
                              The high-order byte contains the keyboard
                              scan code for the character. See SCAN.H
                              for a list of keyboard scan codes.
 
     _KEYBRD_READY,           Checks to see whether a keystroke is
     _NKEYBRD_READY           waiting to be read and, if so, reads it.
                              The _NKEYBRD_READY constant is for use
                              with enhanced keyboards. The return value
                              is 0 if no keystroke is waiting;
                              otherwise, the return value is the
                              character waiting to be read, in the same
                              format as the _KEYBRD_READ or
                              _NKEYBRD_READ return. This service does
                              not remove the waiting character from the
                              input buffer, as does the _KEYBRD_READ or
                              _NKEYBRD_READ service.
 
     _KEYBRD_SHIFTSTATUS,     Returns the current shift-key (SHIFT)
     _NKEYBRD_SHIFTSTATUS     status. The _KEYBRD_SHIFTSTATUS uses only
                              the low-order byte of the return value:
 
                               7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
                              ┌─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┐
                              │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
                              └─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┘
                               │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
                               │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─ Right SHIFT key is down
                               │ │ │ │ │ │ └─── Left SHIFT key is down
                               │ │ │ │ │ └───── CTRL key is down
                               │ │ │ │ └─────── ALT key is down
                               │ │ │ └───────── SCROLL LOCK on
                               │ │ └─────────── NUM LOCK on
                               │ └───────────── CAPS LOCK on
                               └─────────────── INS on
 
                              The _NKEYBRD_SHIFTSTATUS uses the
                              low-order and also the high-order byte:
 
                              7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
                              ┌─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┐
                              │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
                              └─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┘
                              │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
                              │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─ Left CTRL key is down
                              │ │ │ │ │ │ └─── Left ALT key is down
                              │ │ │ │ │ └───── Right CTRL key is down
                              │ │ │ │ └─────── Right ALT key is down
                              │ │ │ └───────── Scroll key is down
                              │ │ └─────────── NUM LOCK key is down
                              │ └───────────── CAPS LOCK key is down
                              └─────────────── SYSREQ key is down
 
                              See SHIFT.H for a list of keyboard
                              shift codes.
                                    -♦-