Thread: Using cin.get() vs return 0

What's different between

Code:

int main ( ) {
  cout << "hello world" << endl;
  cin.get();
  return 0;
}

and

Code:

int main ( ) {
  cout << "hello world" << endl;
  return 0;
}

and

Code:

int main ( ) {
  cout << "hello world" << endl;
  cin.get();
  // return 0 is implied if not explicitly stated as returning a value
}

Is that those with cin.get() will wait for some user input.

It's a common way for programmers running their programs in poorly configured IDE's to stop the console window from disappearing at the end of the program.

In a normal console program, run normally from the command line, the extra cin.get() would become very annoying, very quickly to most users.

Originally Posted by Jasper Dunn

Hi,
I'm new to C++.

When would I use cin.get() vs return 0?

And are there any other commonly used endings for the main() function?

Thanks

"cin.get()" isn't common at all. At least not in anything more serious than a homework.

C++ has only notion of streams - if standard C++ is concerned, there is no concept of a console. By default, OS redirects standard input/output streams to a console window, and that's the only reason you see some console.