Question

Term::ReadKey:

#!/usr/bin/env perl
use warnings;
use 5.012;
use Term::ReadKey;

my $key;

ReadMode 4;
print "Enter a key: ";
$key = ReadKey();
printf "|%s|\n", $key // 'undef';
$key = ReadKey(-1);
printf "|%s|\n", $key // 'undef';
$key = ReadKey(-1);
printf "|%s|\n", $key // 'undef';
ReadMode 0;

say "END";

When I run this script on Windows or Linux an press k I get both times this output:

Enter a key: |k|  
|undef|  
|undef|  
END

When I press the Up “key” I get

Enter a key: |  
|[|  
|A<  
END  

on Linux, but on Windows the script comes to standstill:

Enter a key:

Why do I get here not some strange signs instead?

Answer 1

Simply put, Term::ReadKey assumes Unixy terminals, which Windows doesn’t provide (unless you use Cygwin).

You might try Win32::Console instead. Or there may be some incantations that will get Term::ReadKey to work–good luck on that.