Lua-System docs

## read.lua

    local sys = require "system"

    print [[

    This example shows how to do a non-blocking read from the cli.

    ]]

    -- setup Windows console to handle ANSI processing
    local of_in = sys.getconsoleflags(io.stdin)
    local of_out = sys.getconsoleflags(io.stdout)
    sys.setconsoleflags(io.stdout, sys.getconsoleflags(io.stdout) + sys.COF_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING)
    sys.setconsoleflags(io.stdin, sys.getconsoleflags(io.stdin) + sys.CIF_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_INPUT)

    -- setup Posix terminal to use non-blocking mode, and disable line-mode
    local of_attr = sys.tcgetattr(io.stdin)
    local of_block = sys.getnonblock(io.stdin)
    sys.setnonblock(io.stdin, true)
    sys.tcsetattr(io.stdin, sys.TCSANOW, {
      lflag = of_attr.lflag - sys.L_ICANON - sys.L_ECHO, -- disable canonical mode and echo
    })

    -- cursor sequences
    local get_cursor_pos = "\27[6n"

    print("Press a key, or 'A' to get cursor position, 'ESC' to exit")
    while true do
      local key, keytype

      -- wait for a key
      while not key do
        key, keytype = sys.readansi(math.huge)
      end

      if key == "A" then io.write(get_cursor_pos); io.flush() end

      -- check if we got a key or ANSI sequence
      if keytype == "char" then
        -- just a key
        local b = key:byte()
        if b < 32 then
          key = "." -- replace control characters with a simple "." to not mess up the screen
        end

        print("you pressed: " .. key .. " (" .. b .. ")")
        if b == 27 then
          print("Escape pressed, exiting")
          break
        end

      elseif keytype == "ansi" then
        -- we got an ANSI sequence
        local seq = { key:byte(1, #key) }
        print("ANSI sequence received: " .. key:sub(2,-1), "(bytes: " .. table.concat(seq, ", ")..")")

      else
        print("unknown key type received: " .. tostring(keytype))
      end
    end

    -- Clean up afterwards
    sys.setnonblock(io.stdin, false)
    sys.setconsoleflags(io.stdout, of_out)
    sys.setconsoleflags(io.stdin, of_in)
    sys.tcsetattr(io.stdin, sys.TCSANOW, of_attr)
    sys.setnonblock(io.stdin, of_block)

generated by LDoc 1.5.0 Last updated 2026-04-26 10:36:21