>>>>> "H" == Harry Ohlsen <harryo / zip.com.au> writes:

H> However, in the main loop I have ...

H>    print "-> "

H> to print a prompt, but nothing comes out until after the user has entered 
H> something and pressed return.

 Try something like this

   begin
       print "-> "
       $defout.flush
   end while gets



Guy Decoux