This doesn't work: string temp; cout << "Press Enter to Continue"; cin >> temp; rlbond cout << "Press Enter to Continue"; cin.ignore(); or, better: #include <limits> cout << "Press Enter to Continue"; cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<streamsize>::max(),'\n'); Try: char temp; cin.get(temp); or, better yet: char temp = 'x'; while (temp != '\n') cin.get(temp); I think the string input will wait until you enter real characters, not just a newline. Replace your cin >> temp with: temp = cin.get(); http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/iostream/istream/get/ cin >> will wait for the EndOfFile. By default,