4 replies to this topic

[TheSourceOfX]

I want to detect when the spacebar is pressed in a CMD window without having to go through cin, because as far as I know cin doesn't return any input until it detects a newline. Am I wrong about that? Can cin capture a single keystroke without a newline?

[Alexander]

MSDOS (Windows) provides conio.h to handle character input, using the functions getch or _getch. An example from MSDN (http://msdn.microsof...4(VS.60).aspx):

/* GETCH.C: This program reads characters from
 * the keyboard until it receives a 'Y' or 'y'.
 */

#include <conio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

void main( void )
{
   int ch;

   _cputs( "Type 'Y' when finished typing keys: " );
   do
   {
      ch = _getch();
      ch = toupper( ch );
   } while( ch != 'Y' );

   _putch( ch );
   _putch( '\r' );    /* Carriage return */
   _putch( '\n' );    /* Line feed       */
}

[TheSourceOfX]

I managed to find some information on ncurses which was suggesting that conio was "behind the times" and the curses and ncurses are a bit more functional as they cater to more up-to-date stuff. Is that not the case? Does ncurses not work with Windows and should I use conio then?

[Alexander]

ncurses can work under POSIX (or gnu32win packages) but is not a native Windows API, conio is old (_ prepended to functions are >1989) but it is your best choice as long as your compiler supports it.

[krwq]

cin reads only an input and before you don't put a newline it does not put it into input. implement your own input handler. use getch (or getche if you want to show pressed key) and kbhit and make it work as you wish