>> I'm looking for an equivalent to pascal's old keypressed.
>> I'm trying to execute a block till the user presses a key, something like :
>> 
>> while (!keypressed)
>> 	print "."
>> end
>> 
>> Is there any such functionality ?
> 
> If we implemented a cross-platform "keypressed", might there be
> any chance of it getting into the builtin library?
> 
> A frequent beginner C/C++ FAQ is the one above.  It seems like a
> high-level language such as ruby should be able to give a good
> solution to it, rather than a lengthy answer involving Win32 API
> or Termios witchery.

select[[$stdin], nil, nil]

if key_pressed() does not allow mixing with select(), it lost its efficiency.

disclaimer: unlikely to work on Win*

+--- Kero ------------------------------ kero / chello.nl ---+
|  Don't split your mentality without thinking twice       |
|                          Proud like a God -- Guano Apes  |
+--- M38c ---------- http://httpd.chello.nl/k.vangelder ---+