Keyboard input with timeout in Python











up vote
33
down vote

favorite
15












How would you prompt the user for some input but timing out after N seconds?



Google is pointing to a mail thread about it at http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2006-January/533215.html but it seems not to work. The statement in which the timeout happens, no matter whether it is a sys.input.readline or timer.sleep(), I always get:




<type 'exceptions.TypeError'>: [raw_]input expected at most 1 arguments, got 2




which somehow the except fails to catch.










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  • Is it OK if the solution works in Linux only?
    – Nadia Alramli
    Aug 26 '09 at 16:28










  • Yes, Linux only is fine.
    – pupeno
    Aug 27 '09 at 7:48










  • related: Python 3 Timed Input
    – jfs
    Oct 20 '14 at 2:44










  • possible duplicate of Timeout on a Python function call
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:04










  • related: raw_input and timeout /3471461
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:06















up vote
33
down vote

favorite
15












How would you prompt the user for some input but timing out after N seconds?



Google is pointing to a mail thread about it at http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2006-January/533215.html but it seems not to work. The statement in which the timeout happens, no matter whether it is a sys.input.readline or timer.sleep(), I always get:




<type 'exceptions.TypeError'>: [raw_]input expected at most 1 arguments, got 2




which somehow the except fails to catch.










share|improve this question






















  • Is it OK if the solution works in Linux only?
    – Nadia Alramli
    Aug 26 '09 at 16:28










  • Yes, Linux only is fine.
    – pupeno
    Aug 27 '09 at 7:48










  • related: Python 3 Timed Input
    – jfs
    Oct 20 '14 at 2:44










  • possible duplicate of Timeout on a Python function call
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:04










  • related: raw_input and timeout /3471461
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:06













up vote
33
down vote

favorite
15









up vote
33
down vote

favorite
15






15





How would you prompt the user for some input but timing out after N seconds?



Google is pointing to a mail thread about it at http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2006-January/533215.html but it seems not to work. The statement in which the timeout happens, no matter whether it is a sys.input.readline or timer.sleep(), I always get:




<type 'exceptions.TypeError'>: [raw_]input expected at most 1 arguments, got 2




which somehow the except fails to catch.










share|improve this question













How would you prompt the user for some input but timing out after N seconds?



Google is pointing to a mail thread about it at http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2006-January/533215.html but it seems not to work. The statement in which the timeout happens, no matter whether it is a sys.input.readline or timer.sleep(), I always get:




<type 'exceptions.TypeError'>: [raw_]input expected at most 1 arguments, got 2




which somehow the except fails to catch.







python timeout keyboard-input






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share|improve this question










asked Aug 26 '09 at 15:19









pupeno

102k97269424




102k97269424












  • Is it OK if the solution works in Linux only?
    – Nadia Alramli
    Aug 26 '09 at 16:28










  • Yes, Linux only is fine.
    – pupeno
    Aug 27 '09 at 7:48










  • related: Python 3 Timed Input
    – jfs
    Oct 20 '14 at 2:44










  • possible duplicate of Timeout on a Python function call
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:04










  • related: raw_input and timeout /3471461
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:06


















  • Is it OK if the solution works in Linux only?
    – Nadia Alramli
    Aug 26 '09 at 16:28










  • Yes, Linux only is fine.
    – pupeno
    Aug 27 '09 at 7:48










  • related: Python 3 Timed Input
    – jfs
    Oct 20 '14 at 2:44










  • possible duplicate of Timeout on a Python function call
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:04










  • related: raw_input and timeout /3471461
    – n611x007
    Mar 13 '15 at 13:06
















Is it OK if the solution works in Linux only?
– Nadia Alramli
Aug 26 '09 at 16:28




Is it OK if the solution works in Linux only?
– Nadia Alramli
Aug 26 '09 at 16:28












