CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#console
RnD
RnD

Reputation: 1069

Ways of console pausing

As I'm new to C#, I searched Google for various stuff which I used to use in C++. One of them is a pause possibility in a console app.

A lot of people suggested different ways like

System.Console.ReadKey(true);
System.Console.WriteLine();

Others even showed self-made functions which 'should' be more efficient than others. And that's a real headache to decide which one is a better solution.

Could anyone give any examples of how C# interpret them and which way should be the most efficient?

Upvotes: 6

Views: 42135

Answers (6)

howdoicode
howdoicode

Reputation: 993

Putting this out there if anyone wants the same look and feel of Press any key to continue . . .

This one is simple and without any DLL import:

private static void Pause() {
    Console.Write("Press any key to continue . . . ");
    // ReadKey(Boolean) = true to not display the pressed key
    // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.console.readkey
    Console.ReadKey(true);
}

Or, if you really want the old school flavor (Windows only):

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class Whatever {

    [DllImport("msvcrt.dll")]
    // "system" has to be lowercase
    static extern bool system(string str);

    static void Main(string[] args) {
        system("pause");
    }

}

NOTE: Both ReadKey() and DllImport("msvcrt.dll") do not respond to pressing a modifier key (Alt, Ctrl, or Shift) by itself. So you're better of just using ReadKey().

Upvotes: 0

static_cast
static_cast

Reputation: 1178

Run the program using any of the following methods:

  1. ctrl + F5

OR as Rajesh suggested

  1. Console.ReadKey() //pauses for any key
  2. Console.ReadLine() //pauses for enter key

Upvotes: 8

Momina Idrees
Momina Idrees

Reputation: 13

you can write "Console.ReadLine();" this too for pupose.

Upvotes: -2

user3350179
user3350179

Reputation:

Or you can use what Pat did but for Arguments instead of

Arguments = "/C pause"

you can use

Arguments = "/C TIMEOUT /t 4 /nobreak > NUL"

where number 4 is number of seconds console will pause before executing rest of the program.

And the whole function would be

static void Pause(int sec)
    {
        Console.WriteLine();
        var pauseProc = Process.Start(
            new ProcessStartInfo()
            {
                FileName = "cmd",
                Arguments = "/C TIMEOUT /t " + sec + " /nobreak > NUL",
                UseShellExecute = false
            });
        pauseProc.WaitForExit();
    }

and you will call it with Pause function with number of seconds to pause.

Pause(4);

Hope it helps.

Upvotes: 1

Pat Hermens
Pat Hermens

Reputation: 904

If you're talking about the built-in "pause" command, you could always call it -- even though it's ugly. Here's what I use:

static void Pause()
{
    Console.WriteLine();
    var pauseProc = Process.Start(
        new ProcessStartInfo()
            {
                FileName = "cmd",
                Arguments = "/C pause",
                UseShellExecute = false
            });
    pauseProc.WaitForExit();
}

Normally like so:

if (Environment.UserInteractive())
    Pause();

Hope this helps.

Upvotes: 1

Picrofo Software
Picrofo Software

Reputation: 5571

I usually use do and while to pause the console. Then, if necessary, the console should resume if you press a specific key.

Example

do
{

/*  while (!Console.KeyAvailable) //Continue if pressing a Key press is not available in the input stream
    {
        //Do Something While Paused
    } 
*/

} while (Console.ReadKey(true).Key != ConsoleKey.Escape); //Resume if Escape was pressed

If you leave this as //Do Something While Paused, the console will only resume if the Esc key was pressed doing nothing while paused.

However, if you would not like the console application to resume, you can use while (true); instead of while (Console.ReadKey(true).Key != ConsoleKey.Escape);

Example

do
{
    //break; //Resume
} while (true); //Continue while True (Always True)

Notice: The console application will pause because by doing do { } while (Condition); you are simply telling the console application that you are doing something. So, the console application will wait for the operation to execute. Then, normally close when there's nothing to do.
Notice: The while is used to loop. So, the application will not close unless the condition becomes false.

Thanks,
I hope you find this helpful :)

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions