System Namespace

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Represents the standard input, output, and error streams for console applications.

Console Class Members

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Properties Visibility Name Value Type Accessibility public static BackgroundColor ConsoleColor [ Get , Set ] public static BufferHeight Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static BufferWidth Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static CapsLock Boolean [ Get ] public static CursorLeft Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static CursorSize Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static CursorTop Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static CursorVisible Boolean [ Get , Set ] public static Error TextWriter [ Get ] public static ForegroundColor ConsoleColor [ Get , Set ] public static In TextReader [ Get ] public static InputEncoding Encoding [ Get , Set ] public static IsErrorRedirected Boolean [ Get ] public static IsInputRedirected Boolean [ Get ] public static IsOutputRedirected Boolean [ Get ] public static KeyAvailable Boolean [ Get ] public static LargestWindowHeight Int32 [ Get ] public static LargestWindowWidth Int32 [ Get ] public static NumberLock Boolean [ Get ] public static Out TextWriter [ Get ] public static OutputEncoding Encoding [ Get , Set ] public static Title String [ Get , Set ] public static TreatControlCAsInput Boolean [ Get , Set ] public static WindowHeight Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static WindowLeft Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static WindowTop Int32 [ Get , Set ] public static WindowWidth Int32 [ Get , Set ]   Methods Visibility Name Parameters Return Type public static Beep ( Int32 frequency , Int32 duration ) Void public static Beep ( ) Void public static Clear ( ) Void public static MoveBufferArea ( Int32 sourceLeft , Int32 sourceTop , Int32 sourceWidth , Int32 sourceHeight , Int32 targetLeft , Int32 targetTop , Char sourceChar , ConsoleColor sourceForeColor , ConsoleColor sourceBackColor ) Void public static MoveBufferArea ( Int32 sourceLeft , Int32 sourceTop , Int32 sourceWidth , Int32 sourceHeight , Int32 targetLeft , Int32 targetTop ) Void public static OpenStandardError ( Int32 bufferSize ) Stream public static OpenStandardError ( ) Stream public static OpenStandardInput ( Int32 bufferSize ) Stream public static OpenStandardInput ( ) Stream public static OpenStandardOutput ( Int32 bufferSize ) Stream public static OpenStandardOutput ( ) Stream public static Read ( ) Int32 public static ReadKey ( ) ConsoleKeyInfo public static ReadKey ( Boolean intercept ) ConsoleKeyInfo public static ReadLine ( ) String public static ResetColor ( ) Void public static SetBufferSize ( Int32 width , Int32 height ) Void public static SetCursorPosition ( Int32 left , Int32 top ) Void public static SetError ( TextWriter newError ) Void public static SetIn ( TextReader newIn ) Void public static SetOut ( TextWriter newOut ) Void public static SetWindowPosition ( Int32 left , Int32 top ) Void public static SetWindowSize ( Int32 width , Int32 height ) Void public static Write ( Boolean value ) Void public static Write ( String format , Object arg ) Void public static Write ( Char buffer ) Void public static Write ( Char value ) Void public static Write ( String format , Object arg0 , Object arg1 ) Void public static Write ( String format , Object arg0 ) Void public static Write ( String format , Object arg0 , Object arg1 , Object arg2 , Object arg3 ) Void public static Write ( String format , Object arg0 , Object arg1 , Object arg2 ) Void public static Write ( Char buffer , Int32 index , Int32 count ) Void public static Write ( Int64 value ) Void public static Write ( UInt32 value ) Void public static Write ( Object value ) Void public static Write ( UInt64 value ) Void public static Write ( Decimal value ) Void public static Write ( Double value ) Void public static Write ( Int32 value ) Void public static Write ( Single value ) Void public static Write ( String value ) Void public static WriteLine ( Decimal value ) Void public static WriteLine ( Char buffer , Int32 index , Int32 count ) Void public static WriteLine ( Single value ) Void public static WriteLine ( Int32 value ) Void public static WriteLine ( ) Void public static WriteLine ( Double value ) Void public static WriteLine ( Boolean value ) Void public static WriteLine ( Char buffer ) Void public static WriteLine ( Char value ) Void public static WriteLine ( String format , Object arg0 , Object arg1 ) Void public static WriteLine ( String format , Object arg0 ) Void public static WriteLine ( String format , Object arg0 , Object arg1 , Object arg2 ) Void public static WriteLine ( String format , Object arg0 , Object arg1 , Object arg2 , Object arg3 ) Void public static WriteLine ( String format , Object arg ) Void public static WriteLine ( Int64 value ) Void public static WriteLine ( UInt32 value ) Void public static WriteLine ( UInt64 value ) Void public static WriteLine ( String value ) Void public static WriteLine ( Object value ) Void   Events Multicast Name Type multicast CancelKeyPress ConsoleCancelEventHandler

The Console class provides basic support for applications that read characters from, and write characters to, the console. If the console does not exist, as in a Windows application, writes to the console are not printed and no exception is raised.

Data from the console is read from the "standard input stream"; normal data to the console is written to the "standard output stream"; and error data to the console is written to the "standard error output stream." These streams are automatically associated with the console when your application starts, and are presented to you as the In, Out, and Error properties.

By default, the value of the In property is a System.IO.TextReader object, while the values of the Out and Error properties are System.IO.TextWriter objects. However, you can associate these properties with streams that do not represent the console; for example, you can associate them with streams that represent files. You can also associate these properties with different streams at the same time.

This class contains convenience methods that can read individual characters or entire lines from the console. This class also contains several write methods that automatically convert individual instances of value types, arrays of characters, or sets of objects to a formatted or unformatted string, then writes that string to the console, optionally followed by a line termination string.

If there is no convenience method in this class that does what you want, you can explicitly invoke the method and property members of the stream objects represented by the In, Out, and Error properties. For example, the convenience method, WriteLine, writes data to the standard output stream followed by a line termination string; that is, data followed by a carriage return and line feed ( "\r\n" ). However, there is no convenience method to write data to the standard error output stream. Instead, use an explicit invocation like the C# statement, Console.Error.WriteLine ( );.

To continue the previous example, the default value of the line termination string is a carriage return followed by a line feed. Change the line termination character sequence by setting the TextWriter.NewLine property of the Out or Error property to another string. For example, the C# statement, Console.Error.NewLine = "\r\n\r\n";, sets the line termination character sequence for the Console.Error.WriteLine method to two carriage return and line feed sequences.

[ VB, C#, C++ ] This code sample demonstrates how to read from and write to the standard input and output streams. Note that these streams can be redirected using the SetIn and SetOut methods.

[ VB ]
Public Shared Sub Main ( )
    Response.Write ( "Hola " )
    Response.Write ( "Mundo!" )
    Response.Write ( "What is your name: " )
    Dim name As String = Console.ReadLine ( )
    Response.Write ( "Buenos Dias, " )
    Response.Write ( name )
    Response.Write ( "!" )
End Sub 'Main

[ C# ]
public static void Main ( string [ ] args ) {
    Response.Write ( "Hola " );
    Response.Write ( "Mundo!" );
    Response.Write ( "What is your name: " );
    String name = Console.ReadLine ( );
    Response.Write ( "Buenos Dias, " );
    Response.Write ( name );
    Response.Write ( "!" );
}

[ C++ ]

 void main ( )
 {
   Console::Write ( L"Hola " );
   Console::WriteLine ( L"Mundo!" );
   Console::WriteLine ( L"What is your name: " );
   String *name = Console::ReadLine ( );
   Console::Write ( L"Buenos Dias, " );
   Console::Write ( name );
   Console::WriteLine ( L"!" );
}

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