Yes, Linux only is fine.
– pupeno
Aug 27 '09 at 7:48




Yes, Linux only is fine.
– pupeno
Aug 27 '09 at 7:48












related: Python 3 Timed Input
– jfs
Oct 20 '14 at 2:44




related: Python 3 Timed Input
– jfs
Oct 20 '14 at 2:44












possible duplicate of Timeout on a Python function call
– n611x007
Mar 13 '15 at 13:04




possible duplicate of Timeout on a Python function call
– n611x007
Mar 13 '15 at 13:04












related: raw_input and timeout /3471461
– n611x007
Mar 13 '15 at 13:06




related: raw_input and timeout /3471461
– n611x007
Mar 13 '15 at 13:06












10 Answers
10






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
24
down vote



accepted










The example you have linked to is wrong and the exception is actually occuring when calling alarm handler instead of when read blocks. Better try this:



import signal
TIMEOUT = 5 # number of seconds your want for timeout

def interrupted(signum, frame):
"called when read times out"
print 'interrupted!'
signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupted)

def input():
try:
print 'You have 5 seconds to type in your stuff...'
foo = raw_input()
return foo
except:
# timeout
return

# set alarm
signal.alarm(TIMEOUT)
s = input()
# disable the alarm after success
signal.alarm(0)
print 'You typed', s





share|improve this answer

















  • 7




    Nice solution, this only works on Linux though.
    – Nadia Alramli
    Aug 26 '09 at 19:25










  • I have been struggling with getting a keyboard input with timeout today. I just wanted a way to stop the reproduction of images from the hard-drive so that I can stop it just pressing a key, so I wanted a small timeout (33ms). I just want to point out that some solutions that you'll find on stackoverflow don't work on IDLE!! (I don't know why). You have to execute them on terminal. And also, the most helpful code I have found on internet is this one: home.wlu.edu/~levys/software/kbhit.py . Good luck!
    – jespestana
    Jun 12 '13 at 23:47






  • 1




    I was trying this solution, and this was not working in python3. You have to raise an error in interrupted function to catch that exception in defined input function - that will make it work in python3. :)
    – rnbguy
    Jun 4 '14 at 18:41






  • 1




    Indentation error on line 7.
    – anonymous
    Jul 21 '17 at 23:22






  • 3




    This does not work for me. It just prints "interrupted" after 5 seconds, but it does not actually stop the input. It still waits for Enter to be pressed, and it even prints any text I enter after the "Interrupted" message appears. Tested on Linux with Python 2 and 3.
    – tobias_k
    Feb 1 at 12:01


















up vote
71
down vote













Using a select call is shorter, and should be much more portable



import sys, select

print "You have ten seconds to answer!"

i, o, e = select.select( [sys.stdin], , , 10 )

if (i):
print "You said", sys.stdin.readline().strip()
else:
print "You said nothing!"





share|improve this answer

















  • 2




    +1 for cross platform solution.
    – Great Turtle
    Jun 4 '10 at 15:06






  • 26




    I just tested and this does NOT work for windows. Select is available, but on windows the input to select can only be a socket - sys.stdin and file descriptors are unix. I'll be sure to test first next time.
    – Great Turtle
    Jun 4 '10 at 15:19






  • 11




    Darn. Well, what self respecting programmer uses windows anyway? ;) For simple user input I guess it could be done with a loop around "kbhit", which detects keyboard presses, and "getch" with "time.sleep" to break after a timeout. But it will be ugly.
    – Pontus
    Jun 10 '10 at 16:26


















up vote
8
down vote













Not a Python solution, but...



I ran in to this problem with a script running under CentOS (Linux), and what worked for my situation was just running the Bash "read -t" command in a subprocess. Brutal disgusting hack, I know, but I feel guilty enough about how well it worked that I wanted to share it with everyone here.



import subprocess
subprocess.call('read -t 30', shell=True)


All I needed was something that waited for 30 seconds unless the ENTER key was pressed. This worked great.






share|improve this answer






























    up vote
    5
    down vote













    And here's one that works on Windows



    I haven't been able to get any of these examples to work on Windows so I've merged some different StackOverflow answers to get the following:




    import threading, msvcrt
    import sys

    def readInput(caption, default, timeout = 5):
    class KeyboardThread(threading.Thread):
    def run(self):
    self.timedout = False
    self.input = ''
    while True:
    if msvcrt.kbhit():
    chr = msvcrt.getche()
    if ord(chr) == 13:
    break
    elif ord(chr) >= 32:
    self.input += chr
    if len(self.input) == 0 and self.timedout:
    break


    sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default));
    result = default
    it = KeyboardThread()
    it.start()
    it.join(timeout)
    it.timedout = True
    if len(it.input) > 0:
    # wait for rest of input
    it.join()
    result = it.input
    print '' # needed to move to next line
    return result

