I'm working on a little project to improve my coding skills and I have a problem. I'm doing a console version of Flappy Bird. So i have a map which is a two-dimensional array of chars and this map have to move to the left. I am moving all elements of an array one place to the left and after that, clearing console and showing moved map. And here is problem, map has to move constantly but player have to control a bird while map is moving. I wanted to use _getch() but it pausing a program. A question is: Can i read a keyboard input without pausing program? I mean that the map will still moving and when i press for example Space in any moment the bird position will change. I'm working on Windows 10
Even if beginners hope it to be a simple operation, inputting a single character from the keyboard is not, because in current Operating Systems, the keyboard is by default line oriented.
And peeking the keyboard (without pausing the program) is even harder. In a Windows console application, you can try to use functions from user32, for example GetAsyncKeyState if you only need to read few possible keys: you will know if the key is currently pressed and whether if was pressed since the last call to GetAsyncKeyState.
But beware: these are rather advanced system calls and I strongly advise you not to go that way if you want to improve your coding skills. IMHO you'd better learn how to code Windows GUI applications first because you will get an event loop, and peeking for events is far more common and can be used in real world applications. While I have never seen a real world console application trying to peek the keyboard. Caveat emptor...
Including conio.h
you can use this method:
#define ARROW_UP 72
#define ARROW_DOWN 80
#define ARROW_LEFT 75
#define ARROW_RIGHT 77
int main(){
int key;
while( true ){
if( _kbhit() ){ // If key is typed
key = _getch(); // Key variable get the ASCII code from _getch()
switch( key ){
case ARROW_UP:
//code her...
break;
case ARROW_DOWN:
//code her...
break;
case ARROW_LEFT:
//code her...
break;
case ARROW_RIGHT:
//code her...
break;
default:
//code her...
break;
}
}
}
return 0;
}
The upper code is an example, you can do this for any key of keyboard. In this sites you can find the ASCII code of keys:
http://www.jimprice.com/jim-asc.shtml#keycodes
https://brebru.com/asciicodes.html
Say me if it has help you!
Lately, I've been trying to learn C++ from this website. Unfortunately whenever I try to run one of the code samples, I see that program open for about a half second and then immediately close. Is there a way to stop the program from closing immediately so that I can see the fruits of my effort?
If you are using Visual Studio and you are starting the console application out of the IDE:
pressing CTRL-F5 (start without debugging) will start the application and keep the console window open until you press any key.
Edit: As Charles Bailey rightly points out in a comment below, this won't work if there are characters buffered in stdin, and there's really no good way to work around that. If you're running with a debugger attached, John Dibling's suggested solution is probably the cleanest solution to your problem.
That said, I'll leave this here and maybe someone else will find it useful. I've used it a lot as a quick hack of sorts when writing tests during development.
At the end of your main function, you can call std::getchar();
This will get a single character from stdin, thus giving you the "press any key to continue" sort of behavior (if you actually want a "press any key" message, you'll have to print one yourself).
You need to #include <cstdio> for getchar.
The solution by James works for all Platforms.
Alternatively on Windows you can also add the following just before you return from main function:
system("pause");
This will run the pause command which waits till you press a key and also displays a nice message Press any key to continue . . .
If you are using Microsoft's Visual C++ 2010 Express and run into the issue with CTRL+F5 not working for keeping the console open after the program has terminated, take a look at this MSDN thread.
Likely your IDE is set to close the console after a CTRL+F5 run; in fact, an "Empty Project" in Visual C++ 2010 closes the console by default. To change this, do as the Microsoft Moderator suggested:
Please right click your project name and go to Properties page, please expand Configuration Properties -> Linker -> System, please select Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE) in SubSystem dropdown. Because, by default, the Empty project does not specify it.
I usually just put a breakpoint on main()'s closing curly brace. When the end of the program is reached by whatever means the breakpoint will hit and you can ALT-Tab to the console window to view the output.
Why not just run the program from a console ie run the program from cmd.exe if you're using Windows. That way the window stays open after the program finishes.
[EDIT]: When I use KDevelop4 there is a fully fledged instance of Bash (a Linux CLI) running in a tab at the bottom of the IDE. Which is what I use in these sort of circumstances.
Before the end of your code, insert this line:
system("pause");
This will keep the console until you hit a key.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string s;
cout << "Please enter your first name followed by a newline\n";
cin >> s;
cout << "Hello, " << s << '\n';
system("pause"); // <----------------------------------
return 0; // This return statement isn't necessary
}
Call cin.get(); 2 times:
//...
cin.get();
cin.get();
return 0
}
If you run your code from a competent IDE, such as Code::Blocks, the IDE will manage the console it uses to run the code, keeping it open when the application closes. You don't want to add special code to keep the console open, because this will prevent it functioning correctly when you use it for real, outside of the IDE.
