Trying to read text that was pasted into the console window. Here's a simplified version of my code:

use Win32::Console;

my $wc = Win32::Console->new(STD_INPUT_HANDLE);
say 'Paste stuff now.';

while (1)
{
    unless ($wc->GetEvents)
    {
        sleep 1;
        next;
    }

    my @ev = $wc->Input;
    my ($event_type, $key_down, $repeat_count, $v_keycode,
        $v_scancode, $ch_num, $control_key_state) = @ev;

    # wait for keyboard event (does paste count?)
    next unless $event_type==1  &&  $key_down;

    # prettify for debug display
    my $char = chr($ch_num);
    $char = '?'  unless $char =~ /[[:print:]]/;

    printf qq{Key: '%s' = 0x%02x = %3dd; key %02x, scan %02x\n},
      $char, $ch_num, $ch_num, $v_keycode, $v_scancode;
}

[download]

When I paste text into this, it works fine — unless the text contains unicode characters. For example, if I paste the text "dog’s leg", the program outputs:

Paste stuff now.
Key: 'd' = 0x64 = 100d; key 44, scan 20
Key: 'o' = 0x6f = 111d; key 4f, scan 18
Key: 'g' = 0x67 = 103d; key 47, scan 22
Key: '?' = 0x00 =   0d; key 12, scan 38
Key: '?' = 0x00 =   0d; key 63, scan 51
Key: '?' = 0x00 =   0d; key 69, scan 49
Key: 's' = 0x73 = 115d; key 53, scan 1f
Key: ' ' = 0x20 =  32d; key 20, scan 39
Key: 'l' = 0x6c = 108d; key 4c, scan 26
Key: 'e' = 0x65 = 101d; key 45, scan 12
Key: 'g' = 0x67 = 103d; key 47, scan 22

[download]

Now, in the text I pasted, the character after the word "dog" is Unicode 0x2019, RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK. Oddly, Win32::Console::Input translates it as scancodes 0x38, 0x51, 0x49. Which, according to some page I found on the intertubes, is "Alt-key" "Numeric-keypad-3" "Numeric-keypad 9". Which is curious, because 39 is the (decimal) code for "'"; that is, a regular old ASCII apostrophe. And if you type ALT-Num3-Num9, you'll get an apostrophe.

But I don't really want an apostrophe; I want U+2019. If I have to, I suppose I could search for Alt-Num-Num combinations and manually translate them, and get a bastardized ASCII representation of what was pasted, but... ugh.

Is there a better way?

(For what it's worth: I'm running Strawberry Perl 5.12.2 on Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit, SP1. Win32::Console version is 0.09. The input Code Page that Win32::Console is using is 65001, which is CP_UTF8.)

In reply to Unicode input for Win32::Console by Sue D. Nymme

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