Re: Multi-Line Input

One way (certainly not the only way) to do it is to put your input routine in a loop: (warning, drylabbed code follows)

my $answer;
print "Enter your text: (type END to exit)\n";
while (<STDIN>) {
    last if /^END$/;
    $answer .= $_;
}
[download]

Comment on Re: Multi-Line Input Download Code

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Re^2: Multi-Line Input by johngg (Canon) on Sep 23, 2009 at 22:02 UTC
The problem is finding something to terminate your input that will not legitimately occur in that input. You can use BrowserUk's suggestion of ^Z/^D in an endless version of your while loop, breaking out with a test for eof. `use strict; use warnings; my $prompt = q{Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : }; my @input = (); print $prompt; while( 1 ) { last if eof STDIN; push @input, scalar <STDIN>; print $prompt; } print qq{\n}; chomp @input; print qq{Your input:\n}, do { local $" = qq{\n -->}; qq{ -->@input}; }, qq{\n};` [download] Running it (the terminating ^D does not show up) `knoppix@Knoppix:~/perl/Monks$ ./spw796843 Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : This is Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : a few words Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : of nonsense Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : including a Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : blank line Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : Your input: -->This is -->a few words -->of nonsense --> -->including a -->blank line knoppix@Knoppix:~/perl/Monks$` [download] I usually tidy up the last prompt and the ^D (which, IIRC, does appear on Solaris) with the following change to the code. Read more... (624 Bytes) I hope this is of interest. Cheers, JohnGG	[reply] [d/l] [select]

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Re^2: Multi-Line Input
by johngg (Canon) on Sep 23, 2009 at 22:02 UTC

The problem is finding something to terminate your input that will not legitimately occur in that input. You can use BrowserUk's suggestion of ^Z/^D in an endless version of your while loop, breaking out with a test for eof.

use strict;
use warnings;

my $prompt = q{Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : };
my @input = ();
print $prompt;

while( 1 )
{
    last if eof STDIN;
    push @input, scalar <STDIN>;
    print $prompt;
}
print qq{\n};

chomp @input;
print
   qq{Your input:\n},
   do { local $" = qq{\n  -->}; qq{  -->@input}; },
   qq{\n};
[download]

Running it (the terminating ^D does not show up)

knoppix@Knoppix:~/perl/Monks$ ./spw796843
Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : This is
Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : a few words
Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : of nonsense
Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : 
Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : including a
Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : blank line
Add input (CTRL-D to finish) : 
Your input:
  -->This is
  -->a few words
  -->of nonsense
  -->
  -->including a
  -->blank line
knoppix@Knoppix:~/perl/Monks$
[download]

I usually tidy up the last prompt and the ^D (which, IIRC, does appear on Solaris) with the following change to the code.