I just do this:
//clear buffer, wait for input to close program
std::cin.clear(); std::cin.ignore(INT_MAX, '\n');
std::cin.get();
return 0;
Note: clearing the cin buffer and such is only necessary if you've used cin at some point earlier in your program. Also using std::numeric_limits::max() is probably better then INT_MAX, but it's a bit wordy and usually unnecessary.
Okay I'm guessing you are on Windows using Visual Studio... why? Well because if you are on some sort of Linux OS then you'd probably be running it from the console.
Anyways, you can add crap to the end of your program like others are suggesting, or you can just hit CTRL + F5 (start without debugging) and Visual Studio will leave the console up once complete.
Another option if you want to run the Debug version and not add crap to your code is to open the console window (Start -> Run -> cmd) and navigate to your Debug output directory. Then, just enter the name of your executable and it will run your debug program in the console. You can then use Visual Studio's attach to process or something if you really want to.
Just add the following at the end of your program. It will try to capture some form of user input thus it stops the console from closing automatically.
cin.get();
If you are actually debugging your application in Visual C++, press F5 or the green triangle on the toolbar. If you aren't really debugging it (you have no breakpoints set), press Ctrl+F5 or choose Start Without Debugging on the menus (it's usually on the Debug menu, which I agree is confusing.) It will be a little faster, and more importantly to you, will pause at the end without you having to change your code.
Alternatively, open a command prompt, navigate to the folder where your exe is, and run it by typing its name. That way when it's finished running the command prompt doesn't close and you can see the output. I prefer both of these methods to adding code that stops the app just as its finished.
Add the following lines before any exit() function or before any returns in main():
std::cout << "Paused, press ENTER to continue." << std::endl;
cin.ignore(100000, "\n");
For Visual Studio (and only Visual Studio) the following code snippet gives you a 'wait for keypress to continue' prompt that truly waits for the user to press a new key explicitly, by first flushing the input buffer:
#include <cstdio>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <conio.h>
_tprintf(_T("Press a key to continue "));
while( _kbhit() /* defined in conio.h */ ) _gettch();
_gettch();
Note that this uses the tchar.h macro's to be compatible with multiple 'character sets' (as VC++ calls them).
Use #include "stdafx.h" & system("pause"); just like the code down below.
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
std::cout << "hello programmer!\n\nEnter 2 numbers: ";
int x, y;
std::cin >> x >> y;
int w = x*y;
std::cout <<"\nyour answer is: "<< w << endl;
system("pause");
}
simply
#include <cstdio>
int main(){
// code...
std::getchar();
std::getchar();
return 0;
}
for some reason there is usually 1 character possible to read with getchar already in stdin when you run a program. so the first getchar reads this character, and the second getchar waits for user (your) input before exiting the program. And after a program exits most of terminals, especially on Windows close terminal immediately.
so what we aim to is a simple way of preventing a program from finishing after it outputs everything.
Of course there are more complex and clean ways to solve this, but this is the simplest.
Similar idea to yeh answer, just minimalist alternative.
Create a batch file with the following content:
helloworld.exe
pause
Then use the batch file.
See if your IDE has a checkbox in project setting to keep the window open after the program terminates. If not, use std::cin.get(); to read a character at the end of main function. However, be sure to use only line-based input (std::getline) or to deal with leftover unread characters otherwise (std::ignore until newline) because otherwise the .get() at the end will only read the garbage you left unread earlier.
This seems to work well:
cin.clear();
cin.ignore(2);
If you clear the buffer first it won't be a problem when you read the next one.
For some reason cin.ignore(1) does not work, it has to be 2.
You could always just create a batch file. For example, if your program is called helloworld.exe, some code would be:
#echo off
:1
cls
call helloworld.exe
pause >nul
goto :1
If you are running Windows, then you can do system("pause >nul"); or system("pause");. It executes a console command to pause the program until you press a key. >nul prevents it from saying Press any key to continue....
I'm putting a breakpoint at the last return 0 of the program. It works fine.
I used cin.get() and that is worked but one day I needed to use another cin.get([Array Variable]) before that to grab a ling string with blank character in middle of. so the cin.get() didn't avoid command prompt window from closing. Finally I found Another way:
Press CTRL+F5 to open in an external window and Visual Studio does not have control over it anymore. Just will ask you about closing after final commands run.
