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

Here's some example code. Call advance_cursor() every once in a while while the task completes.

#include 

void advance_cursor() {
  static int pos=0;
  char cursor[4]={'/','-','\\','|'};
  printf("%c\b", cursor[pos]);
  fflush(stdout);
  pos = (pos+1) % 4;
}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  int i;
  for (i=0; i<100; i++) {
    advance_cursor();
    usleep(100000);
  }
  printf("\n");
  return 0;
}