There are two threads, one which is waits on input via hGetLine and another, which should terminate this thread or close this handle.
like this? The trick is to fork the blocking call (hGetLine) and wait on an MVar. That way, the kill signal can be handled: {-# language PatternSignatures #-} import Control.Concurrent import Control.Concurrent.MVar import Control.Exception import System.IO main = do pid <- forkIO $ do s <- wawiter putStrLn s threadDelay $ 5 * 10^6 killThread pid waiter = do v <- newEmptyMVar forkIO $ do s <- hGetLine stdin ; putMVar v s readMVar v `Control.Exception.catch` \ (e :: AsyncException ) -> return "killed" PS: and I refuse to use the "ScopedTypeVariables" pragma since obviously there are no type variables.