How to Suspend Execution in C : A Guide to the Sleep Function and Alternatives

Sleep Function in C : A Comprehensive Guide

Unlike its counterpart in C, C lacks an explicit Sleep() function to pause program execution for a specified duration. However, the modern C standard introduces a versatile solution, provided by the and headers.

Using std::this_thread::sleep_for:

This is the recommended approach for C 11 and later. It takes a single argument of type std::chrono::milliseconds to specify the sleep duration.

<code class="cpp">#include <chrono>
#include <thread>

std::chrono::milliseconds timespan(111605); // or whatever

std::this_thread::sleep_for(timespan);</code>

Pre-C 11 Alternatives:

Prior to the introduction of threading in C 11, platform-specific solutions were necessary. One option is to define a sleep function using conditional compilation:

<code class="cpp">#ifdef _WIN32
    #include <windows.h>

    void sleep(unsigned milliseconds)
    {
        Sleep(milliseconds);
    }
#else
    #include <unistd.h>
    
    void sleep(unsigned milliseconds)
    {
        usleep(milliseconds * 1000); // takes microseconds
    }
#endif</code>

Alternatively, you can leverage the Boost library:

<code class="cpp">#include <boost/thread/thread_only.hpp>

void sleep(unsigned milliseconds)
{
    boost::this_thread::sleep(boost::posix_time::milliseconds(milliseconds));
}</code>

Additional Functionality:

In addition to sleep_for, the header provides sleep_until to pause execution until a specific time point. This offers more flexibility and allows for more precise control over the sleep duration.

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