The getevent function shows kernel events like press button events, touchscreen events, sensor events (like accelerometers or magnetometers).
bash-3.2# getevent -h
Usage: getevent [-t] [-n] [-s switchmask] [-S] [-v [mask]] [-p] [-q] [-c count] [-r] [device]
-t: show time stamps
-n: don't print newlines
-s: print switch states for given bits
-S: print all switch states
-v: verbosity mask (errs=1, dev=2, name=4, info=8, vers=16, pos. events=32)
-p: show possible events (errs, dev, name, pos. events)
-q: quiet (clear verbosity mask)
-c: print given number of events then exit
-r: print rate events are received
Bellow an example of all events on some board
bash-3.2# getevent -p
add device 1: /dev/input/event2
name: "mxc_ts"
events:
SYN (0000): 0000 0001 0003
KEY (0001): 014a
ABS (0003): 0000 value 0, min 0, max 0, fuzz 0 flat 0
0001 value 0, min 0, max 0, fuzz 0 flat 0
0018 value 0, min 0, max 0, fuzz 0 flat 0
could not get driver version for /dev/input/mouse0, Not a typewriter
add device 2: /dev/input/event1
name: "mxc_power_key"
events:
SYN (0000): 0000 0001
KEY (0001): 003e
add device 3: /dev/input/event0
name: "mxckpd"
events:
SYN (0000): 0000 0001
KEY (0001): 0002 0003 0004 0005 003b 003c 003d 003e
0066 0067 0069 006a 006c 008b 009e 0161
could not get driver version for /dev/input/mice, Not a typewriter
For example, some touchscreen event. Any touchscreen press-up or press-down will return a vector of values related with the event (please, see include/linux/input.h for detail)
bash-3.2# getevent /dev/input/event2
0003 0000 0000020e
0003 0001 0000014a
0003 0018 00000037
0001 014a 00000001
0000 0000 00000000
0003 0000 00000209
0003 0001 00000147