    # and some examples of usage
    ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
    print 'The name is %s' % ans
    ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
    print 'The number is %s' % ans





    share|improve this answer



















    • 1




      I just realised I didn't need to use a thread. See the same code but without a thread at stackoverflow.com/questions/3471461/raw-input-and-timeout/…
      – Paul
      Oct 12 '10 at 3:53












    • this does not seem to work on windows. I'm running your code, verbatim with the exception of changing Print to py3 syntax, and adding a stdout.flush(). Windows7, python3.6
      – mike
      Jan 23 '17 at 16:51


















    up vote
    4
    down vote













    Paul's answer did not quite work. Modified code below which works for me on




    • windows 7 x64



    • vanilla CMD shell (eg, not git-bash or other non-M$ shell)



      -- nothing msvcrt works in git-bash it appears.



    • python 3.6



    (I'm posting a new answer, because editing Paul's answer directly would change it from python 2.x-->3.x, which seems too much for an edit (py2 is still in use)



    import sys, time, msvcrt

    def readInput( caption, default, timeout = 5):

    start_time = time.time()
    sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default))
    sys.stdout.flush()
    input = ''
    while True:
    if msvcrt.kbhit():
    byte_arr = msvcrt.getche()
    if ord(byte_arr) == 13: # enter_key
    break
    elif ord(byte_arr) >= 32: #space_char
    input += "".join(map(chr,byte_arr))
    if len(input) == 0 and (time.time() - start_time) > timeout:
    print("timing out, using default value.")
    break

    print('') # needed to move to next line
    if len(input) > 0:
    return input
    else:
    return default

    # and some examples of usage
    ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
    print( 'The name is %s' % ans)
    ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
    print( 'The number is %s' % ans)





    share|improve this answer























    • formatting is not working as i expect here. I'm stumped, have asked over at Meta: meta.stackexchange.com/q/290162/208995
      – mike
      Jan 23 '17 at 17:51


















    up vote
    3
    down vote













    Following code worked for me.



    I used two threads one to get the raw_Input and another to wait for a specific time.
    If any of the thread exits, both the thread is terminated and returned.



    def _input(msg, q):
    ra = raw_input(msg)
    if ra:
    q.put(ra)
    else:
    q.put("None")
    return

    def _slp(tm, q):
    time.sleep(tm)
    q.put("Timeout")
    return

    def wait_for_input(msg="Press Enter to continue", time=10):
    q = Queue.Queue()
    th = threading.Thread(target=_input, args=(msg, q,))
    tt = threading.Thread(target=_slp, args=(time, q,))

    th.start()
    tt.start()
    ret = None
    while True:
    ret = q.get()
    if ret:
    th._Thread__stop()
    tt._Thread__stop()
    return ret
    return ret

    print time.ctime()
    t= wait_for_input()
    print "nResponse :",t
    print time.ctime()





    share|improve this answer




























      up vote
      2
      down vote













      I spent a good twenty minutes or so on this, so I thought it was worth a shot to put this up here. It is directly building off of user137673's answer, though. I found it most useful to do something like this:



      #! /usr/bin/env python

      import signal

      timeout = None

      def main():
      inp = stdinWait("You have 5 seconds to type text and press <Enter>... ", "[no text]", 5, "Aw man! You ran out of time!!")
      if not timeout:
      print "You entered", inp
      else:
      print "You didn't enter anything because I'm on a tight schedule!"

      def stdinWait(text, default, time, timeoutDisplay = None, **kwargs):
      signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupt)
      signal.alarm(time) # sets timeout
      global timeout
      try:
      inp = raw_input(text)
      signal.alarm(0)
      timeout = False
      except (KeyboardInterrupt):
      printInterrupt = kwargs.get("printInterrupt", True)
      if printInterrupt:
      print "Keyboard interrupt"
      timeout = True # Do this so you don't mistakenly get input when there is none
      inp = default
      except:
      timeout = True
      if not timeoutDisplay is None:
      print timeoutDisplay
      signal.alarm(0)
      inp = default
      return inp

      def interrupt(signum, frame):
      raise Exception("")

      if __name__ == "__main__":
      main()





      share|improve this answer























      • Great solution. Works very fine in Python3. Can't up-vote it enough.
        – Regis May
        Apr 25 at 14:46


















      up vote
      2
      down vote













      Analogous to Locane's for windows:



      import subprocess  
      subprocess.call('timeout /T 30')





      share|improve this answer



















      • 1




        If it matters, timeout was introduced with or after Windows Vista.
        – DevPlayer
        Sep 15 '16 at 12:43


















      up vote
      0
      down vote













      Since this question seems to serve as a duplicate target, here the link to my accepted answer in a duplicate question.



