capture keystroke without blocking

Question

I usually use Console.ReadLine(); to capture a single keystroke. But this function blocks execution and keeps waiting for it to happen.

Is it possible, inside a loop, to capture it if it's pressed and continue execution if it's not?

The best would be something similar to GUI apps, that keep running and anytime a shortcut is executed it's intercepted and an event throws to be captured. But I doubt console apps are able to do that.

The second best solution would be a Console.ReadLine(); that waits for 1 second and then returns. If user is holding a keyboard button while the function is called, the function identifies the keystroke and returns with its char, otherwise the function returns with null.

Use `Console.In.Peek()` to check if the user has entered anything. — Hatted Rooster, Aug 10 '15 at 13:35
[Listen for key press in .NET console app](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5891538/listen-for-key-press-in-net-console-app) — CodeCaster, Aug 10 '15 at 13:40

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 10 '15 at 13:36

1

Have you read MSDN Key press info for console?

You can use Console.KeyAvailable to determine if you actually want to get the key in the queue.

answered Aug 10 '15 at 13:36

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capture keystroke without blocking

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