Question

Why does gets always add a new line when the user inputs the number of boxes?

I want the next print statement to be shown on the same line as the input.

    print "Enter the number of boxes: "
    boxes = gets.chomp
    print "Enter number of columns to print the boxes in: "
    columns = gets.chomp

I want output to look like this:

Enter the number of boxes: 47 Enter number of columns to print the boxes in: 4

I don’t want to begin a new line until after the second input is received.

Answer 1

In windows you can do it like this, otherwise you would need a similar read_char method that works in your OS

def read_char #only on windows
  require "Win32API"
  Win32API.new("crtdll", "_getch", [], "L").Call
end

def get_number
  number, inp = "", 0
  while inp != 13
    inp = read_char
    if "0123456789"[inp.chr]
      number += inp.chr
      print inp.chr  
    end
  end
  number
end

print "Enter the number of boxes: "
boxes = get_number
print " Enter number of columns to print the boxes in: "
columns = get_number
puts ""

puts "boxes: #{boxes}"
puts "columns: #{columns}"

# gives
# Enter the number of boxes: 5 Enter number of columns to print the boxes in: 6
# boxes: 5
# columns: 6