Eric Blake wrote: > See this thread on the gnulib list, which claims that you can use this > undocumented snippet to decide whether a HANDLE is a console: >>> #define IsHandleConsole(h) (((long) (h) & 3) == 3) >> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2009-08/msg00065.html I wouldn't rely on that for a microsecond. The low two bits of a HANDLE are pretty free form and could easily be used for other purposes by other types of object. Read the rest of the thread; it's a convention used internally by WINE. MS doesn't necessarily follow suit. See also Chen on handles: http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2005/01/21/358109.aspx cheers, DaveK -- Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/ Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple