Pause Console in C++ program

Solution 1:

There might be a best way (like using the portable cin.get()), but a good way doesn't exist. A program that has done its job should quit and give its resources back to the computer.

And yes, any usage of system() leads to unportable code, as the parameter is passed to the shell that owns your process.

Having pausing-code in your source code sooner or later causes hassles:

• someone forgets to delete the pausing code before checking in
  • now all working mates have to wonder why the app does not close anymore
  • version history is tainted
• #define is hell
• it's annoying to anyone who runs your code from the console
• it's very, very, very annoying when trying to start and end your program from within a script; quadly annoying if your program is part of a pipeline in the shell, because if the program does not end, the shell script or pipeline won't, too

Instead, explore your IDE. It probably has an option not to close the console window after running. If not, it's a great justification to you as a developer worth her/his money to always have a console window open nearby.

Alternatively, you can make this a program option, but I personally have never seen a program with an option --keep-alive-when-dead.

Moral of the story: This is the user's problem, and not the program's problem. Don't taint your code.

Solution 2:

If you want to write portable C++ code, then I'd suggest using cin.get().

system("PAUSE") works on Windows, since it requires the execution of a console command named "PAUSE". But I'm not sure that other operating systems like Linux or other Unix derivatives support that. So that tends to be non-portable.

Since C++ already offers cin.get(), I see no compelling reason to use C getch().

Solution 3:

The best way depends a lot on the platform(s) being targeted, debug vs. release usage etc.

I don't think there is one best way, but to "force" a wait on enter type scenario in a fairly generic way, especially when debugging (typically this is either compiled in or out based on NDEBUG or _DEBUG), you could try std::getline as follows

inline void wait_on_enter()
{
    std::string dummy;
    std::cout << "Enter to continue..." << std::endl;
    std::getline(std::cin, dummy);
}

With our without the "enter to continue", as needed.

Solution 4:

Which is best way to pause the console in C++ programs?

system("pause"); and getch(); (which comes from the DOS world, IIRC) are both unportable.

Is cin.get() is better to use to pause console?

As the only one portable and standard option, I would say it is, but I personally believe one should not write interactive console programs, i.e. programs which actually pause the console or prompt for input (unless there is a really good reason for that, because that makes shell scripting much harder). Console programs should interact with the user via command line arguments (or at least that kind of interaction should be the default one).

Just in case you need pausing the program for the my-program-is-launched-from-the-IDE-and-immediately-closed-but-I-don't-have-enough-time-to-see-the-result reason — don't do that. Just configure your IDE or launch console programs right from the console.

Solution 5:

There is no good way to do that, but you should use portable solution, so avoid system() calls, in your case you could use cin.get() or getch() as you mentioned in your question, also there is one advice. Make all pauses controlled by one (or very few) preprocessor definitions.

For example:

Somewhere in global file:

#define USE_PAUSES
#ifndef _DEBUG    //I asume you have _DEBUG definition for debug and don't have it for release build
#undef USE_PAUSES
#endif

Somewhere in code

#ifdef USE_PAUSES
cin.get();
#endif

This is not universal advice, but you should protect yourself from putting pauses in release builds and these should have easy control, my mentioned global file may not be so global, because changes in that may cause really long compilation.