      Features




      • Plattform independent (Unix / Windows).

      • StdLib only, no external dependencies.

      • Threads only, no Subprocesses.

      • Immediate interrupt at timeout.

      • Clean shutdown of prompter at timeout.

      • Unlimited inputs possible during time span.

      • Easy expandable PromptManager class.

      • Program may resume after timeout, multiple runs of prompter instances possible without program restart.






      share|improve this answer




























        up vote
        -3
        down vote













        A late answer :)



        I would do something like this:



        from time import sleep

        print('Please provide input in 20 seconds! (Hit Ctrl-C to start)')
        try:
        for i in range(0,20):
        sleep(1) # could use a backward counter to be preeety :)
        print('No input is given.')
        except KeyboardInterrupt:
        raw_input('Input x:')
        print('You, you! You know something.')


        I know this is not the same but many real life problem could be solved this way. (I usually need timeout for user input when I want something to continue running if the user not there at the moment.)



        Hope this at least partially helps. (If anyone reads it anyway :) )






        share|improve this answer

















        • 1




          No, KeyboardInterrupt exception occurs when users sends an interrupt signal, usually by hitting Ctrl+C on the terminal.
          – Radian
          Oct 31 '12 at 9:42











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        10 Answers
        10






        active

        oldest

        votes








        10 Answers
        10






        active

        oldest

        votes









        active

        oldest

        votes






        active

        oldest

        votes








        up vote
        24
        down vote



        accepted










        The example you have linked to is wrong and the exception is actually occuring when calling alarm handler instead of when read blocks. Better try this:



        import signal
        TIMEOUT = 5 # number of seconds your want for timeout

        def interrupted(signum, frame):
        "called when read times out"
        print 'interrupted!'
        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupted)

        def input():
        try:
        print 'You have 5 seconds to type in your stuff...'
        foo = raw_input()
        return foo
        except:
        # timeout
        return

        # set alarm
        signal.alarm(TIMEOUT)
        s = input()
        # disable the alarm after success
        signal.alarm(0)
        print 'You typed', s





        share|improve this answer

















        • 7




          Nice solution, this only works on Linux though.
          – Nadia Alramli
          Aug 26 '09 at 19:25










        • I have been struggling with getting a keyboard input with timeout today. I just wanted a way to stop the reproduction of images from the hard-drive so that I can stop it just pressing a key, so I wanted a small timeout (33ms). I just want to point out that some solutions that you'll find on stackoverflow don't work on IDLE!! (I don't know why). You have to execute them on terminal. And also, the most helpful code I have found on internet is this one: home.wlu.edu/~levys/software/kbhit.py . Good luck!
          – jespestana
          Jun 12 '13 at 23:47






        • 1




          I was trying this solution, and this was not working in python3. You have to raise an error in interrupted function to catch that exception in defined input function - that will make it work in python3. :)
          – rnbguy
          Jun 4 '14 at 18:41






        • 1




          Indentation error on line 7.
          – anonymous
          Jul 21 '17 at 23:22






        • 3




          This does not work for me. It just prints "interrupted" after 5 seconds, but it does not actually stop the input. It still waits for Enter to be pressed, and it even prints any text I enter after the "Interrupted" message appears. Tested on Linux with Python 2 and 3.
          – tobias_k
          Feb 1 at 12:01















        up vote
        24
        down vote



        accepted










        The example you have linked to is wrong and the exception is actually occuring when calling alarm handler instead of when read blocks. Better try this:



        import signal
        TIMEOUT = 5 # number of seconds your want for timeout

        def interrupted(signum, frame):
        "called when read times out"
        print 'interrupted!'
        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupted)

        def input():
        try:
        print 'You have 5 seconds to type in your stuff...'
        foo = raw_input()
        return foo
        except:
        # timeout
        return

