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On 9/28/06, greg <eegreg / gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I wanted the ability to optionally pipe a file, but the program would
> not require a file to be piped or given as an argument.  I guess the
> answer is that this cannot be done.


I am afraid so, I do not know any program that  reads from STDIN that will
not block if there is none,
Ara's idea is how it is done in Unix, I do not know why he got so much
critisized for it :(

  I can only allow an optional file
> argument, not a pipe.
>
>
> Hmm Greg what I came up with on my Ubuntu and I will happily test it on
Windows and Sarge (really should behave like my old Ubunto) is not elegant
but might work for you

You have a pipe for sure if

     ! STDIN.tty? && ENV["TERM"]

but now your script will not read from STDIN in cron, but it will not block,
this is a hary thing, test it carefully please as
it still might block in various situations and again you only can read from
STDIN in case you are attached to a terminal!!

HTH anyway
Robert


-- 
Deux choses sont infinies : l'univers et la bóŐise humaine ; en ce qui
concerne l'univers, je n'en ai pas acquis la certitude absolue.

- Albert Einstein

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