Special-function keys

In Turbo C, special keyboard character such as F1 or Ctrl-PgUp are indicated by a two-byte sequence with the getch function: If the first byte returned is 0, then the next byte indicates which special-function key has been pressed. The values for this second byte have been summarized in the fnkeys.h file, which also provides symbolic names for all of them.

Unfortunately, many function-key sequences available using getch in MS-DOS are not available at all using the ncurses library. (For example, F1 is available, but Ctrl-PgUp is not.) Others may or may not be available, depending on various factors. Consequently, while the TurboC library has mimicked this functionality as best it can -- or rather, as best I can -- you may still be in the position of having to change some of the special-function keys used by your program.

Here's a list of all special keys that I believe are handled by Turbo C's getch function, along with my observations of how they are handled by the TurboC library's getch function. Your
mileage may vary.

Special Key	Symbol provided in fnkeys.h	Under xterm	Under KDE Konsole	Under a text-mode login
Digits on numeric keypad	n/a (0-9, of course)	Ok	Ok	No! Treated as arrows, PgUp/PgDn.
Ctrl-A through Ctrl-Z	C_A-C_Z	Ok	Ok	Ok, except there is no Ctrl-Z.
Alt-A through Alt-Z	A_A-A_Z	Ok	Ok, except that Alt-O has a slight delay before registering.	Ok
F1 through F10	N_F1-N-F10	Ok	Ok	Ok
Shift-F1 though Shift-F10	S_F1-S_F10	Ok, except Shift-F5 terminates program	Ok, except: Shift-F5 terminates program, and F9-F10 don't work.	Ok, except: Shift-F5 terminates program, and F9-F10 don't work.
Alt-F1 through Alt-F10	A_F1-A_F10	No! (These are KDE hotkeys.)	No! (These are KDE hotkeys.)	No! (Switches between consoles.)
Ctrl-F1 through Ctrl-F10	C_F1-C_F10	No! (These are KDE hotkeys.)	No! (These are KDE hotkeys.)	No!
Alt-0 through Alt-9	A_0-A9	Ok	Ok	Ok
Arrows	N_UP, N_DOWN, N_LEFT, N_RIGHT	Ok	Ok on standalone arrow keys, but not on numeric keypad.	Ok
PgUp, PgDn	N_PGUP, N_PGDN	Ok	Ok on standalone arrow keys, but not on numeric keypad.	Ok
Home, End	N_HOME, N_END	No!	Ok on standalone arrow keys, but not on numeric keypad.	No!
Ins, Del	N_INS, N_DEL	Ok	Ok on standalone arrow keys, but not on numeric keypad.	Ok
Pad-minus, Pad-plus	N_PADPLUS, N_PADMINUS	Ok	No, treated as regular +/-.	No, treated as regular +/-.
Ctrl-right, Ctrl-left	C_LEFT, C_RIGHT	Ok on standalone arrow keys, but not on numeric keypad.	No, treated as regular right/left.	No, treated as regular right/left.
Ctrl-PgUp, Ctrl-PgDn	C_PGUP, C_PGDN	No!	No, treated as regular PgUp/PgDn.	No, treated as regular PgUp/PgDn.
Ctrl-Home, Ctrl-End	C_HOME, C_END	Ok on standalone arrow keys, but not on numeric keypad.	No, treated as regular home/end.	No!
Alt-minus, Alt-equals	A_MINUS, A_EQUALS	Ok	Ok	Ok on main keyboard, but not on the numeric keypad.
Esc	N_ESC	Ok, though there is a short delay before the keystroke registers.	Ok, though there is a short delay before the keystroke registers.	Ok, though there is a short delay before the keystroke registers.

I'd be happy to hear from anyone with a clear idea on how make this work more consistently, perhaps by using termcap/terminfo, of which I'm completely ignorant.