system("pause") note working c++

system("pause") is a commonly used line of code in C++ to pause the execution of a program before it terminates. However, it may not work as expected in some environments or compilers. Let's break down the code and explain each step:

  1. system is a C++ standard library function that is used to execute system commands. In this case, the command being executed is "pause".

  2. "pause" is a command that is specific to the Windows operating system. It is used to display the "Press any key to continue..." message in the command prompt window and wait for a key to be pressed before the window closes.

  3. When system("pause") is executed, the operating system launches a new command prompt window (if it's not already open) and executes the "pause" command in that window.

  4. The command prompt window then displays the "Press any key to continue..." message and waits for a key to be pressed.

  5. Once a key is pressed, the command prompt window closes and the program continues its execution.

It's worth noting that the use of system("pause") is not considered good practice in modern C++ programming. It's mainly used as a quick and simple way to pause the program during development for debugging purposes. A more robust and platform-independent alternative would be to use a cross-platform library like std::cin.get() to achieve a similar effect.