P
PerlFAQ Server
This is an excerpt from the latest version perlfaq5.pod, which
comes with the standard Perl distribution. These postings aim to
reduce the number of repeated questions as well as allow the community
to review and update the answers. The latest version of the complete
perlfaq is at http://faq.perl.org .
--------------------------------------------------------------------
5.32: How can I tell whether there's a character waiting on a filehandle?
The very first thing you should do is look into getting the
Term::ReadKey extension from CPAN. As we mentioned earlier, it now even
has limited support for non-portable (read: not open systems, closed,
proprietary, not POSIX, not Unix, etc.) systems.
You should also check out the Frequently Asked Questions list in
comp.unix.* for things like this: the answer is essentially the same.
It's very system dependent. Here's one solution that works on BSD
systems:
sub key_ready {
my($rin, $nfd);
vec($rin, fileno(STDIN), 1) = 1;
return $nfd = select($rin,undef,undef,0);
}
If you want to find out how many characters are waiting, there's also
the FIONREAD ioctl call to be looked at. The *h2ph* tool that comes with
Perl tries to convert C include files to Perl code, which can be
"require"d. FIONREAD ends up defined as a function in the *sys/ioctl.ph*
file:
require 'sys/ioctl.ph';
$size = pack("L", 0);
ioctl(FH, FIONREAD(), $size) or die "Couldn't call ioctl: $!\n";
$size = unpack("L", $size);
If *h2ph* wasn't installed or doesn't work for you, you can *grep* the
include files by hand:
% grep FIONREAD /usr/include/*/*
/usr/include/asm/ioctls.h:#define FIONREAD 0x541B
Or write a small C program using the editor of champions:
% cat > fionread.c
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
main() {
printf("%#08x\n", FIONREAD);
}
^D
% cc -o fionread fionread.c
% ./fionread
0x4004667f
And then hard code it, leaving porting as an exercise to your successor.
$FIONREAD = 0x4004667f; # XXX: opsys dependent
$size = pack("L", 0);
ioctl(FH, $FIONREAD, $size) or die "Couldn't call ioctl: $!\n";
$size = unpack("L", $size);
FIONREAD requires a filehandle connected to a stream, meaning that
sockets, pipes, and tty devices work, but *not* files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The perlfaq-workers, a group of volunteers, maintain the perlfaq. They
are not necessarily experts in every domain where Perl might show up,
so please include as much information as possible and relevant in any
corrections. The perlfaq-workers also don't have access to every
operating system or platform, so please include relevant details for
corrections to examples that do not work on particular platforms.
Working code is greatly appreciated.
If you'd like to help maintain the perlfaq, see the details in
perlfaq.pod.
comes with the standard Perl distribution. These postings aim to
reduce the number of repeated questions as well as allow the community
to review and update the answers. The latest version of the complete
perlfaq is at http://faq.perl.org .
--------------------------------------------------------------------
5.32: How can I tell whether there's a character waiting on a filehandle?
The very first thing you should do is look into getting the
Term::ReadKey extension from CPAN. As we mentioned earlier, it now even
has limited support for non-portable (read: not open systems, closed,
proprietary, not POSIX, not Unix, etc.) systems.
You should also check out the Frequently Asked Questions list in
comp.unix.* for things like this: the answer is essentially the same.
It's very system dependent. Here's one solution that works on BSD
systems:
sub key_ready {
my($rin, $nfd);
vec($rin, fileno(STDIN), 1) = 1;
return $nfd = select($rin,undef,undef,0);
}
If you want to find out how many characters are waiting, there's also
the FIONREAD ioctl call to be looked at. The *h2ph* tool that comes with
Perl tries to convert C include files to Perl code, which can be
"require"d. FIONREAD ends up defined as a function in the *sys/ioctl.ph*
file:
require 'sys/ioctl.ph';
$size = pack("L", 0);
ioctl(FH, FIONREAD(), $size) or die "Couldn't call ioctl: $!\n";
$size = unpack("L", $size);
If *h2ph* wasn't installed or doesn't work for you, you can *grep* the
include files by hand:
% grep FIONREAD /usr/include/*/*
/usr/include/asm/ioctls.h:#define FIONREAD 0x541B
Or write a small C program using the editor of champions:
% cat > fionread.c
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
main() {
printf("%#08x\n", FIONREAD);
}
^D
% cc -o fionread fionread.c
% ./fionread
0x4004667f
And then hard code it, leaving porting as an exercise to your successor.
$FIONREAD = 0x4004667f; # XXX: opsys dependent
$size = pack("L", 0);
ioctl(FH, $FIONREAD, $size) or die "Couldn't call ioctl: $!\n";
$size = unpack("L", $size);
FIONREAD requires a filehandle connected to a stream, meaning that
sockets, pipes, and tty devices work, but *not* files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The perlfaq-workers, a group of volunteers, maintain the perlfaq. They
are not necessarily experts in every domain where Perl might show up,
so please include as much information as possible and relevant in any
corrections. The perlfaq-workers also don't have access to every
operating system or platform, so please include relevant details for
corrections to examples that do not work on particular platforms.
Working code is greatly appreciated.
If you'd like to help maintain the perlfaq, see the details in
perlfaq.pod.