I want to bind terminal behavior to hotkeys without having to define escape sequences. I understand readline binds to characters instead of actual key presses. Can it also bind to the lower level virtual keys? e.g. so I can use CTRL+LEFT_ARROW instead of whatever ascii escape sequence (^[^[D) my current terminal uses. How can I achieve this behavior (doesn't have to be readline). I don't use X, just the Linux console and terminal text editors. 
Line editing (readline?) with virtual keys
keyboard shortcuts;readline;line editor;keyboard event
readline can't do that.  Some applications can open a connection to the X server and detect X events (such as xev), but the readline library isn't one of those applications.Call it a technical limitation.  readline uses system interfaces (mostly POSIX termios) which can only read the characters sent by the terminal, and has no access to their internal state.