Tutorial: Create a .NET console application using Visual Studio Code

Start Visual Studio Code.

Select File > Open Folder (File > Open... on macOS) from the main menu.

In the Open Folder dialog, create a HelloWorld folder and select it. Then click Select Folder (Open on macOS).

The folder name becomes the project name and the namespace name by default. You'll add code later in the tutorial that assumes the project namespace is HelloWorld.

In the Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder? dialog, select Yes, I trust the authors. You can trust the authors because this folder only has files generated by .NET and added or modified by you.

Open the Terminal in Visual Studio Code by selecting View > Terminal from the main menu.

The Terminal opens with the command prompt in the HelloWorld folder.

In the Terminal, enter the following command:

dotnet new console --framework net8.0 --use-program-main

Open the Program.cs file to see the simple application created by the template:

namespace HelloWorld;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");
    }
}

The first time you open a .cs file, Visual Studio Code prompts you to add assets to build and debug your app. Select Yes, and Visual Studio Code creates a .vscode folder with launch.json and tasks.json files.

The code defines a class, Program, with a single method, Main, that takes a String array as an argument. Main is the application entry point, the method that's called automatically by the runtime when it launches the application. Any command-line arguments supplied when the application is launched are available in the args array. The code in Main calls the Console.WriteLine(String) method to display a message in the console window.

C# has a feature named top-level statements that lets you omit the Program class and the Main method. This tutorial doesn't use this feature. Whether you use it in your programs is a matter of style preference. In the dotnet new command that created the project, the --use-program-main option prevented top-level statements from being used.

Open Program.cs.

Replace the contents of the Main method in Program.cs, which is the line that calls Console.WriteLine, with the following code:

Console.WriteLine("What is your name?");
var name = Console.ReadLine();
var currentDate = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine($"{Environment.NewLine}Hello, {name}, on {currentDate:d} at {currentDate:t}!");
Console.Write($"{Environment.NewLine}Press any key to exit...");
Console.ReadKey(true);

This code displays a prompt in the console window and waits until the user enters a string followed by the Enter key. It stores this string in a variable named name. It also retrieves the value of the DateTime.Now property, which contains the current local time, and assigns it to a variable named currentDate. And it displays these values in the console window. Finally, it displays a prompt in the console window and calls the Console.ReadKey(Boolean) method to wait for user input.

NewLine is a platform-independent and language-independent way to represent a line break. It's the same as \n in C#.

The dollar sign ($) in front of a string lets you put expressions such as variable names in curly braces in the string. The expression value is inserted into the string in place of the expression. This syntax is referred to as interpolated strings.

Save your changes.

Run the program again:

dotnet run

Respond to the prompt by entering a name and pressing the Enter key.

Press any key to exit the program.

Start Visual Studio Code.

Select File > Open Folder (File > Open... on macOS) from the main menu.

In the Open Folder dialog, create a HelloWorld folder and select it. Then click Select Folder (Open on macOS).

The folder name becomes the project name and the namespace name by default. You'll add code later in the tutorial that assumes the project namespace is HelloWorld.

In the Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder? dialog, select Yes, I trust the authors. You can trust the authors because this folder only has files generated by .NET and added or modified by you.

Open the Terminal in Visual Studio Code by selecting View > Terminal from the main menu.

The Terminal opens with the command prompt in the HelloWorld folder.

In the Terminal, enter the following command:

dotnet new console --framework net7.0

The project template creates a simple application that displays "Hello, World" in the console window by calling the Console.WriteLine(String) method in Program.cs.

Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");

Replace the contents of Program.cs with the following code:

namespace HelloWorld
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");
        }
    }
}

The first time you edit a .cs file, Visual Studio Code prompts you to add the missing assets to build and debug your app. Select Yes, and Visual Studio Code creates a .vscode folder with launch.json and tasks.json files.

The code defines a class, Program, with a single method, Main, that takes a String array as an argument. Main is the application entry point, the method that's called automatically by the runtime when it launches the application. Any command-line arguments supplied when the application is launched are available in the args array.

