Inline reads a newline terminated line from the current file into buffer buf and adds a null character. This function returns the length of the line read. If the file is a full-duplex tty, erase and kill character processing is performed and characters are echoed except for the newline. If the file is a half-duplex tty, erase and kill character processing and echoing (including the newline) is performed by the UNIX tty driver. For a tty with a time limit, the limit is enforced (see alarm(io)). This function supports linein and input.
Linein generates error 62 (Input past end) and inline returns -1 in case of a read error or if no newline character is encountered before end-of-file, end-of-record or time-out.
from The Basmark QuickBASIC Programmer’s Manual by Lawrence Leinweber