Repository navigation
Docs: problem with page "msvcrt — Useful routines from the MS VC runtime" #159072
Description
Activity
I can reproduce this in a Windows console.
Environment:
- Windows version: 10.0.26200.9457
- CPython 3.14.7, 64-bit (AMD64), MSC v.1944
Reproducer:
import msvcrt import sys print(sys.version) print("Received:", repr(msvcrt.getch()))
Pressing Ctrl+C while
getch()is waiting returns:Received: b'\x03'Ordinary letter keys are also returned as expected, such as
b'd'andb'c'.This contradicts the documentation statement that the Control-C keypress cannot be read with this function. I would like to work on a documentation fix.
I think the docs mean that Ctrl+C is not sending SIGINT to the terminal, not that it is not read.
Wait if it is Windows, does Ctrl+C even work?
Yes, Ctrl+C does work in Python on Windows, although reading it as a character and triggering an interrupt are different behaviors.
In my manual test on Windows 10.0.26200.9457 with CPython 3.14.7, pressing Ctrl+C while msvcrt.getch() was waiting returned b'\x03' without raising KeyboardInterrupt.I think this is what the docs meant here. So they should be corrected accordingly to that I think. What about signal handlers? (does it even work on Windows?)
Thanks for pointing out that distinction. I tested this with a custom handler registered using signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, handler) on Windows 10.0.26200.9457 with CPython 3.14.7.
Pressing Ctrl+C while msvcrt.getch() was waiting returned b'\x03', and the handler was not called. As a comparison, pressing Ctrl+C while input() was waiting called the handler with SIGINT (2), after which input() raised EOFError.
So SIGINT handlers do work on Windows in this test. I agree that the documentation should distinguish reading the Ctrl+C character from triggering interrupt handling.
- added a commit that references this issue
on Oct 10, 2026
The page at https://docs.python.org/3/library/msvcrt.html has a problem:
For msvcrt.getch(), the last line reads: "The Control-C keypress cannot be read with this function."
Current behavior in Terminal: Ctrl-C is returned as b'\x03' when pressed while getch() is waiting
Linked PRs