# Readln() missing in debian 11 Main

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** package\
**Created:** [May 11, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083 "2026-05-11T20:29:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dave3897](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/74df32/32.png) [@dave3897](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dave3897)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/1 "2026-05-11T20:29:50Z")

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system stack: AMD64 hardware  
Debian 11 linux  
MATE desktop & terminal

```julia-auto
println("What is your name?")
name2 = readln();
println( "Welcome to Julia $name2")

```

What is your name?  
ERROR: LoadError: UndefVarError: `readln` not defined in `Main`  
Suggestion: check for spelling errors or missing imports.  
Stacktrace:  
[1] top-level scope  
@ ~/Julia26/HelloJulia2.jl:7  
[2] include(mod::Module, \_path::String)  
@ Base ./Base.jl:306  
[3] exec\_options(opts::Base.JLOptions)  
@ Base ./client.jl:317  
[4] \_start()  
@ Base ./client.jl:550  
in expression starting at /home/wwink9/Julia26/HelloJulia2.jl:7

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**Author:** ![odow](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/odow/32/28685_2.png) [@odow](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/odow)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/2 "2026-05-11T20:42:12Z")

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Hi @dave3897, welcome to the forum. You’re looking for `readline`, not `readln`:

```Julia
help?> readline
search: readline readlines readlink eachline readdir @inline real hardlink

  readline(io::IO=stdin; keep::Bool=false)
  readline(filename::AbstractString; keep::Bool=false)

  Read a single line of text from the given I/O stream or file (defaults to
  stdin). When reading from a file, the text is assumed to be encoded in
  UTF-8. Lines in the input end with '\n' or "\r\n" or the end of an input
  stream. When keep is false (as it is by default), these trailing newline
  characters are removed from the line before it is returned. When keep is
  true, they are returned as part of the line.

  Return a String. See also copyline to instead write in-place to another
  stream (which can be a preallocated IOBuffer).

  See also readuntil for reading until more general delimiters.

  Examples
  ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡

  julia> write("my_file.txt", "JuliaLang is a GitHub organization.\nIt has many members.\n");
  
  julia> readline("my_file.txt")
  "JuliaLang is a GitHub organization."
  
  julia> readline("my_file.txt", keep=true)
  "JuliaLang is a GitHub organization.\n"
  
  julia> rm("my_file.txt")

  julia> print("Enter your name: ")
  Enter your name:
  
  julia> your_name = readline()
  Logan
  "Logan"

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PatrickHaecker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/patrickhaecker/32/222891_2.png) [@PatrickHaecker](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PatrickHaecker)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/3 "2026-05-12T02:19:38Z")

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I never thought about it before, but from a UX perspective this really seems not to be ideal. Is there any reason why it is  
`println` and `readline`  
instead of  
`println` and `readln`  
or  
`printline` and `readline`?

Is it worth a bug report?

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**Author:** ![odow](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/odow/32/28685_2.png) [@odow](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/odow)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 2:23am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/4 "2026-05-12T02:23:30Z")

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> Is it worth a bug report?

Nope, even though I agree that the mismatch is a shame. Take a read of:

> [@PSA: Julia is not at that stage of development anymore](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/psa-julia-is-not-at-that-stage-of-development-anymore/44872):
>
> You heard about this brand new exciting programming language called Julia and have some suggestions for how it should work. Wonderful! We’re happy to have you here and help you learn the language and listen to your ideas! However, please be aware that “new” is a relative term. Yes, Julia is newer than, say, C, which was first created in 1972 and standardized in 1989. It is not, however, new in the sense that it is still being freely designed and changed in arbitrary ways. Julia development start…

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**Author:** ![PatrickHaecker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/patrickhaecker/32/222891_2.png) [@PatrickHaecker](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PatrickHaecker)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 2:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/5 "2026-05-12T02:31:53Z")

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Sure, we can’t rename one of the functions in Julia 1. But we could hypothetically rename one of both in Julia 2 if it ever happens. Alternatively in Julia 1: We could create an alias function.

An issue can also serve to just document a problem and can help to find the solution.

That being said both `help?> readln` and `help?> printline` list the correct function as the first suggestion and there are larger problems than this papercut.

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**Author:** ![Oscar\_Smith](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oscar_smith/32/25343_2.png) [@Oscar\_Smith](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Oscar_Smith)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 2:43am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/6 "2026-05-12T02:43:58Z")

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IMO this might actually be worth an issue, API consistency is good to strive for and this is a case where we could get it by adding one extra function (and deprecate the other). (As a sidenote, `println` is a pretty badly named function since it doesn’t print a line, it prints some text followed by a linebreak. Were it not for other language apis, we likely would never have made a `println` or `printline` (it should probably something like `print(x, newline=true)` or something)

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**Author:** ![lilachint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee7513/32.png) [@lilachint](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lilachint)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 4:34am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/7 "2026-05-12T04:34:48Z")

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True, backwards compatibility is VERY important, but we see a lot of deprecations+alias being used in established languages like js too, so it could be worth a try.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PatrickHaecker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/patrickhaecker/32/222891_2.png) [@PatrickHaecker](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PatrickHaecker)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 5:09am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/8 "2026-05-12T05:09:47Z")

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Definitely not the most important issue ever created, but now here it is: [Inconsistent names `println` and `readline` · Issue #61768 · JuliaLang/julia · GitHub](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/61768)

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**Author:** ![sylvaticus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/sylvaticus/32/203883_2.png) [@sylvaticus](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sylvaticus)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 11:56am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/readln-missing-in-debian-11-main/137083/9 "2026-05-12T11:56:18Z")

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Congratulation [dave3897](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dave3897), you contributed to the development of the Julia language 😁 😁