        # set alarm
        signal.alarm(TIMEOUT)
        s = input()
        # disable the alarm after success
        signal.alarm(0)
        print 'You typed', s





        share|improve this answer

















        • 7




          Nice solution, this only works on Linux though.
          – Nadia Alramli
          Aug 26 '09 at 19:25










        • I have been struggling with getting a keyboard input with timeout today. I just wanted a way to stop the reproduction of images from the hard-drive so that I can stop it just pressing a key, so I wanted a small timeout (33ms). I just want to point out that some solutions that you'll find on stackoverflow don't work on IDLE!! (I don't know why). You have to execute them on terminal. And also, the most helpful code I have found on internet is this one: home.wlu.edu/~levys/software/kbhit.py . Good luck!
          – jespestana
          Jun 12 '13 at 23:47






        • 1




          I was trying this solution, and this was not working in python3. You have to raise an error in interrupted function to catch that exception in defined input function - that will make it work in python3. :)
          – rnbguy
          Jun 4 '14 at 18:41






        • 1




          Indentation error on line 7.
          – anonymous
          Jul 21 '17 at 23:22






        • 3




          This does not work for me. It just prints "interrupted" after 5 seconds, but it does not actually stop the input. It still waits for Enter to be pressed, and it even prints any text I enter after the "Interrupted" message appears. Tested on Linux with Python 2 and 3.
          – tobias_k
          Feb 1 at 12:01













        up vote
        24
        down vote



        accepted







        up vote
        24
        down vote



        accepted






        The example you have linked to is wrong and the exception is actually occuring when calling alarm handler instead of when read blocks. Better try this:



        import signal
        TIMEOUT = 5 # number of seconds your want for timeout

        def interrupted(signum, frame):
        "called when read times out"
        print 'interrupted!'
        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupted)

        def input():
        try:
        print 'You have 5 seconds to type in your stuff...'
        foo = raw_input()
        return foo
        except:
        # timeout
        return

        # set alarm
        signal.alarm(TIMEOUT)
        s = input()
        # disable the alarm after success
        signal.alarm(0)
        print 'You typed', s





        share|improve this answer












        The example you have linked to is wrong and the exception is actually occuring when calling alarm handler instead of when read blocks. Better try this:



        import signal
        TIMEOUT = 5 # number of seconds your want for timeout

        def interrupted(signum, frame):
        "called when read times out"
        print 'interrupted!'
        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupted)

        def input():
        try:
        print 'You have 5 seconds to type in your stuff...'
        foo = raw_input()
        return foo
        except:
        # timeout
        return

        # set alarm
        signal.alarm(TIMEOUT)
        s = input()
        # disable the alarm after success
        signal.alarm(0)
        print 'You typed', s






        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered Aug 26 '09 at 18:50









        user137673

        1,17777




        1,17777








        • 7




          Nice solution, this only works on Linux though.
          – Nadia Alramli
          Aug 26 '09 at 19:25










        • I have been struggling with getting a keyboard input with timeout today. I just wanted a way to stop the reproduction of images from the hard-drive so that I can stop it just pressing a key, so I wanted a small timeout (33ms). I just want to point out that some solutions that you'll find on stackoverflow don't work on IDLE!! (I don't know why). You have to execute them on terminal. And also, the most helpful code I have found on internet is this one: home.wlu.edu/~levys/software/kbhit.py . Good luck!
          – jespestana
          Jun 12 '13 at 23:47






        • 1




          I was trying this solution, and this was not working in python3. You have to raise an error in interrupted function to catch that exception in defined input function - that will make it work in python3. :)
          – rnbguy
          Jun 4 '14 at 18:41






        • 1




          Indentation error on line 7.
          – anonymous
          Jul 21 '17 at 23:22






        • 3




          This does not work for me. It just prints "interrupted" after 5 seconds, but it does not actually stop the input. It still waits for Enter to be pressed, and it even prints any text I enter after the "Interrupted" message appears. Tested on Linux with Python 2 and 3.
          – tobias_k
          Feb 1 at 12:01














        • 7




          Nice solution, this only works on Linux though.
          – Nadia Alramli
          Aug 26 '09 at 19:25










