Question

I am currently using the following code to read the first character from the standard input (after a prompt):

NSFileHandle *stdIn = [NSFileHandle fileHandleWithStandardInput];
    NSString* input = [[NSString alloc]
        initWithData:[stdIn readDataOfLength:1]
        encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

However, after the program completes, all the extra characters get interpreted by the command line (bash, in this case). For example, the prompt is

File already exists, do you want to overwrite it? [y/N]

and if I input noooooo, bash says -bash: oooooo: command not found after the program finishes. How do I avoid this? Using [stdIn readDataToEndOfFile] does not work, expectedly.

I could use [stdIn readToEndOfFileInBackgroundAndNotify], but if I need to get user input from such a prompt again, it wouldn’t be possible.

Answer 1

Any particular reason you’re not using scanf?

See Using scanf with NSStrings on a brief guide on how to do so, and how to integrate the C aspect of scanf with Obj-C.