How to get user-level access to modifier keypresses in console app

I need to get access to modifier-key state for a console app I'm writing (a personalized editor).

Are there any packages/libs/whatever that provide this access?

I cobbled the following from somewhere, but it only works if you're root, and I don't really want to mess about at root-level.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <termios.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <linux/input.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>

int kbhit(void)
{
    struct termios oldt, newt;
    int ch;
    int oldf;

    tcgetattr(STDIN_FILENO, &oldt);

    newt = oldt;
    newt.c_lflag &= ~0000172 ; //~(ICANON | ECHO);

    tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &newt);
    oldf = fcntl(STDIN_FILENO, F_GETFL, 0);
    fcntl(STDIN_FILENO, F_SETFL, oldf | O_NONBLOCK);

    ch = getchar();

    tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &oldt);
    fcntl(STDIN_FILENO, F_SETFL, oldf);

    return ch;
}

enum MODKEYS
{
    SHIFT_L = 1,
    SHIFT_R = 2,
    CTRL_L = 4,
    CTRL_R = 8,
    ALT_L = 16,
    ALT_R = 32,
};

int chkmodifiers()
{
    int mods=0,keyb,mask;
    char key_map[KEY_MAX/8 + 1];    //  Create a byte array the size of the number of keys

    //event1 - got by inspecting /dev/input/... 
    FILE *kbd = fopen("/dev/input/event1", "r");
    if (kbd == NULL)
    {
        printf("(chkmodifiers) ERROR: %s\n", strerror(errno)); //permission - got to be root!
        return 0;
    }

    memset(key_map, 0, sizeof(key_map));
    ioctl(fileno(kbd), EVIOCGKEY(sizeof(key_map)), key_map);    //  Fill the keymap with the current keyboard state

    keyb = key_map[KEY_LEFTSHIFT/8];
    mask = 1 << (KEY_LEFTSHIFT % 8);
    if (keyb & mask) mods += SHIFT_L;

    keyb = key_map[KEY_RIGHTSHIFT/8];
    mask = 1 << (KEY_RIGHTSHIFT % 8);
    if (keyb & mask) mods += SHIFT_R;

    keyb = key_map[KEY_LEFTCTRL/8];
    mask = 1 << (KEY_LEFTCTRL % 8);
    if (keyb & mask) mods += CTRL_L;

    keyb = key_map[KEY_RIGHTCTRL/8];
    mask = 1 << (KEY_RIGHTCTRL % 8);
    if (keyb & mask) mods += CTRL_R;

    keyb = key_map[KEY_LEFTALT/8];
    mask = 1 << (KEY_LEFTALT % 8);
    if (keyb & mask) mods += ALT_L;

    keyb = key_map[KEY_RIGHTALT/8];
    mask = 1 << (KEY_RIGHTALT % 8);
    if (keyb & mask) mods += ALT_R;

    return mods;

}


int main()
{
    puts("Press a key!");

    char ch=0;
    int n=0,m;

    while (ch != 'q')
    {
        n = kbhit();
        if (n != -1)
        {
            m = chkmodifiers();
            ch =  (char)n;
            printf("You pressed '%c' [%d]\n", ch, n);
            if ((m & SHIFT_L) == SHIFT_L) printf(" .. and ls\n");
            if ((m & SHIFT_R) == SHIFT_R) printf(" .. and rs\n");
            if ((m & CTRL_L) == CTRL_L) printf(" .. and lc\n");
            if ((m & CTRL_R) == CTRL_R) printf(" .. and rc\n");
            if ((m & ALT_L) == ALT_L) printf(" .. and la\n");
            if ((m & ALT_R) == ALT_R) printf(" .. and ra\n");

        }
    }
    return 0;
}