Input string with non printable chars

Question

In a Linux console when a C program asks for a string (i.e. username) how can I insert non-printable chars?
I search something better then
printf '\x48\x83\xc4\x50\x48\xbf\x3d...etc' | ./myProgram.bin
or
./myProgram.bin < dataFile
I prefer to type chars when needed but I don't know how to write non-printable ones.
Thank you

Answer 1

Non printable characters have decimal value from 0 to 31. You can print them this way:

void main()    {
int i;
char c;
for(i=0;i<32;i++)     {
   c=i;
   cout<<c<<" ";
 }
getch();
}

Same way, you can read the characters in terms of their integer values....However, putting them alongwith printable characters in one string, would be another uphill task.

Answer 2

It worked using xclip (printf '\x48\x83...' | xclip) to copy the string to clipboard.
Then, when the program asks for the string, I used SHIFT+CTRL+V to paste the string.
It generally works, except for certain characters (\x08, ...) that the input function (gets, ...) can ignore or use as control character.