keypress

Etymology

key + press

noun

1. The depression of an input key; a keystroke.
   But Allegro does allow you to read keypresses. Every event that's sent to an Allegro game comes in via a queue. That's just a list of data that describes which keys have been pressed, where the mouse is, and so on. 2012, David Griffiths, Dawn Griffiths, Head First C: A Brain-Friendly Guide, page 531
2. (computing) The buffered electrical signal resulting from such an event, sometimes distinguished from the release.