On all fortran compilers I could test, the following does what is expected (that is, pressing the enter key prints "well done"). gfortran waits for a non-newline character:
program testRead implicit none character(1) resp write (*,'('' hit return: '',$)') read (*,'(a)') resp write (*,'('' well done.'')') end -- Summary: reading a single "return" character fails Product: gcc Version: 4.0.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P2 Component: libfortran AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: coudert at clipper dot ens dot fr CC: gcc-bugs at gcc dot gnu dot org http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=20005