        • I have been struggling with getting a keyboard input with timeout today. I just wanted a way to stop the reproduction of images from the hard-drive so that I can stop it just pressing a key, so I wanted a small timeout (33ms). I just want to point out that some solutions that you'll find on stackoverflow don't work on IDLE!! (I don't know why). You have to execute them on terminal. And also, the most helpful code I have found on internet is this one: home.wlu.edu/~levys/software/kbhit.py . Good luck!
          – jespestana
          Jun 12 '13 at 23:47






        • 1




          I was trying this solution, and this was not working in python3. You have to raise an error in interrupted function to catch that exception in defined input function - that will make it work in python3. :)
          – rnbguy
          Jun 4 '14 at 18:41






        • 1




          Indentation error on line 7.
          – anonymous
          Jul 21 '17 at 23:22






        • 3




          This does not work for me. It just prints "interrupted" after 5 seconds, but it does not actually stop the input. It still waits for Enter to be pressed, and it even prints any text I enter after the "Interrupted" message appears. Tested on Linux with Python 2 and 3.
          – tobias_k
          Feb 1 at 12:01








        7




        7




        Nice solution, this only works on Linux though.
        – Nadia Alramli
        Aug 26 '09 at 19:25




        Nice solution, this only works on Linux though.
        – Nadia Alramli
        Aug 26 '09 at 19:25












        I have been struggling with getting a keyboard input with timeout today. I just wanted a way to stop the reproduction of images from the hard-drive so that I can stop it just pressing a key, so I wanted a small timeout (33ms). I just want to point out that some solutions that you'll find on stackoverflow don't work on IDLE!! (I don't know why). You have to execute them on terminal. And also, the most helpful code I have found on internet is this one: home.wlu.edu/~levys/software/kbhit.py . Good luck!
        – jespestana
        Jun 12 '13 at 23:47




        I have been struggling with getting a keyboard input with timeout today. I just wanted a way to stop the reproduction of images from the hard-drive so that I can stop it just pressing a key, so I wanted a small timeout (33ms). I just want to point out that some solutions that you'll find on stackoverflow don't work on IDLE!! (I don't know why). You have to execute them on terminal. And also, the most helpful code I have found on internet is this one: home.wlu.edu/~levys/software/kbhit.py . Good luck!
        – jespestana
        Jun 12 '13 at 23:47




        1




        1




        I was trying this solution, and this was not working in python3. You have to raise an error in interrupted function to catch that exception in defined input function - that will make it work in python3. :)
        – rnbguy
        Jun 4 '14 at 18:41




        I was trying this solution, and this was not working in python3. You have to raise an error in interrupted function to catch that exception in defined input function - that will make it work in python3. :)
        – rnbguy
        Jun 4 '14 at 18:41




        1




        1




        Indentation error on line 7.
        – anonymous
        Jul 21 '17 at 23:22




        Indentation error on line 7.
        – anonymous
        Jul 21 '17 at 23:22




        3




        3




        This does not work for me. It just prints "interrupted" after 5 seconds, but it does not actually stop the input. It still waits for Enter to be pressed, and it even prints any text I enter after the "Interrupted" message appears. Tested on Linux with Python 2 and 3.
        – tobias_k
        Feb 1 at 12:01




        This does not work for me. It just prints "interrupted" after 5 seconds, but it does not actually stop the input. It still waits for Enter to be pressed, and it even prints any text I enter after the "Interrupted" message appears. Tested on Linux with Python 2 and 3.
        – tobias_k
        Feb 1 at 12:01












        up vote
        71
        down vote













        Using a select call is shorter, and should be much more portable



        import sys, select

        print "You have ten seconds to answer!"

        i, o, e = select.select( [sys.stdin], , , 10 )

        if (i):
        print "You said", sys.stdin.readline().strip()
        else:
        print "You said nothing!"





        share|improve this answer

















        • 2




          +1 for cross platform solution.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:06






        • 26




          I just tested and this does NOT work for windows. Select is available, but on windows the input to select can only be a socket - sys.stdin and file descriptors are unix. I'll be sure to test first next time.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:19






