Input

Low-level ETI routines for reading from the current terminal are similar to those provided by the Intro(3S) library for reading from a file. They let you

• read a character at a time -- getch

• read a <NL>-terminated string -- getstr

• parse input, converting and assigning selected data to an argument list -- scanw

The primary routine is getch, which processes a single input character and then returns that character. This routine is like the C library routine getchar, described on the getc(3S) manual page, except that it makes several terminal- or system-dependent options available that are not possible with getchar. For example, you can use getch with the ETI routine keypad, which allows a low-level ETI program to interpret extra keys on a user's terminal, such as arrow keys, function keys, and other special keys that transmit escape sequences, and treat them as just another key. See the curs_inopts(3ocurses) manual page for more information about keypad.

The following pages describe and give examples of the basic routines for getting input in a screen program.