Why use conio.h?

Question

I often see people use the header file of conio.h in C and C++, although I can´t see any major benefits in use of the functions inside of conio.h in comparison to the standard library functions. conio.h has furthermore the disadvantages of being dependent on the Windows/MS-DOS environment and not being part of the C standard.

What is the reason to choose functions of conio.h?
What do functions inside of conio.h provide, what the functions of the standard C libraries can't?
Why to choose the conio library?

`conio` means console I/O. So it is for console applications. — Paul Ogilvie, Jan 19 '20 at 16:25
@PaulOgilvie Don´t the standard libries provide input/output operations for console applications, too? — RobertS supports Monica Cellio, Jan 19 '20 at 16:27
Code can determine if data is in `stdin` _now_. Std C has no concept of time within `stdin`. `stdin` is just a sequence of bytes. — chux - Reinstate Monica, Jan 19 '20 at 16:31
There's no equivalent to, for example, `kbhit` in the standard C library. — lurker, Jan 19 '20 at 16:32
It never fails to amaze me how many people still use Turbo C++. — Shawn, Jan 19 '20 at 16:55
See the documentations? There are functions like `kbhit` in the standard library. — Aykhan Hagverdili, Jan 19 '20 at 21:22
@Ayxan -- which functions in the [C Standard Library](http://port70.net/~nsz/c/c11/n1570.html#7) are like `kbhit()`? — ad absurdum, Jan 19 '20 at 23:34
@exnihilo I meant to say there are functions like `kbhit` that does what standard library can't. I just messed up the comment being sleepy, Sorry! — Aykhan Hagverdili, Jan 20 '20 at 08:15

dbush · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-19T17:34:11.150

The conio.h header is specific to Turbo C, which predates the earliest C standard by several years. It contains routines that are specific to the DOS command line. One function here that's frequently used is getch, which allows reading one character at a time without having to press the Enter key. It also contains gotoxy which allows placing the cursor at a specific location in the terminal

Generally speaking, methods of communicating with the terminal like this are very OS specific, so each has their own (typically non-portable) way of doing it.

This contrasts with the functions in stdio.h which contain functions like printf, scanf, and getchar which work regardless of what type of console is in use.

`` is supported by [MSVC](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/c-runtime-library/console-and-port-i-o?view=vs-2019). The names of the declared functions have been updated in more recent versions to follow the Standard C rules for implementation-specific names by adding a leading underscore (e.g. `_getch`). — 1201ProgramAlarm, Jan 19 '20 at 19:28

eerorika · Answer 2 · 2021-04-08T20:56:21.480

4

What is the reason to choose functions of conio.h?

It has functions that are not provided by the standard library, and people who choose it don't (know to) care about porting to other systems.

What do functions inside of conio.h provide, what the functions of the standard C libraries can´t?

These are some functions that don't have standard alternative. There may be others:

kbhit
clrscr
getch
getche

Standard library potentially could provide the functions. But it doesn't.

Why to choose the conio library?

Because you've been taught to use it, and you don't (know to) care about porting to other systems.

edited Apr 08 '21 at 20:56

answered Jan 19 '20 at 16:37

eerorika

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A modern replacement might be `ncurses`. – Jesper Juhl Jan 19 '20 at 16:46
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@JesperJuhl Does ncurses support windows though? PDCurses is a curses port that supports windows. – eerorika Jan 19 '20 at 16:47
Another replacement may be to use a windowing or graphics framework. – Thomas Matthews Jan 19 '20 at 19:12
Qt can also replace some of the functionality some of the time while being cross-platform. – Aykhan Hagverdili Jan 19 '20 at 21:27

Why use conio.h?

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