diff -r 56ee9af6dcea dmenu.c
--- a/dmenu.c	Sat Nov 19 21:31:18 2011 +0100
+++ b/dmenu.c	Mon Nov 21 21:09:58 2011 +0100
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 /* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */
 #include <ctype.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <strings.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <sys/select.h>
 #include <X11/Xlib.h>
 #include <X11/Xatom.h>
 #include <X11/Xutil.h>
@@ -21,6 +23,7 @@
 typedef struct Item Item;
 struct Item {
 	char *text;
+	Item *next;
 	Item *left, *right;
 };
 
@@ -34,6 +37,7 @@
 static void match(void);
 static size_t nextrune(int inc);
 static void paste(void);
+static void readevent(void);
 static void readstdin(void);
 static void run(void);
 static void setup(void);
@@ -43,6 +47,7 @@
 static int bh, mw, mh;
 static int inputw, promptw;
 static size_t cursor = 0;
+static const char *maxstr;
 static const char *font = NULL;
 static const char *prompt = NULL;
 static const char *normbgcolor = "#222222";
@@ -66,7 +71,6 @@
 
 int
 main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-	Bool fast = False;
 	int i;
 
 	for(i = 1; i < argc; i++)
@@ -77,8 +81,6 @@
 		}
 		else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "-b"))   /* appears at the bottom of the screen */
 			topbar = False;
-		else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "-f"))   /* grabs keyboard before reading stdin */
-			fast = True;
 		else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "-i")) { /* case-insensitive item matching */
 			fstrncmp = strncasecmp;
 			fstrstr = cistrstr;
@@ -105,15 +107,7 @@
 
 	dc = initdc();
 	initfont(dc, font);
-
-	if(fast) {
-		grabkeyboard();
-		readstdin();
-	}
-	else {
-		readstdin();
-		grabkeyboard();
-	}
+	grabkeyboard();
 	setup();
 	run();
 
@@ -205,6 +199,7 @@
 			drawtext(dc, ">", normcol);
 	}
 	mapdc(dc, win, mw, mh);
+	XFlush(dc->dpy);
 }
 
 void
@@ -396,7 +391,7 @@
 	len = tokc ? strlen(tokv[0]) : 0;
 
 	matches = lprefix = lsubstr = matchend = prefixend = substrend = NULL;
-	for(item = items; item && item->text; item++) {
+	for(item = items; item; item = item->next) {
 		for(i = 0; i < tokc; i++)
 			if(!fstrstr(item->text, tokv[i]))
 				break;
@@ -457,33 +452,10 @@
 }
 
 void
-readstdin(void) {
-	char buf[sizeof text], *p, *maxstr = NULL;
-	size_t i, max = 0, size = 0;
-
-	/* read each line from stdin and add it to the item list */
-	for(i = 0; fgets(buf, sizeof buf, stdin); i++) {
-		if(i+1 >= size / sizeof *items)
-			if(!(items = realloc(items, (size += BUFSIZ))))
-				eprintf("cannot realloc %u bytes:", size);
-		if((p = strchr(buf, '\n')))
-			*p = '\0';
-		if(!(items[i].text = strdup(buf)))
-			eprintf("cannot strdup %u bytes:", strlen(buf)+1);
-		if(strlen(items[i].text) > max)
-			max = strlen(maxstr = items[i].text);
-	}
-	if(items)
-		items[i].text = NULL;
-	inputw = maxstr ? textw(dc, maxstr) : 0;
-	lines = MIN(lines, i);
-}
-
-void
-run(void) {
+readevent(void) {
 	XEvent ev;
 
-	while(!XNextEvent(dc->dpy, &ev)) {
+	while(XPending(dc->dpy) && !XNextEvent(dc->dpy, &ev)) {
 		if(XFilterEvent(&ev, win))
 			continue;
 		switch(ev.type) {
@@ -507,6 +479,57 @@
 }
 
 void
+readstdin(void) {
+	static size_t max = 0;
+	static Item **end = &items;
+
+	char buf[sizeof text], *p;
+	Item *item;
+
+	/* read each line from stdin and add it to the item list */
+	while(fgets(buf, sizeof buf, stdin)) {
+		if(!(item = malloc(sizeof *item)))
+			eprintf("cannot malloc %u bytes:", sizeof *item);
+		if((p = strchr(buf, '\n')))
+			*p = '\0';
+		if(!(item->text = strdup(buf)))
+			eprintf("cannot strdup %u bytes:", strlen(buf)+1);
+		if(strlen(item->text) > max) {
+			max = strlen(maxstr = item->text);
+			inputw = textw(dc, maxstr);
+		}
+		*end = item;
+		end = &item->next;
+		item->next = NULL;
+	}
+	match();
+	drawmenu();
+}
+
+void
+run(void) {
+	fd_set fds;
+	int flags, xfd = XConnectionNumber(dc->dpy);
+
+	if((flags = fcntl(STDIN_FILENO, F_GETFL)) == -1)
+		eprintf("cannot get stdin control flags:");
+	if(fcntl(STDIN_FILENO, F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK) == -1)
+		eprintf("cannot set stdin control flags:");
+	for(;;) {
+		FD_ZERO(&fds);
+		FD_SET(xfd, &fds);
+		if(!feof(stdin))
+			FD_SET(STDIN_FILENO, &fds);
+		if(select(MAX(STDIN_FILENO, xfd) + 1, &fds, NULL, NULL, NULL) == -1)
+			eprintf("cannot multiplex input:");
+		if(FD_ISSET(xfd, &fds))
+			readevent();
+		if(FD_ISSET(STDIN_FILENO, &fds))
+			readstdin();
+	}
+}
+
+void
 setup(void) {
 	int x, y, screen = DefaultScreen(dc->dpy);
 	Window root = RootWindow(dc->dpy, screen);