---
name: "termkey_start"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libtermkey-dev"
version: "0.22-2+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/termkey_start"
---

# termkey\_start(3)

enable or disable terminal operations

## NAME

termkey\_start, termkey\_stop, termkey\_is\_started - enable or disable terminal operations

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <termkey.h>

int termkey_start(TermKey *tk);
int termkey_stop(TermKey *tk);

int termkey_is_started(TermKey *tk);
```

Link with *-ltermkey*.

## DESCRIPTION

**termkey\_start**() enables the terminal IO operations of the given [**termkey**(7)](/termkey/7.md) instance, including sending a terminal control sequence and setting the [**termios**(3)](/termios/3.md) modes required.

**termkey\_stop**() disables terminal IO operations, by reversing the steps taken by **termkey\_start**(). A newly-constructed **termkey** instance will have terminal IO enabled already.

**termkey\_is\_started**() enquires whether terminal IO is currently enabled.

## RETURN VALUE

If successful, **termkey\_start**() and **termkey\_stop**() return a true value. On failure, zero is returned with *errno* set to indicate the failure.  **termkey\_is\_started**() returns true or false to indicate whether terminal IO is currently enabled.

## SEE ALSO

[**termkey\_new**(3)](/termkey_new/3.md), [**termkey**(7)](/termkey/7.md)