Consoles

A console is an application that provides I/O services to character-mode applications.

A console consists of an input buffer and one or more screen buffers. The input buffer contains a queue of input records, each of which contains information about an input event. The input queue always includes key-press and key-release events. It may also include mouse events (pointer movements and button presses and releases) and events during which user actions affect the size of the active screen buffer. A screen buffer is a two-dimensional array of character and color data for output in a console window. Any number of processes can share a console.

Tip

A broader idea of consoles and how they relate to terminals and command-line client applications can be found in the ecosystem roadmap.

• Creation of a Console
• Attaching to a Console
• Closing a Console
• Console Handles
• Console Input Buffer
• Console Screen Buffers
• Window and Screen Buffer Size
• Console Selection
• Scrolling the Screen Buffer