Getting terminal size in c for windows?

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How to check ymax and xmax in a console window, under Windows, using plain c?

There is this piece of code for linux:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
int main (void)
{
    struct winsize max;
    ioctl(0, TIOCGWINSZ , &max);
    printf ("lines %d\n", max.ws_row);
    printf ("columns %d\n", max.ws_col);
}

Now I wonder how can I do the same for windows. I tried winioctl.h but it does not define struct winsize nor any other with a similar name.

Any tips? Thanks.

PS. In linux you also can find the console size using getenv("LINES");. Is there a similar variable under windows?

PPS. Also, there is always ncurses.h, that I suppose work both systems, but I'm avoiding it because of conflicts with other libraries I have.

PPPS. This question here Getting terminal width in C? has a lot of tips, so no need to repeat that.

windows-console console size c
3 Answers

The below two functions will get the window size somewhat more directly.

Note that I found, using gcc, that neither this approach nor GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo works if the program is piped. That is somewhat of a pain as for/f then does not work either. Apparently the screen data is not available in a pipe.

Um, the above remark is of course enormously stupid. ;) It is STDOUT that is not the screen in a pipe! That does mean I prefer using STD_ERROR_HANDLE above STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE. I am far less likely to direct standard error away from the screen than standard output.

typedef struct _CONSOLE_FONT_INFO {
  DWORD nFont;
  COORD dwFontSize;
} CONSOLE_FONT_INFO, *PCONSOLE_FONT_INFO;

BOOL WINAPI GetCurrentConsoleFont(
   HANDLE             hConsoleOutput,
   BOOL               bMaximumWindow,
   PCONSOLE_FONT_INFO lpConsoleCurrentFont
);

/* Get the window width */
int getww_(void)
{
    CONSOLE_FONT_INFO info;
    GetCurrentConsoleFont(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), FALSE, &info);
    return info.dwFontSize.X;
}

/* Get the window height */
int getwh_(void)
{
    CONSOLE_FONT_INFO info;
    GetCurrentConsoleFont(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), FALSE, &info);
    return info.dwFontSize.Y;
}
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