AIX

echo "Enter input:\c"
charReading.pl 10 &
pid=$!
sleep 10
if [ ! -f "/tmp/optFile" ] ; then
    echo "Using input value"
else
    kill -9 $pid
    echo "Using default value"    
fi

 #! /usr/bin/perl -w
#
# Usage:
#     charReading.pl <Number of Chars to read>
#     charReading.pl 10        # In your case
#

my $maxChars = $ARGV[0];

use strict;
use FileHandle;
my $FOBJ = new FileHandle ">/tmp/optFile";

$| = 1;
my $finalString = "";

while ($maxChars != 0) {
    my $khatm = 0;
    for (1..$maxChars) {
        my $cChar;
        $cChar = getOneChar();
        if ($cChar ne "\n") {
        if ($cChar eq "\b") {
            chop($finalString);
            print "$cChar \b";
            $khatm += 2;
        } else {
            $finalString .= $cChar;
            print "$cChar";
        }
        } else {
            $khatm += 1;
        }
    }
    $maxChars = $khatm;
}

print $FOBJ "$finalString";
exit; 

BEGIN {
    use POSIX qw(:termios_h);  
    my ($term, $oterm, $echo, $noecho, $fd_stdin);
    $fd_stdin = fileno(STDIN);
    $term = POSIX::Termios->new();
    $term->getattr($fd_stdin); 
    $oterm = $term->getlflag();
    $echo = ECHO | ECHOK | ICANON;
    $noecho = $oterm & ~$echo; 

    sub cbreak {
        $term->setlflag($noecho);
        $term->setcc(VTIME, 1);
        $term->setattr($fd_stdin, TCSANOW); 
    }  
   
    sub cooked {
        $term->setlflag($oterm);
        $term->setcc(VTIME, 0);
        $term->setattr($fd_stdin, TCSANOW);  
    }    
    sub getOneChar { 
        my $key = '';
        cbreak();  
        sysread(STDIN, $key, 1); 
        cooked(); 
        return $key;  
    }  
}
END {
    cooked()
}

 ## justdoit ##
#!/bin/ksh
trap "" 2
readit() {
case $2 in
year ) message="year[YYyy]" ;;
month ) message="month[mm]" ;;
day ) message="day[dd]" ;;
esac
printf "... %s $message ...= "  && read -n $1 $2
while [ "$(echo $(eval echo "\$$2"|sed 's/[0-9][0-9]*//g' ))" != "" ]
 do
   printf "\n%s pls input only digits!!\n" ;
   printf "... %s $message ...= " && read -n $1 $2
 done
echo ;
}
readit 4 year ; readit 2 month ; readit 2 day
if [ $? -eq 0 ] ; then echo "$year-$month-$day" ; fi

#!/usr/bin/sh
echo "Enter input:\c"
/usrdir/charReading.pl 10 &
pid=$!
sleep 10
if [ ! -f "/tmp/optFile" ] ; then
    echo "Using input value"
else
    kill -9 $pid
    echo "Using default value"    
fi

Enter input:2010-12-12kill: 5517524: 0403-003 The specified process does not exist.
Using default value

Enter input:2010-12-12
kill: 6877242: 0403-003 The specified process does not exist.
Using default value
testdelay.sh[18]: my:  not found.
testdelay.sh[20]: use:  not found.
testdelay.sh[21]: use:  not found.
testdelay.sh[22]: my:  not found.
testdelay.sh[24]: $:  not found.
testdelay.sh[24]: =:  not found.
testdelay.sh[25]: my:  not found.
testdelay.sh[27]: 0403-057 Syntax error at line 28 : `{' is not expected.

$ charReading.pl 5
rohon
$ cat /tmp/optFile
rohon

#!/usr/bin/ksh
echo "Enter input:\c"
/usrdir/charReading.pl 10 &
pid=$!
sleep 10
if [ -s "/tmp/optFile" ] ; then
    echo "Using input value"
else
    kill -9 $pid
    echo "Using default value"    
fi