GetStdHandle

The GetStdHandle function retrieves a handle for the standard input, standard output, or standard error device.

HANDLE GetStdHandle(
  DWORD nStdHandle   // input, output, or error device
);

Parameters

nStdHandle

[in] Specifies the standard device for which to return the handle. This parameter can be one of the following values.

Value	Meaning
STD_INPUT_HANDLE	Standard input handle
STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE	Standard output handle
STD_ERROR_HANDLE	Standard error handle

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is a handle to the specified device.

If the function fails, the return value is the INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE flag. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

Handles returned by GetStdHandle can be used by applications that need to read from or write to the console. When a console is created, the standard input handle is a handle to the console's input buffer, and the standard output and standard error handles are handles of the console's active screen buffer. These handles can be used by the ReadFile and WriteFile functions, or by any of the console functions that access the console input buffer or a screen buffer (for example, the ReadConsoleInput, WriteConsole, or GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo functions).

All handles returned by this function have GENERIC_READ and GENERIC_WRITE access unless the SetStdHandle function has been used to set a standard handle to be some handle with a lesser access.

The standard handles of a process may be redirected by a call to SetStdHandle, in which case GetStdHandle returns the redirected handle. If the standard handles have been redirected, you can specify the CONIN$ value in a call to the CreateFile function to get a handle to a console's input buffer. Similarly, you can specify the CONOUT$ value to get a handle to a console's active screen buffer.

Requirements

  Windows NT/2000: Requires Windows NT 3.1 or later.
  Windows 95/98: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Header: Declared in Winbase.h; include Windows.h.
  Library: Use Kernel32.lib.

See Also

Consoles and Character-Mode Support Overview, Console Functions, CreateFile, GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo, ReadConsoleInput, ReadFile, SetStdHandle, WriteConsole, WriteFile