Powershell detect keypress

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Detecting Key Presses in PowerShell

In PowerShell, you can detect key presses using the ReadKey() method from the System.Console class. This method allows you to read a single keystroke from the console and perform actions based on the pressed key.

Example:


# Import the required .NET namespace
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
  using System;
  using System.Collections.Generic;
  using System.Linq;
  using System.Text;
  using System.Threading.Tasks;
"@

# Define a function to handle key press events
function HandleKeyPress($sender, $eventArgs) {
    # Check the pressed key
    if ($eventArgs.KeyChar -eq 'q') {
        Write-Host "The 'q' key was pressed. Exiting..."
        # Perform any necessary cleanup or exit actions
        exit
    }
}

# Register the key press event handler
$console = [System.Console]
$eventHandler = $console.GetEvent('KeyPress')
$action = { HandleKeyPress $this $args[0] }
$handler = [System.Management.Automation.PSEventReceivedEventHandler]($action)
$consoleHookup = $null
$consoleHookup = Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $console -EventName KeyPress -Action $handler

# Start an infinite loop to wait for key presses
while ($true) {
    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
}

In this example, we first import the required .NET namespaces using the Add-Type cmdlet. Then, we define a function called HandleKeyPress that will be called when a key is pressed. Inside the function, we check if the pressed key is ‘q’, and if so, we display a message and exit the script.

Next, we register the key press event handler using the GetEvent method from the System.Console class. This allows us to capture key press events and trigger our function. We use the Register-ObjectEvent cmdlet to attach the event handler to the console’s key press event.

Finally, we start an infinite loop using the while ($true) construct to continuously wait for key presses. By adding a small delay using Start-Sleep, we prevent the loop from consuming excessive CPU resources.

You can modify the HandleKeyPress function to perform different actions based on the key pressed. For example, you could execute a specific command, toggle a feature, or change the behavior of your script.

Keep in mind that detecting key presses in a PowerShell script is primarily useful for console applications or interactive scripts. If you need to capture keystrokes in a graphical interface or a web-based application, you might need to explore other frameworks or technologies that support such functionality.

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