INPUT$

Syntax

INPUT$(X[,[#]Y])

Versions: Disk

Description

Returns a string of X characters, read from the terminal or from file number Y.

If the terminal is used for input, no characters will be echoed and all control characters are passed through.

Note: Control-C behavior varied in original implementations. In MBASIC 5.21 interpreter mode, Control-C would terminate the program. This implementation passes Control-C through (CHR$(3)) for program detection and handling, allowing programs to detect and handle it explicitly.

Example

' Example 1: List contents of a sequential file in hexadecimal
10 OPEN "I", 1, "DATA"
20 IF EOF(1) THEN 50
30 PRINT HEX$(ASC(INPUT$(1, #1)));
40 GOTO 20
50 PRINT
60 END

' Example 2: Get single character from user
100 PRINT "TYPE P TO PROCEED OR S TO STOP"
110 X$ = INPUT$(1)
120 IF X$ = "P" THEN 500
130 IF X$ = "S" THEN 700 ELSE 100

See Also

• INKEY$ - Read single character without waiting
• INPUT - Read input from keyboard
• LINE INPUT - Read entire line from keyboard
• INPUT# - Read data from file
• OPEN - Open a file for input
• EOF - Test for end of file