ureadkey(3alleg4)

✨ ureadkey ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because this one is a certified bop 💖 it lives in the Allegro game programming library, and it does one thing and does it gorgeously: it hands you the next unicode character from the keyboard buffer. no cap. 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <allegro.h>

int ureadkey(int *scancode);

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one include, one function, infinite slay. 🦋

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so here's the tea, fr fr: ureadkey returns the next character from the keyboard buffer, in Unicode format. and if the buffer is literally empty? it just waits. sits there. patiently. like a bestie holding your spot in line until a key gets pressed. 🫶

wanna know if there are already queued keypresses chilling in there before you commit? that's what keypressed() is for, go check it, iykyk. 💜

the return value carries the Unicode value of the key. and if that pointer argument isn't NULL, it gets set to the scancode — so you get both the character and the physical key info. main character energy honestly. 👑

and the way that readkey() could never — because unlike readkey(), this function is able to return character values greater than 255. that's the whole point. that's the flex. 💅✨

example time, because we love a demo:

int val, scancode;
...
val = ureadkey(&scancode);
if (val == 0x00F1)
   allegro_message("You pressed n with tilde\n");

if (val == 0x00DF)
   allegro_message("You pressed sharp s\n");

look at her go 😭💖 those are the exact magic numbers, don't touch them.

you should be able to find Unicode character maps over at http://www.unicode.org/ — go wild, go browse, it's giving reference material 🌈

⚠️ DOS besties listen up!! remember that on DOS you must specify a custom keyboard map (like those found in keyboard.dat) — usually with the help of a configuration file specifying the language mapping (the keyboard variable in the system section of allegro.cfg). if you don't? you get the default US keyboard mapping. that's not a vibe check you want to fail. 😭

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

• install_keyboard(3alleg4)
• readkey(3alleg4)
• keypressed(3alleg4)
• clear_keybuf(3alleg4)
• simulate_ukeypress(3alleg4)
• exkeys(3alleg4)

go read them all, they're all iconic in their own way 🧚💜

Allegro · version 4.4.3 · ureadkey(3alleg4)

and that's the whole page bestie, mwah, go press some keys 💋🌸🎀