ProcessStartInfo.RedirectStandardInput Property

Definition

Gets or sets a value indicating whether the input for an application is read from the StandardInput stream.

C#
public bool RedirectStandardInput { get; set; }

Property Value

true if input should be read from StandardInput; otherwise, false. The default is false.

Examples

The following example illustrates how to redirect the StandardInput stream of a process. The sort command is a console application that reads and sorts text input.

The example starts the sort command with redirected input. It then prompts the user for text, and passes the text to the sort process through the redirected StandardInput stream. The sort results are displayed to the user on the console.

C#
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace ProcessStandardInputSample
{
    class StandardInputTest
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Ready to sort one or more text lines...");

            // Start the Sort.exe process with redirected input.
            // Use the sort command to sort the input text.
            using (Process myProcess = new Process())
            {
                myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "Sort.exe";
                myProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
                myProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;

                myProcess.Start();

                StreamWriter myStreamWriter = myProcess.StandardInput;

                // Prompt the user for input text lines to sort.
                // Write each line to the StandardInput stream of
                // the sort command.
                String inputText;
                int numLines = 0;
                do
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Enter a line of text (or press the Enter key to stop):");

                    inputText = Console.ReadLine();
                    if (inputText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        numLines++;
                        myStreamWriter.WriteLine(inputText);
                    }
                } while (inputText.Length > 0);

                // Write a report header to the console.
                if (numLines > 0)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine($" {numLines} sorted text line(s) ");
                    Console.WriteLine("------------------------");
                }
                else
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(" No input was sorted");
                }

                // End the input stream to the sort command.
                // When the stream closes, the sort command
                // writes the sorted text lines to the
                // console.
                myStreamWriter.Close();

                // Wait for the sort process to write the sorted text lines.
                myProcess.WaitForExit();
            }
        }
    }
}

Remarks

A Process can read input text from its standard input stream, typically the keyboard. By redirecting the StandardInput stream, you can programmatically specify the input of a process. For example, instead of using keyboard input, you can provide text from the contents of a designated file or output from another application.

Note

You must set UseShellExecute to false if you want to set RedirectStandardInput to true. Otherwise, writing to the StandardInput stream throws an exception.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 2.0, 2.1

See also