diff -r 5b0595339c9d Doc/library/curses.rst
--- a/Doc/library/curses.rst	Sun Aug 26 07:33:10 2012 +0300
+++ b/Doc/library/curses.rst	Sun Aug 26 23:04:09 2012 +0200
@@ -869,8 +869,10 @@ the following methods and attributes:
 
 .. method:: window.get_wch([y, x])
 
-   Get a wide character. Like :meth:`getch`, but the integer returned is the
-   Unicode code point for the key pressed, so it can be passed to :func:`chr`.
+   Get a wide character as (is_key_code, key). *is_key_code* is True for
+   function keys, keypad keys and so, in this case, *key* is a multibyte string
+   containing the key name. Otherwise, *key* is a single character
+   corresponding to the key.
 
    .. versionadded:: 3.3
 
diff -r 5b0595339c9d Lib/test/test_curses.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_curses.py	Sun Aug 26 07:33:10 2012 +0300
+++ b/Lib/test/test_curses.py	Sun Aug 26 23:04:09 2012 +0200
@@ -267,8 +267,7 @@ def test_issue6243(stdscr):
 def test_unget_wch(stdscr):
     if not hasattr(curses, 'unget_wch'):
         return
-    import locale
-    encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding()
+    encoding = stdscr.encoding
     for ch in ('a', '\xe9', '\u20ac', '\U0010FFFF'):
         try:
             ch.encode(encoding)
@@ -277,18 +276,21 @@ def test_unget_wch(stdscr):
         try:
             curses.unget_wch(ch)
         except Exception as err:
-            raise Exception("unget_wch(%a) failed with locale encoding %s: %s"
-                            % (ch, encoding, err))
-        read = stdscr.get_wch()
-        read = chr(read)
+            raise Exception("unget_wch(%a) failed with encoding %s: %s"
+                            % (ch, stdscr.encoding, err))
+        is_key_code, read = stdscr.get_wch()
+        if is_key_code:
+            raise AssertionError("it is not a key code")
         if read != ch:
             raise AssertionError("%r != %r" % (read, ch))
 
         code = ord(ch)
         curses.unget_wch(code)
-        read = stdscr.get_wch()
-        if read != code:
-            raise AssertionError("%r != %r" % (read, code))
+        is_key_code, read = stdscr.get_wch()
+        if is_key_code:
+            raise AssertionError("it is not a key code")
+        if read != ch:
+            raise AssertionError("%r != %r" % (read, ch))
 
 def test_issue10570():
     b = curses.tparm(curses.tigetstr("cup"), 5, 3)
diff -r 5b0595339c9d Modules/_cursesmodule.c
--- a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c	Sun Aug 26 07:33:10 2012 +0300
+++ b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c	Sun Aug 26 23:04:09 2012 +0200
@@ -1180,6 +1180,8 @@ PyCursesWindow_Get_WCh(PyCursesWindowObj
     int x, y;
     int ct;
     wint_t rtn;
+    PyObject *obj;
+    int is_key_code;
 
     switch (PyTuple_Size(args)) {
     case 0:
@@ -1203,7 +1205,21 @@ PyCursesWindow_Get_WCh(PyCursesWindowObj
         PyErr_SetString(PyCursesError, "no input");
         return NULL;
     }
-    return PyLong_FromLong(rtn);
+    is_key_code = (ct == KEY_CODE_YES);
+    if (is_key_code) {
+        const char *knp;
+#if defined(__NetBSD__)
+        knp = unctrl(rtn);
+#else
+        knp = keyname(rtn);
+#endif
+        obj = PyUnicode_FromString((knp == NULL) ? "" : knp);
+    }
+    else
+        obj = PyUnicode_FromOrdinal(rtn);
+    if (obj == NULL)
+        return NULL;
+    return Py_BuildValue("NN", PyBool_FromLong(is_key_code), obj);
 }
 #endif