        • 11




          Darn. Well, what self respecting programmer uses windows anyway? ;) For simple user input I guess it could be done with a loop around "kbhit", which detects keyboard presses, and "getch" with "time.sleep" to break after a timeout. But it will be ugly.
          – Pontus
          Jun 10 '10 at 16:26















        up vote
        71
        down vote













        Using a select call is shorter, and should be much more portable



        import sys, select

        print "You have ten seconds to answer!"

        i, o, e = select.select( [sys.stdin], , , 10 )

        if (i):
        print "You said", sys.stdin.readline().strip()
        else:
        print "You said nothing!"





        share|improve this answer

















        • 2




          +1 for cross platform solution.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:06






        • 26




          I just tested and this does NOT work for windows. Select is available, but on windows the input to select can only be a socket - sys.stdin and file descriptors are unix. I'll be sure to test first next time.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:19






        • 11




          Darn. Well, what self respecting programmer uses windows anyway? ;) For simple user input I guess it could be done with a loop around "kbhit", which detects keyboard presses, and "getch" with "time.sleep" to break after a timeout. But it will be ugly.
          – Pontus
          Jun 10 '10 at 16:26













        up vote
        71
        down vote










        up vote
        71
        down vote









        Using a select call is shorter, and should be much more portable



        import sys, select

        print "You have ten seconds to answer!"

        i, o, e = select.select( [sys.stdin], , , 10 )

        if (i):
        print "You said", sys.stdin.readline().strip()
        else:
        print "You said nothing!"





        share|improve this answer












        Using a select call is shorter, and should be much more portable



        import sys, select

        print "You have ten seconds to answer!"

        i, o, e = select.select( [sys.stdin], , , 10 )

        if (i):
        print "You said", sys.stdin.readline().strip()
        else:
        print "You said nothing!"






        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered May 25 '10 at 11:18









        Pontus

        1,081186




        1,081186








        • 2




          +1 for cross platform solution.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:06






        • 26




          I just tested and this does NOT work for windows. Select is available, but on windows the input to select can only be a socket - sys.stdin and file descriptors are unix. I'll be sure to test first next time.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:19






        • 11




          Darn. Well, what self respecting programmer uses windows anyway? ;) For simple user input I guess it could be done with a loop around "kbhit", which detects keyboard presses, and "getch" with "time.sleep" to break after a timeout. But it will be ugly.
          – Pontus
          Jun 10 '10 at 16:26














        • 2




          +1 for cross platform solution.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:06






        • 26




          I just tested and this does NOT work for windows. Select is available, but on windows the input to select can only be a socket - sys.stdin and file descriptors are unix. I'll be sure to test first next time.
          – Great Turtle
          Jun 4 '10 at 15:19






        • 11




          Darn. Well, what self respecting programmer uses windows anyway? ;) For simple user input I guess it could be done with a loop around "kbhit", which detects keyboard presses, and "getch" with "time.sleep" to break after a timeout. But it will be ugly.
          – Pontus
          Jun 10 '10 at 16:26








        2




        2




        +1 for cross platform solution.
        – Great Turtle
        Jun 4 '10 at 15:06




        +1 for cross platform solution.
        – Great Turtle
        Jun 4 '10 at 15:06




        26




        26




        I just tested and this does NOT work for windows. Select is available, but on windows the input to select can only be a socket - sys.stdin and file descriptors are unix. I'll be sure to test first next time.
        – Great Turtle
        Jun 4 '10 at 15:19




        I just tested and this does NOT work for windows. Select is available, but on windows the input to select can only be a socket - sys.stdin and file descriptors are unix. I'll be sure to test first next time.
        – Great Turtle
        Jun 4 '10 at 15:19




        11




        11




        Darn. Well, what self respecting programmer uses windows anyway? ;) For simple user input I guess it could be done with a loop around "kbhit", which detects keyboard presses, and "getch" with "time.sleep" to break after a timeout. But it will be ugly.
        – Pontus
        Jun 10 '10 at 16:26




        Darn. Well, what self respecting programmer uses windows anyway? ;) For simple user input I guess it could be done with a loop around "kbhit", which detects keyboard presses, and "getch" with "time.sleep" to break after a timeout. But it will be ugly.
        – Pontus
        Jun 10 '10 at 16:26










        up vote
        8
        down vote













        Not a Python solution, but...



