Scancode
Provided by the ASK Keyboard Dictionary
Aka/also known as: scan code, usage code
A scancode is a code that reports a pressed key. They are national/regional language agnostic and simply represent the position of the pressed key (whether it is a literal key-matrix position or an abstract but unique position) and have no specific function tied to them. It's up to the host computer's firmware, operating system and the user's input/language settings to determine what they represent. For IBM's three major scancode sets and the various terminal-specific scancode sets before them, scancodes were typically represented as hexadecimal codes either singularly or a pair of codes to represent the distinct make (key-down) and break (key-up) events. The equivalent to scancodes for USB HID are usage codes.
