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Here's a complete example program that should get you there. Link it with the ncurses libs.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <termios.h>

#include <term.h>

#include <curses.h>

#include <unistd.h>



static struct termios initial_settings, new_settings;

static int peek_character = -1;



void init_keyboard();

void close_keyboard();

int kbhit();

int readch();



int main()

{

    int ch = 0;



    init_keyboard();

    while(ch != 'q') {

        printf("looping\n");

        sleep(1);

        if(kbhit()) {

            ch = readch();

            printf("you hit %c\n",ch);

        }

    }

    close_keyboard();

    exit(0);

}



void init_keyboard()

{

    tcgetattr(0,&initial_settings);

    new_settings = initial_settings;

    new_settings.c_lflag &= ~ICANON;

    new_settings.c_lflag &= ~ECHO;

    new_settings.c_lflag &= ~ISIG;

    new_settings.c_cc[VMIN] = 1;

    new_settings.c_cc[VTIME] = 0;

    tcsetattr(0, TCSANOW, &new_settings);

}



void close_keyboard()

{

    tcsetattr(0, TCSANOW, &initial_settings);

}



int kbhit()

{

    char ch;

    int nread;



    if(peek_character != -1)

        return 1;

    new_settings.c_cc[VMIN]=0;

    tcsetattr(0, TCSANOW, &new_settings);

    nread = read(0,&ch,1);

    new_settings.c_cc[VMIN]=1;

    tcsetattr(0, TCSANOW, &new_settings);



    if(nread == 1) {

        peek_character = ch;

        return 1;

    }

    return 0;

}



int readch()

{

    char ch;



    if(peek_character != -1) {

        ch = peek_character;

        peek_character = -1;

        return ch;

    }

    read(0,&ch,1);

    return ch;

}

From the downloaded sources (GPL'd) of the book "Beginning Linux Programming" - Wrox.