[Lua] [Question] possible to stop read()?

I am pretty new to programming in general have been working with computer craft for a bit and am writing a program that takes input only during a period of time but if they don't enter anything the read() that is called prevents the program from acting correctly so I am wondering if it is possible to put a timer in the read() call.

So is it possible to stop a read() call or maybe stop a function that has the read() in it?

If you need more info just let me know what you need.

I have not found anything on this so I am guessing it is not possible or just not easily done so any help on this is greatly appreciated.

parallel.waitForAny(getInput, startTimer)
Wait for "any" because when either one finishes it will cancel the whole parallel function and whichever one finished will have done it's thing and the other one I BELIEVE ends prematurely.

Your "getInput" function will either have to return your value or set a global variable. I'm honestly not sure which.
If you're returning then I assume it would look like this…

function getInput()
return read()
end --end function

function startTimer()
--paraphrasing currentTime + timerLengthTime = goalTime
○while bTimerGoing do
○time = currentTime
○if time >= goalTime then
○○bTimerGoing = false
○end--end if
end--end while
return nil
end--end function

input = parallel.waitForAny(getInput, startTimer)

if input == nil then
○fail = true
○elseif input ~=nil then
○win = true
end

I don't know the exact api for time, so I was paraphrasing as stated. But you get the idea. This is the simplest idea I could come up with in 5 minutes, there are probably more precise ways of doing this.

EDIT: Also, I'm not sure if you can use parallel as a return like that. I should get that computercraft emulator and find out…

EDIT: Cleaned up the code formatting, I'm used to coding in-game :)/>/>
ALSO: ○ = tab

That resolved the read() issue but ran into another but that is all good just had to change how I did the timer.

Thanks for the help!