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From: bhoughto@pima.intel.com (Blair P. Houghton)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Re: get character without waiting
Message-ID: <4669@inews.intel.com>
Date: 12 Jun 91 02:21:34 GMT
References: <1991Jun12.001056.24021@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Sender: news@inews.intel.com
Organization: Intel Corp, Chandler, AZ
Lines: 16

In article <1991Jun12.001056.24021@watdragon.waterloo.edu> nkkwan@crocus.uwaterloo.ca writes:
>
>How can I check whether there is character waiting in standard input or not? 
>What I want to do is something like..
>   
>If there is a character, then I read it. But if not, I can do something else.

Y'know, I've often wondered what it was that possessed the
forgers of unix to name that damn function "select(2)" instead
of "checkiobuffersforremainingcharacters(2)".

				--Blair
				  "This particular question has
				   passed beyond the realm of the
				   frequently-asked and into the
				   paradigm of the self-asking."