PHP: adding arrow key support to handle STDIN / Single Character

Question

In PHP, I can read data from the command line with the following code

$stream = STDIN; $test = fgets($stream); echo $test; 

This works well for easy typing. However, if I try to use something like a back arrow, my shell looks like this

 This is a test^[[D^[[D^[[D 

i, then the escape sequence of the key sequence ^[[D PHP itself interprets the arrow keys, i.e. by entering this

 This is a test^[[D^[[D^[[D^[[Dsecond test 

will output this

 This is a second test 

However, I would like the shell to “correctly” (that is, do what I think they should do, and not literally what I sent) interpret the arrow keys so that the entry point moves during input.

Is this possible in PHP? With the extension? No extension? I tried the fgets($stream, 1) options, but it seems that PHP just hangs until the user enters an input key.

Answer 1

No way with pure PHP: http://php.net/fgetc (see comments)