Print spinning cursor in a terminal running application using C

Question

How would I print a spinning curser in a utility that runs in a terminal using standard C?

I\'m looking for something that prints: \\ | / - over and over in the same pos

Answer 1

You could use the backspace character (\b) like this:

printf("processing... |");
fflush(stdout);
// do something
printf("\b/");
fflush(stdout);
// do some more
printf("\b-");
fflush(stdout);

etc. You need the fflush(stdout) because normally stdout is buffered until you output a newline.