Listen for key press in .NET console app

How can I continue to run my console application until a key press (like Esc is pressed?)

I'm assuming its wrapped around a while loop. I don't like ReadKey as it blocks operation and asks for a key, rather than just continue and listen for the key press.

How can this be done?

Solution 1:

Use Console.KeyAvailable so that you only call ReadKey when you know it won't block:

Console.WriteLine("Press ESC to stop");
do {
    while (! Console.KeyAvailable) {
        // Do something
   }       
} while (Console.ReadKey(true).Key != ConsoleKey.Escape);

Solution 2:

You can change your approach slightly - use Console.ReadKey() to stop your app, but do your work in a background thread:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var myWorker = new MyWorker();
    myWorker.DoStuff();
    Console.WriteLine("Press any key to stop...");
    Console.ReadKey();
}

In the myWorker.DoStuff() function you would then invoke another function on a background thread (using Action<>() or Func<>() is an easy way to do it), then immediately return.