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Getting Text/Key Input from User and Simplifying Console App Use

Getting Text/Key Input from User and Simplifying Console App Use

Learn how to get text and key input from the user using the ReadLine and ReadKey methods in C#, and how to simplify C# code for better readability.

Interacting with users via text and key input is fundamental to many console applications. This will allow us to build more interactive console applications accepting user input. Let's dive in and see how to simplify console use and capture text and key strokes in C#!

Getting text input from the user

Text input is a fundamental aspect of interactive programs, allowing users to provide information and interact with the application. In C#, the ReadLine method offers a powerful way to capture text input from the user.

ReadLine method

We can get text input from the user using the ReadLine method. This method waits for the user to type some text. Then, as soon as the user presses "Enter," whatever the user has typed is returned as a string value.

If we use a .NET Interactive Notebook, note that it does not support reading input from the console using Console.ReadLine(). Instead, we must set literal values, as shown in the following code: string? firstName = "Gray";. This is often quicker to experiment with because we can change the literal string value and click the “Execute Cell” button instead of restarting a console app each time we want to enter a different string value.

Text input from the user using the ReadLine method

The ReadLine method will be used to get text input from the ...