In the latest version of C#, a new feature named top-level statements lets you omit the Program class and the Main method. Most existing C# programs don't use top-level statements, so this tutorial doesn't use this new feature. But it's available in C# 10, and whether you use it in your programs is a matter of style preference.

Open Program.cs.

Replace the contents of the Main method in Program.cs, which is the line that calls Console.WriteLine, with the following code:

Console.WriteLine("What is your name?");
var name = Console.ReadLine();
var currentDate = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine($"{Environment.NewLine}Hello, {name}, on {currentDate:d} at {currentDate:t}!");
Console.Write($"{Environment.NewLine}Press any key to exit...");
Console.ReadKey(true);

This code displays a prompt in the console window and waits until the user enters a string followed by the Enter key. It stores this string in a variable named name. It also retrieves the value of the DateTime.Now property, which contains the current local time, and assigns it to a variable named currentDate. And it displays these values in the console window. Finally, it displays a prompt in the console window and calls the Console.ReadKey(Boolean) method to wait for user input.

NewLine is a platform-independent and language-independent way to represent a line break. Alternatives are \n in C# and vbCrLf in Visual Basic.

The dollar sign ($) in front of a string lets you put expressions such as variable names in curly braces in the string. The expression value is inserted into the string in place of the expression. This syntax is referred to as interpolated strings.

Save your changes.

Run the program again:

dotnet run

Respond to the prompt by entering a name and pressing the Enter key.

Press any key to exit the program.

Start Visual Studio Code.

Select File > Open Folder (File > Open... on macOS) from the main menu.

In the Open Folder dialog, create a HelloWorld folder and select it. Then click Select Folder (Open on macOS).

The folder name becomes the project name and the namespace name by default. You'll add code later in the tutorial that assumes the project namespace is HelloWorld.

In the Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder? dialog, select Yes, I trust the authors. You can trust the authors because this folder only has files generated by .NET and added or modified by you.

Open the Terminal in Visual Studio Code by selecting View > Terminal from the main menu.

The Terminal opens with the command prompt in the HelloWorld folder.

In the Terminal, enter the following command:

dotnet new console --framework net6.0 --use-program-main

The project template creates a simple application that displays "Hello, World" in the console window by calling the Console.WriteLine(String) method in Program.cs.

namespace HelloWorld;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");
    }
}

The first time you edit a .cs file, Visual Studio Code prompts you to add the missing assets to build and debug your app. Select Yes, and Visual Studio Code creates a .vscode folder with launch.json and tasks.json files.

The code defines a class, Program, with a single method, Main, that takes a String array as an argument. Main is the application entry point, the method that's called automatically by the runtime when it launches the application. Any command-line arguments supplied when the application is launched are available in the args array.

In the latest version of C#, a new feature named top-level statements lets you omit the Program class and the Main method. Most existing C# programs don't use top-level statements, so this tutorial doesn't use this new feature. But it's available in C# 10, and whether you use it in your programs is a matter of style preference. In the dotnet new command that you used to create the project, the --use-program-main option prevented top-level statements from being used.

Open Program.cs.

Replace the contents of the Main method in Program.cs, which is the line that calls Console.WriteLine, with the following code:

Console.WriteLine("What is your name?");
var name = Console.ReadLine();
var currentDate = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine($"{Environment.NewLine}Hello, {name}, on {currentDate:d} at {currentDate:t}!");
Console.Write($"{Environment.NewLine}Press any key to exit...");
Console.ReadKey(true);

This code displays a prompt in the console window and waits until the user enters a string followed by the Enter key. It stores this string in a variable named name. It also retrieves the value of the DateTime.Now property, which contains the current local time, and assigns it to a variable named currentDate. And it displays these values in the console window. Finally, it displays a prompt in the console window and calls the Console.ReadKey(Boolean) method to wait for user input.

NewLine is a platform-independent and language-independent way to represent a line break. Alternatives are \n in C# and vbCrLf in Visual Basic.

The dollar sign ($) in front of a string lets you put expressions such as variable names in curly braces in the string. The expression value is inserted into the string in place of the expression. This syntax is referred to as interpolated strings.

Save your changes.

Run the program again:

dotnet run

Respond to the prompt by entering a name and pressing the Enter key.

Press any key to exit the program.