I tried putting a getchar() function at the end. But it didn't work. So what I did was add two getchar() functions one after another. I think the first getchar() absorbs the Enter key you press after the last data input. So try adding two getchar() functions instead of one
Instead of pressing the run button, press CTRL and F5 at the same time, it will give you the press any key to continue message. Or type "(warning use this only for testing not actual programs as an antiviruses don't like it!!!!)" at the end of your main function but: (warning use this only for testing not actual programs as an antiviruses don't like it!!!!)
just use cin.ignore() right before return 0; twice
main()
{
//your codes
cin.ignore();
cin.ignore();
return 0;
}
thats all
you can try also doing this
sleep (50000);
cout << "any text" << endl;
This will hold your code for 50000m, then prints message and closes. But please keep in mind that it will not pause forever.
Here's a problem, not so obvious. Somehow I had added a debug breakpoint at the very last line of my program. } Not sure how I did that, perhaps with an erroneous mouse click while jumping between different screens. I'm working in VS Code.
And when I go to debug, the system jumps immediately to that breakpoint. No error message, no interim output, nothing. I'm like, how did the program rush thru all my set breakpoints? This took too long to figure out.
Apparently the system sees that last line breakpoint as a "first" stop. The simple fix? Delete that breakpoint, doh! (insert forehead slap here.)
All you have to do set a variable for x then just type this in before the return 0;
cout<<"\nPress any key and hit enter to end...";
cin>>x;
I am making Pacman in C++ with the Ncurses library. I am able to move Pacman with my code, but I want to move it so that pacman keeps moving even when I am not pressing any key and when I press another direction key, it changes direction. Right now, the pacman only takes one step when I press a key. Also I have to press a key 2 or 3 times before pacman moves in that direction.
if (ch==KEY_LEFT)
{
int b,row,column;
getyx(stdscr,row,column);
int h;
do // do-whileloop to move the pacman left until it hits the wall
{
column-=1;
mvprintw(row,column,">"); //print the ">" symbol
refresh();
waitf(0.1); //this pauses the game for 0.1sec
attron(COLOR_PAIR(1));
mvprintw(row,column,">");
attroff(COLOR_PAIR(1));
refresh();
waitf(0.1);
mvprintw(row,(b),"O"); //showing the open mouth of pacman
refresh();
waitf(0.1);
attron(COLOR_PAIR(1));a
mvprintw(row,column,"O");
attroff(COLOR_PAIR(1));
h = getch();
}
while(h == KEY_LEFT);
}
right = getch();
loop to move right in an if condition
up = getch();
loop to move up in an if condition
down = getch();
oop for moving down in an if condition.
The standard solution to this is the finite-state machine. The character has six or so possible states: standing, moving up, moving right, moving down, moving left, dead. Rather than a keypress directly moving the character, the keypress should change the character's state.
In such a small application, rather than implementing an incredibly flexible finite-state machine, you may use a very simple implementation as such:
enum PlayerState {
Standing,
MovingUp,
MovingRight,
MovingDown,
MovingLeft,
Dead
};
Then, inside your game loop you can add a very simple state check which then takes the appropriate action for the frame.
switch(state) {
case Standing:
break;
case MovingUp:
player.PositionY += 1;
break;
// ...
}
The last step is to hook input, which depends on your method of retrieving input. Using callbacks, an example is:
void KeyDown(Key k) {
switch(k) {
case UpArrow:
if(state != Dead)
state = MovingUp;
break;
case RightArrow:
if(state != Dead)
state = MovingRight;
// ...
}
}
You can see why in a larger project it would be important to implement a more flexible finite-state machine, but hopefully this example has given you an easy-to-understand idea.
You need an equivalent of kbhit, ie. a non-blocking getch. Which really gives the solution, set O_NONBLOCK on the input. See an example here. Once you have this, simply loop contiguously and just check for the key hit, w/o waiting on actual key press.
Function getch is blocked until some key is pressed. If you don't want to be blocked then call _kbhit before getch too make sure that there is something in input buffer.
EDIT: Take a look at ncurses functions nodelay and cbreak. They enable asynchronous input.
I suggest you take a look at the model-view-controller model, it will help you with this problems and all the other problems that you will have if you continue your program like this.
Edit: shortcut
To move your pacman continuously you will need a separate thread to control it and make it move. Take a look at pthreads for that.
If you keep only the user input in the main run loop of your program, the problem that you have to press the keys a few times will go away too (the problem here is that the processor has to be on the getch() line when you press the key, otherwise it will not be detected.
It is pretty easy
for each direction make 4 function
and inside the function,put in the other 3 direction function which get activated by kbhit.
and put a else statement in which it keeps moving forward if you do not hit a button i.e (!kbhit());
and then put all this in a loop.
If you do this for all the direction functions you should be able to get the desirable outcome.