The console is a feature provided by the Operating System compatible with the C++ STL. The function's aren't MEANT for the console, they simply work with them. Even COUT can be used for other things besides console streaming. As a result of these facts, all of the functions work without a console. The functions work "in windows".
@Bazzy: when i said in windows i wanted to make an edit control to show hex values:
00 10 FF 08 AF 09 ..A@C.
FA EF AA 00 00 10 amtp..
09 40 53 EF 00 11 ...ms.
11 BF 00 00 F0 0F ....q.
I think you have seen something like this...
@computerquip: if i have used file.open() in console based app then i can use it in windows app and i don't need to change it to CreateFile() -that's true. But using cout << in something other than console... i don't know...
@ Null: Cout is directed towards a stream. You can simply redirect the stream to another stream and it works. Though I don't remember how to do this, a good friend of mine showed up a bunch o' geeks in our group by making an example of this using a flat text file. I am NOT saying I recommend it..