Thread: Why System.in returns -1 when I pressed "Enter key" how can I mimic "Enter key" in console?

I used Robot class to mimic Enter key, and it worked as Norm suggested in https://www.javaprogrammingforums.co...t-console.html.

However, it is dangerous to use Robot class since when focus changes while Robot class continues to work in background(i.e. the program did not end). Because, Robot continues to press keys until the end of the program it continues to press that key to each new focused windows.

So I want to mimic "Enter Key" in console by using ANSI Escape codes such as by writing "\13"(CR) and "\10"(LF) to console. But not success.

I want to use below code to which character sent does "put entered input to stream" functionality as Enter key does. I used below code :

import java.io.*;
 
public class Main
{
    public Main() throws IOException {
        doInput();    
    }
 
    private void doInput() throws IOException{
        InputStream in=System.in;
        int read=0;
        read=in.read();
        w(" readed integer is :"+Character.getNumericValue((char)read)+"..");
    }
 
	public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
		new Main();
	}
 
	private static void w(String s) {
	    System.out.println(s);
	}
}

When I just "Enter key" to send as input, output becomes :

readed integer is :-1..

I tried to send -1 integer to console using System.out( after reading these two PrintStream - System.out Java doc and PrintStream's print(int i) method in Java doc) it just wirtes -1 to screen, it does not mimic "Enter key pressed". Also I send "\13" and "\10"(i.e CR and LF ANSI escape codes ) but it does not mimic anything other than LF (just goes to next line). Output is simply "a-1".

1. Which ANSI escape code mimics "Enter Key pressed" in Unix/Windows terminal console?
2. Why "\10" or "\13" (i.e. LF and CR ASCII chars?) does not mimic end of input?
3. How can I mimic "Enter key", which character I have to send to console to put input before it to InputStream(i.e. System.in) ?

Any help is appreciated.

Originally Posted by Norm

Read the API doc for the getNumericValue method to see when it returns a -1.
A better way to see what is in the read variable: Integer.toHexString(read)
or String.valueOf(read)

Thanks Norm, as you suggesterd I read the API doc and I found that "If the character does not have a numeric value, then -1 is returned." Then your suggestion String.valueOf() gives thecorrect number(s) for "enter" which is integer 13 and 10 in order.

--- Update ---

Can I pipe System.out to System.in using pipe? Does anybody knows anything about it?

I looked, actually I have managed to direct System.out to System.in. However, it did not solve my problem since I found that my problem is due to that the console stucks in System.in.read() method and wait until enter key which I could not find a way to mimic it. It is a vicious cycle.Robot class is safe in Java programs having GUI since focus events can be managed. But in console Java programs extra caution needed to "consume its events" before sending to console's buffer.

I read that ANSI escape codes does lots of tricks and even terminal programs are purely uses ANSI escape kodes to perform tasks. But console on that terminal is Java's output screen. So I can not find a feasible solution to mimic "Enter Key" like "Robot Class" using pure ANSI escape codes.

InputStream in = System.in;
int read = in.read();
System.out.println(".");
System.out.println((char)read);