Here's a way without the external module. It's very basic, but could give you some guidance to make it more complex. Uses a dispatch table to run commands based on what the user enters, and will run the last command typed if user hits the up arrow.

Essentially, all you have to do is keep history in an array outside of your main game loop, then push to it every round. When the up arrow is seen, you need to pull the last entry from the history array, and use it.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;


my $up_arrow = "\e[A"; # up arrow
my @history = [];
my %dispatch = (
                'fight' => \&fight,
                'run'   => \&run,
               );

while(1){

    print "Enter command...\n";
    my $in = <STDIN>;
    chomp $in;

    if ($in eq $up_arrow){
        print "$history[-1]";
        push @history, $history[-1];
        $dispatch{$history[-1]}->(); 
    }
    else {
        push @history, $in;
        $dispatch{$in}->();
    }
}

sub fight(){
    print "Everybody was kung-fu fighting!\n";
}
sub run(){
    print "I'm running the hell away!\n";
}
[download]

Input/output:

steve02@steve02-ws:~$ ./arrow.pl 
Enter command...
run
I'm running the hell away!
Enter command...
^[[A
runI'm running the hell away!
Enter command...
fight
Everybody was kung-fu fighting!
Enter command...
^[[A
fightEverybody was kung-fu fighting!
Enter command...
[download]

EDIT: I often like to make code examples a little more complex than necessary to give requesters things to think about, but in this case, I may have gone a bit over the top. This is likely because now coding in Python, I like to exercise my Perl when I can :)

Here's a more basic example of how one could do what OP asked. Note that if *only* the most recent history is ever needed, it would be advisable to shift off of the history array each iteration as to not eat up all memory if the plan is to do many, many iterations.

The following code asks the user for a number, and prints the result of that number multiplied by 10. Hitting the up arrow will perform the same calculation with the same number as last round.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings; # always use this
use strict;   # always use this

my $up_arrow = "\e[A"; # up arrow control character
my @history = [];
my $number  = 10;

while(1){

    print "Enter a number...\n";
    my $input = <STDIN>;
    chomp $input;

    if ($input eq $up_arrow){
        $input = $history[-1];
    }

    push @history, $input;
    
    my $result = $number * $input;
    
    print "\nResult of $input x $number is: $result\n";
}
[download]

Cheers,

-stevieb

Thanks, stevieb! I've updated my program to account for warnings raised when input lacks a modifier, but there's a problem. Am I using your technique right?

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
my $up = "\e[A";
my @history = [];
print "Input the dice and modifier you want to roll like this: 2d9+100
+. To quit, press Ctrl-C.\n";
while (1) {
    my $dice = <>; chomp $dice;
    my @arr = split (/d/, $dice);
    if ($dice =~ /\+/) {
        my @arr2 = split (/\+/, $arr[1]);
        $arr2[0]++;
        for my $i (1 .. $arr[0]) {
            print ((int(rand($arr2[0] - 1)) + 1 + $arr2[1]), "\n");
        }
    } else {
        $arr[1]++;
        for my $i (1 .. $arr[0]) {
            print ((int(rand($arr[1] - 1)) + 1), "\n");
        }
    }
    push @history, $dice;
}
[download]

Whenever I use this code, I get this problem:

zsl@pc:~/codefolder $ perl dieroller.pl
Input the dice and modifier you want to roll like this: 2d9+100. To qu
+it, press Ctrl-C.
2d9+100
101
101
^[[A
Argument "^[[A" isn't numeric in foreach loop entry at DDDR.pl line 19
+, <> line 2.
^C
zsl@pc:~/codefolder $
[download]

$thanks++, zsl

Wait, oops. I forgot to add an extra if clause. The new code looks like:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
my $up = "\e[A";
my @history = [];
my $number = 10;
print "Input the dice and modifier you want to roll like this: 2d9+100
+. To quit, press Ctrl-C.\n";
while (1) {
    my $dice = <>; chomp $dice;
    my @arr = split (/d/, $dice);
    if ($dice eq $up) {
        $dice = $history[-1];
    } elsif ($dice =~ /\+/) {
        my @arr2 = split (/\+/, $arr[1]);
        $arr2[0]++;
        for my $i (1 .. $arr[0]) {
            print ((int(rand($arr2[0] - 1)) + 1 + $arr2[1]), "\n");
        }
    } else {
        $arr[1]++;
        for my $i (1 .. $arr[0]) {
            print ((int(rand($arr[1] - 1)) + 1), "\n");
        }
    }
    push @history, $dice;
}
[download]

When I run it, the up arrow doesn't cause any error messages, but it doesn't do anything either:

Input the dice and modifier you want to roll like this: 2d9+100. To qu
+it, press Ctrl-C.
2d9+100
109
101
^[[A
^C
[download]

$thanks++, zsl

You can use Term::ReadLine module or see 'rlwrap' http://utopia.knoware.nl/~hlub/uck/rlwrap/#rlwrap if you use GNU/Linux.

This is not an answer to your question, but you can utilize regular expressions and the matching operation modifier e to evaluate the expression for you:

for my $input (<DATA>) {
    chomp $input;
    (my $eval = $input) =~ s/(\d+)d(\d+)(.*)/$1*(int(rand$2)+1)+$3/e;
    printf "%10s = %i\n", $input, $eval;
}

__DATA__
2d9+100
1d20+10
1d3+100
50d10-5
[download]

Good luck, and perhaps the information found here can help: Make a Text Based RPG

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

#!/usr/bin/perl

# http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=1122584

use Term::ReadLine;
use strict;

(my $term = new Term::ReadLine 'dierolling')->ornaments(",,,");

print "Input the dice and modifier you want to roll like this: 2d9+100
+. To quit, press Ctrl-C.\n";
while (1) {
    defined(my $dice = $term->readline('? ')) or last;
    my @arr = split (/d/, $dice);
    my @arr2 = split (/\+/, $arr[1]);
    for my $i (1 .. $arr[0]){
      print ((int(rand($arr2[0] - 1)) + 1 + $arr2[1]), "\n");}}
[download]

This is only during a single run. If you want history to be persistent from one execution to the next, please say so.

Your code doesn't seem to do anything when I use the up-arrow...

steve@spek ~ $ ./test.pl 
Input the dice and modifier you want to roll like this: 2d9+100
+. To quit, press Ctrl-C.
? 2d9+100
104
105
? ^[[A
?
[download]

-stevieb

See the perldoc page DESCRIPTION for Term::ReadLine . You will need one of the Term::ReadLine::* packages.

I have Term::ReadLine::Perl

That's probably why it worked for me.