ConEmu
Windows Terminal

Console events tools

These tools show raw keyboard and mouse console events. They read events from console input and prints in user-friendly manner. It’s useful for troubleshooting console keyboard and mouse input. Choose the tool from the list below based on the type of console application you want to troubleshoot.

KeyEvents

KeyEvents utilizes ReadConsoleInput function from WinAPI to read console events and prints them to the console. KeyEvents shows you keypresses and mouse events obtained by cmd, powershell, far and other native console applications.

Sample KeyEvents output.

key-reader and key-curses

Both tools are distributes as sources on GitHub and may be compiled with cygwin, msys-2 or WSL.

key-reader shows just raw character codes.

key-cureses tries to output mnemonic key names and mouse events.

‘showkeys -a’ Unix command

This simple tool is available from the box on many Unix distro and is available in WSL too. Just execute showkeys -a from your prompt.

Sample showkeys output.

Sample output of the tools

‘key-reader’ output (Unix)

Press Ctrl+C to exit.

~$ ./key-reader
Starting raw conin reader, press Ctrl+C to stop
<ENTER>
<x71:q><x7F><x1F><x1B><x4F:O><x41:A><x1B><x4F:O><x42:B><x1B><x4F:O><x50:P>

‘key-curses’ output (Unix)

Press Esc twice to exit.

~$ ./key-curses
<x0a: > ^J
<x71:q> q
<x107: > KEY_BACKSPACE
<x1f: > ^_
<x103: > KEY_UP
<x102: > KEY_DOWN
<x109: > KEY_F(1)
<x199: > KEY_MOUSE
  bstate=x04 x=73 y=15
<x199: > KEY_MOUSE
  bstate=x4000 x=73 y=15

‘showkeys -a’ output (Unix)

Press Ctrl+D to exit.

~$ showkey -a

Press any keys - Ctrl-D will terminate this program

^M       13 0015 0x0d
q       113 0161 0x71
       127 0177 0x7f
^_       31 0037 0x1f
^[       27 0033 0x1b
O        79 0117 0x4f
A        65 0101 0x41
^[       27 0033 0x1b
O        79 0117 0x4f
B        66 0102 0x42
^[       27 0033 0x1b
O        79 0117 0x4f
P        80 0120 0x50

KeyEvents output (Windows API)

Press Esc twice to exit.

KeyEvents from Maximus5, ver 4.3. Far SysLog mode
Current console mode = 0x000000B7

Press 'Esc' twice to exit program
Press 'Enter' to insert empty line

14:45:44 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_RETURN" [13/0x000D], Scan=0x001C uChar=[U=' ' (0x000D): A=' ' (0x0D)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:44 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_RETURN" [13/0x000D], Scan=0x001C uChar=[U=' ' (0x000D): A=' ' (0x0D)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)

14:45:48 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_Q" [81/0x0051], Scan=0x0010 uChar=[U='q' (0x0071): A='q' (0x71)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:48 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_Q" [81/0x0051], Scan=0x0010 uChar=[U='q' (0x0071): A='q' (0x71)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:49 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_BACK" [8/0x0008], Scan=0x000E uChar=[U=' (0x0008): A=' (0x08)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:50 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_BACK" [8/0x0008], Scan=0x000E uChar=[U=' (0x0008): A=' (0x08)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:51 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_CONTROL" [17/0x0011], Scan=0x001D uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000028 (Casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:51 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_BACK" [8/0x0008], Scan=0x000E uChar=[U='⌂' (0x007F): A='⌂' (0x7F)]
         Ctrl=0x00000028 (Casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:51 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_BACK" [8/0x0008], Scan=0x000E uChar=[U='⌂' (0x007F): A='⌂' (0x7F)]
         Ctrl=0x00000028 (Casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:51 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_CONTROL" [17/0x0011], Scan=0x001D uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:55 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_UP" [38/0x0026], Scan=0x0048 uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000120 (casac - EcNs) (Windowed)
14:45:55 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_UP" [38/0x0026], Scan=0x0048 uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000120 (casac - EcNs) (Windowed)
14:45:56 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_DOWN" [40/0x0028], Scan=0x0050 uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000120 (casac - EcNs) (Windowed)
14:45:56 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_DOWN" [40/0x0028], Scan=0x0050 uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000120 (casac - EcNs) (Windowed)
14:45:59 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Dn, 1, Vk="VK_F1" [112/0x0070], Scan=0x003B uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:45:59 KEY_EVENT_RECORD: Up, 1, Vk="VK_F1" [112/0x0070], Scan=0x003B uChar=[U=' ' (0x0000): A=' ' (0x00)]
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs) (Windowed)
14:46:01 MOUSE_EVENT_RECORD: [153,32733], Btn=0x00000001 (Lr   )
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs), Flgs=0x00000000 () (Windowed)
14:46:01 MOUSE_EVENT_RECORD: [153,32733], Btn=0x00000000 (lr   )
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs), Flgs=0x00000000 () (Windowed)
14:46:01 MOUSE_EVENT_RECORD: [153,32733], Btn=0x00000000 (lr   )
         Ctrl=0x00000020 (casac - ecNs), Flgs=0x00000001 ((Moved)) (Windowed)
Skipping MOUSE_MOVED (19)
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