Take over console output using ruby

Question

When I run vim or top from a console they are able to take over rendering the whole console. When I quit I'm then returned to the console.

Is it possible to do this from ruby? As a simple example, how would I do the following

# Rakefile
task :clock do
  loop do
    console.render Time.now
    sleep 1
  end
end

when I run this the console would be cleared and the first line would show the time. When I quit I'd then continue the console session as it was before I ran rake clock.

---

Update

Having checked the tictactoe example for ruby curses here's an implementation of the clock example. I've shown the clock on random lines to demonstrate refreshing the whole console.

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'curses'

loop do
  Curses.clear  
  Curses.setpos(rand * 10, 0)  
  Curses.addstr(Time.now.to_s);
  Curses.refresh
  sleep 1
end

Answer 1

You're looking for the Ruby curses library which gives you full control over the screen: positioning, color, &c.

It's not a well document library, but a Stackoverflow search for "[ruby] curses" will give you links to examples.