I have seen How to execute a script in shell when a shortcut key is pressed, but that is not what I want.If you have used recordmydesktop, you may have noticed the following in its manual:After startup, it can be controled only through the following signals:  SIGUSR1  causes  the  program to pause if it's currently recording, and  vice-versa.  SIGTERM causes normal termination of the recording. [...]  See  --pause-shortcut  and  --stop-shortcut  , on the Misc.  section of  Options bellow. [...]  --pause-shortcut MOD+KEY      Shortcut that will be used for pausing  or  unpausing      the recording. [...]      Default  is  Control+Mod1+p (Mod1 usually corresponds      to left Alt). [...]  --stop-shortcut MOD+KEY      Shortcut that will be used to stop the recording.      For more, see -pause-shortcut above.      Default is Control+Mod1+s.  Well, I'd like the same - but for an arbitrary, typically long-running, terminal program. Say I want to use ffmpeg; then I'd want to use an application somewhat in this way (pseudocode);$ myKeyListenerApp --start-shortcut Control+Mod1+p --stop-shortcut Control+Mod1+s ffmpeg -i mybigmovie.avi -r 24 mybigmovie.ogvThe trick would be that myKeyListenerApp would start ffmpeg paused (or simply not start it at all); then as soon as it is notified of the start shortcut press, it would start ffmpeg and let it do it's thing. Then when I press the stop shortcut, ffmpeg would either pause, or if that is not possible, then simply be killed, upon which myKeyListenerApp would exit, too. Does an application like this exist?  
Start command and stop command in terminal on keyboard (hotkey) shortcut press?
keyboard shortcuts;process management