Is there a way to continue operation during input()?

So what I'm essentially trying to do is, I have a switch statement in a while loop. Using an input() function, MATLAB will take the user input and put it through the switch cases. Pretty simple. But now, I want to modify it such that if MATLAB does not receive a command during input() for X number of seconds, it will continue the code, instead of waiting for user input. Ineveitably, it will go to the default switch case becuase a null input will not match any of the cases, and then the while loop will take me back to input(). So is there a way to "unpause" the code during input() automatically without me having to press ENTER?

[Stephen23]

Your best choice is to write a GUI: a well-designed GUI is anyway a much better user-interface than input.

[Bohan Yao]

I agree, however, I am working with someone else's code, which they have already developed extensively. Implmenting a GUI would require a lot more work than is worth it. Is there another way to do this with just input()? If there truly is no other way to do it, then I guess I have no choiec but to create a GUI.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/8297-getkeywait

The below two mostly rely on Psychtoolbox

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/310311-how-to-get-psychtoolbox-to-wait-for-keypress-but-move-on-if-it-hasn-t-recieved-one-in-a-set-time

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/143088-real-time-detect-keypress

Answer 2

[per isakson]

Something like

%% a script named cssm.m
while true
    user_input = waitinput( 'prompt: ', 5, 's' );
    if isnan( user_input )
        user_input = 'default';
        disp(' ')
    end
    switch user_input
        case 'default'
            disp('default')
        case 'poi'
            disp('poi')
        case 'abc'
            disp('abc')
        case 'quit'
            disp('good bye')
            break
        otherwise
            error('failure')
    end
end  

might do the trick. That is to say waitinput by Grzegorz Knor does the trick.

And a little test

>> cssm
prompt:  
default
prompt:  
default
prompt: poi
poi
prompt:  
default
prompt: quit
good bye