Sometimes it is necessary for console application to read keyboard inputs in asynchronous way.
This short example shows how things are done on Windows and Linux:
#ifdef WIN32
#include <conio.h>
#else
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#endif
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
while(1)
{
#ifdef WIN32
if (kbhit()){
return getc(stdin);
}else{
Sleep(1000);
printf("I am still waiting for your input...\n");
}
#else
struct timeval tWaitTime;
tWaitTime.tv_sec = 1; //seconds
tWaitTime.tv_usec = 0; //microseconds
fd_set fdInput;
FD_ZERO(&fdInput);
FD_SET(STDIN_FILENO, &fdInput);
int n = (int) STDIN_FILENO + 1;
if (!select(n, &fdInput, NULL, NULL, &tWaitTime))
{
printf("I am still waiting for your input...\n");
}else
{
return getc(stdin);
}
#endif
}
return 0;
}
Both applications work equally fine by waiting for user input while displaying messages once in a second