How can I update the current line in a C# Windows

Question

When building a Windows Console App in C#, is it possible to write to the console without having to extend a current line or go to a new line? For example, if I want to show a percentage representing how close a process is to completion, I'd just like to update the value on the same line as the cursor, and not have to put each percentage on a new line.

Can this be done with a "standard" C# console app?

Answer 1

I was doing a search for this to see if the solution I wrote could be optimised for speed. What I wanted was a countdown timer, not just updating the current line. Here's what I came up with. Might be useful to someone

            int sleepTime = 5 * 60;    // 5 minutes

            for (int secondsRemaining = sleepTime; secondsRemaining > 0; secondsRemaining --)
            {
                double minutesPrecise = secondsRemaining / 60;
                double minutesRounded = Math.Round(minutesPrecise, 0);
                int seconds = Convert.ToInt32((minutesRounded * 60) - secondsRemaining);
                Console.Write($"\rProcess will resume in {minutesRounded}:{String.Format("{0:D2}", -seconds)} ");
                Thread.Sleep(1000);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("");

Answer 2

You can use the \b (backspace) escape sequence to backup a particular number of characters on the current line. This just moves the current location, it does not remove the characters.

For example:

string line="";

for(int i=0; i<100; i++)
{
    string backup=new string('\b',line.Length);
    Console.Write(backup);
    line=string.Format("{0}%",i);
    Console.Write(line);
}

Here, line is the percentage line to write to the console. The trick is to generate the correct number of \b characters for the previous output.

The advantage of this over the \r approach is that if works even if your percentage output is not at the beginning of the line.

Answer 3

From the Console docs in MSDN:

You can solve this problem by setting the TextWriter.NewLine property of the Out or Error property to another line termination string. For example, the C# statement, Console.Error.NewLine = "\r\n\r\n";, sets the line termination string for the standard error output stream to two carriage return and line feed sequences. Then you can explicitly call the WriteLine method of the error output stream object, as in the C# statement, Console.Error.WriteLine();

So - I did this:

Console.Out.Newline = String.Empty;

Then I am able to control the output myself;

Console.WriteLine("Starting item 1:");
    Item1();
Console.WriteLine("OK.\nStarting Item2:");

Another way of getting there.

Answer 4

Here is my take on s soosh's and 0xA3's answers. It can update the console with user messages while updating the spinner and has an elapsed time indicator aswell.

public class ConsoleSpiner : IDisposable
{
    private static readonly string INDICATOR = "/-\\|";
    private static readonly string MASK = "\r{0} {1:c} {2}";
    int counter;
    Timer timer;
    string message;

    public ConsoleSpiner() {
        counter = 0;
        timer = new Timer(200);
        timer.Elapsed += TimerTick;
    }

    public void Start() {
        timer.Start();
    }

    public void Stop() {
        timer.Stop();
        counter = 0;
    }

    public string Message {
        get { return message; }
        set { message = value; }
    }

    private void TimerTick(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e) {
        Turn();
    }

    private void Turn() {
        counter++;
        var elapsed = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(counter * 200);
        Console.Write(MASK, INDICATOR[counter % 4], elapsed, this.Message);
    }

    public void Dispose() {
        Stop();
        timer.Elapsed -= TimerTick;
        this.timer.Dispose();
    }
}

usage is something like this. class Program {

    static void Main(string[] args) {
        using (var spinner = new ConsoleSpiner()) {
            spinner.Start();
            spinner.Message = "About to do some heavy staff :-)"
            DoWork();
            spinner.Message = "Now processing other staff".
            OtherWork();
            spinner.Stop();
        }
        Console.WriteLine("COMPLETED!!!!!\nPress any key to exit.");

    }

Answer 5

The SetCursorPosition method works in multi-threading scenario, where the other two methods don't

Answer 6

    public void Update(string data)
    {
        Console.Write(string.Format("\r{0}", "".PadLeft(Console.CursorLeft, ' ')));
        Console.Write(string.Format("\r{0}", data));
    }