The LINE INPUT statement requests a STRING keyboard entry from a program user.

Syntax

LINE INPUT [;] “[text prompt or question]”{,|;} stringVariable$ LINE INPUT ; stringVariable$

Parameter(s)

• A semicolon immediately after LINE INPUT stops the cursor after the entry and prevents screen roll on the lowest two screen rows.
• text prompt or question is optional, but quotes are necessary unless just a semicolon is used before the stringVariable$.
• Requires only one STRING variable to hold the entire text entry.

Description

• Cannot use numerical Variable Types variables or comma separated variable lists for multiple entries.
• Allows commas and quotation marks in the user input, unlike INPUT where commas denote extra input values and quotes delimit strings.
• The statement halts the program until an entry is made. Pressing Enter ends the entry and code execution resumes.
• LINE INPUT does not trim off leading or trailing spaces in the string entry like INPUT string returns.
• Use VAL to convert string numbers and &O (octal), &H (hexadecimal) or &B (binary) prefixed entries into numerical values.
• Use _DEST _CONSOLE before LINE INPUT statements to receive input from a $CONSOLE window.
• Note: QB64 will not remove CHR$(0) from the end of LINE INPUT string return values like QBasic did.

Example(s)

Preventing screen roll after an input entry on the bottom 2 screen rows.

SCREEN 12

COLOR 14: LOCATE 29, 2 '          place dursor at beginning of prompt liine
PRINT "Enter a name to search for... "; 'print prompt on screen
COLOR 15: LINE INPUT ; "", name$ '       get search name from user
LOCATE 29, 2: PRINT SPC(78); '       erase previous prompt
n$ = UCASE$(name$) '                 convert search name to upper case
COLOR 14'                        change foreground color to yellow
LOCATE 29, 2: PRINT "Searching..."; 'print message
SLEEP 

Enter a name to search for... █

Explanation: The red semicolon after LINE INPUT acts like a semicolon after a PRINT, which keeps the print cursor on the same row.

See Also

• INPUT (file mode), INPUT (file statement), LINE INPUT (file statement)
• INPUT, INPUT$ (keyboard input)
• COLOR, LOCATE
• INKEY$
• _KEYHIT, _KEYDOWN