Hi, consider this program: main = do c <- getChar putStrLn ("Entered: " ++ [c]) main (It reads a character and prints it out, for ever). When invoked from interpreter: motiejus@precise> ghci GHCi, version 7.4.1: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ :? for help Loading package ghc-prim ... linking ... done. Loading package integer-gmp ... linking ... done. Loading package base ... linking ... done. Prelude> :load getchar.hs [1 of 1] Compiling Main ( getchar.hs, interpreted ) Ok, modules loaded: Main. *Main> main lEntered: l aEntered: a The behaviour is fine: right after entering a character, I get echo back. However, when started with runhaskell (or compiled ./getchar): motiejus@precise> runhaskell getchar.hs la<CR> Entered: l Entered: a Entered: Behaviour is different: I entered "l", but did not get the "entered" back. Only after I entered carriage-return, I got my multiple echos (including the CR). Why is it so? Is it possible to make Haskell read character-by-character in a compiled program? Clarification: behaviour of $ runhaskell ./getchar.hs is the same as $ ghc ./getchar.hs && ./getchar Ubuntu 12.04.1 i386, Haskell from standard repositories 7.4.1-1ubuntu2. Regards, Motiejus