C++ wait for user input

What would be the best way to wait for user input in console application?

std::cout << "press any key to exit...";
// wait for user to hit enter or another key

Several ways to do so, here are some possible one-line approaches:

2. Use getch() (need #include <conio.h>).

3. Use getchar() (expected for Enter, need #include <iostream>).

4. Use cin.get() (expected for Enter, need #include <iostream>).

5. Use system("pause") (need #include <iostream>, Windows only).

   PS: This method will also print Press any key to continue . . . on the screen. (seems perfect choice for you :))

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Edit: As discussed here, There is no completely portable solution for this. Question 19.1 of the comp.lang.c FAQ covers this in some depth, with solutions for Windows, Unix-like systems, and even MS-DOS and VMS.

a do while loop would be a nice way to wait for the user input. Like this:

int main() 
{

 do 
 {
   cout << '\n' << "Press a key to continue...";
 } while (cin.get() != '\n');

 return 0;
}

You can also use the function system('PAUSE') but I think this is a bit slower and platform dependent

You can try

#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>

int main() {

    //some codes

    getch();
    return 0;
}

There is no "standard" library function to do this. The standard (perhaps surprisingly) does not actually recognise the concept of a "keyboard", albeit it does have a standard for "console input".

There are various ways to achieve it on different operating systems (see herohuyongtao's solution) but it is not portable across all platforms that support keyboard input.

Remember that C++ (and C) are devised to be languages that can run on embedded systems that do not have keyboards. (Having said that, an embedded system might not have various other devices that the standard library supports).

This matter has been debated for a long time.