curses.echo(false) -- unclear why implicit echo can't handle newlines, regardless of stdscr:nl()

stdscr:getch()

stdscr:scrollok(true)
-- unclear how Lua (post 5.2) is able to selectively print values of variables
-- at the repl
local function gather_results(success, ...)
  local n = select('#', ...)
  return success, { n = n, ... }
end
local function readline()
  local result = ''
  while true do
    local x = stdscr:getch()
    stdscr:addch(x)
    local c = string.char(x)
    result = result .. c
    if c == '\n' then break end
  end
  return result
end
local new_expr = true
local buf = ''
while true do
  if new_expr then
    stdscr:addstr('> ')
  else
    stdscr:addstr('>> ')
  end
  buf = buf .. readline()
  local f, err = load(buf, 'REPL')
  if f then
    buf = ''
    new_expr = true
    local success, results = gather_results(xpcall(f, function(...) return debug.traceback() end))
    if success then
      for _, result in ipairs(results) do
        print(result)
      end
    else
      print(results[1])
    end
  else
    stdscr:addstr(err..'\n')
    if string.match(err, "'<eof>'$") or string.match(err, "<eof>$") then
      buf = buf .. '\n'
      new_expr = false
    else
      print(err)
      buf = ''
      new_expr = true
    end
  end
end