        I ran in to this problem with a script running under CentOS (Linux), and what worked for my situation was just running the Bash "read -t" command in a subprocess. Brutal disgusting hack, I know, but I feel guilty enough about how well it worked that I wanted to share it with everyone here.



        import subprocess
        subprocess.call('read -t 30', shell=True)


        All I needed was something that waited for 30 seconds unless the ENTER key was pressed. This worked great.






        share|improve this answer



























          up vote
          8
          down vote













          Not a Python solution, but...



          I ran in to this problem with a script running under CentOS (Linux), and what worked for my situation was just running the Bash "read -t" command in a subprocess. Brutal disgusting hack, I know, but I feel guilty enough about how well it worked that I wanted to share it with everyone here.



          import subprocess
          subprocess.call('read -t 30', shell=True)


          All I needed was something that waited for 30 seconds unless the ENTER key was pressed. This worked great.






          share|improve this answer

























            up vote
            8
            down vote










            up vote
            8
            down vote









            Not a Python solution, but...



            I ran in to this problem with a script running under CentOS (Linux), and what worked for my situation was just running the Bash "read -t" command in a subprocess. Brutal disgusting hack, I know, but I feel guilty enough about how well it worked that I wanted to share it with everyone here.



            import subprocess
            subprocess.call('read -t 30', shell=True)


            All I needed was something that waited for 30 seconds unless the ENTER key was pressed. This worked great.






            share|improve this answer














            Not a Python solution, but...



            I ran in to this problem with a script running under CentOS (Linux), and what worked for my situation was just running the Bash "read -t" command in a subprocess. Brutal disgusting hack, I know, but I feel guilty enough about how well it worked that I wanted to share it with everyone here.



            import subprocess
            subprocess.call('read -t 30', shell=True)


            All I needed was something that waited for 30 seconds unless the ENTER key was pressed. This worked great.







            share|improve this answer














            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited Dec 1 '14 at 6:52

























            answered Dec 1 '14 at 6:23









            Locane

            1,48911423




            1,48911423






















                up vote
                5
                down vote













                And here's one that works on Windows



                I haven't been able to get any of these examples to work on Windows so I've merged some different StackOverflow answers to get the following:




                import threading, msvcrt
                import sys

                def readInput(caption, default, timeout = 5):
                class KeyboardThread(threading.Thread):
                def run(self):
                self.timedout = False
                self.input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                chr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(chr) == 13:
                break
                elif ord(chr) >= 32:
                self.input += chr
                if len(self.input) == 0 and self.timedout:
                break


                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default));
                result = default
                it = KeyboardThread()
                it.start()
                it.join(timeout)
                it.timedout = True
                if len(it.input) > 0:
                # wait for rest of input
                it.join()
                result = it.input
                print '' # needed to move to next line
                return result

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print 'The name is %s' % ans
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print 'The number is %s' % ans





                share|improve this answer



















                • 1




                  I just realised I didn't need to use a thread. See the same code but without a thread at stackoverflow.com/questions/3471461/raw-input-and-timeout/…
                  – Paul
                  Oct 12 '10 at 3:53












                • this does not seem to work on windows. I'm running your code, verbatim with the exception of changing Print to py3 syntax, and adding a stdout.flush(). Windows7, python3.6
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 16:51















                up vote
                5
                down vote













                And here's one that works on Windows



                I haven't been able to get any of these examples to work on Windows so I've merged some different StackOverflow answers to get the following:




                import threading, msvcrt
                import sys

                def readInput(caption, default, timeout = 5):
                class KeyboardThread(threading.Thread):
                def run(self):
                self.timedout = False
                self.input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                chr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(chr) == 13:
                break
                elif ord(chr) >= 32:
                self.input += chr
                if len(self.input) == 0 and self.timedout:
                break


                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default));
                result = default
                it = KeyboardThread()
                it.start()
                it.join(timeout)
                it.timedout = True
                if len(it.input) > 0:
                # wait for rest of input
                it.join()
                result = it.input
                print '' # needed to move to next line
                return result

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print 'The name is %s' % ans
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print 'The number is %s' % ans





                share|improve this answer



















                • 1




                  I just realised I didn't need to use a thread. See the same code but without a thread at stackoverflow.com/questions/3471461/raw-input-and-timeout/…
                  – Paul
                  Oct 12 '10 at 3:53












                • this does not seem to work on windows. I'm running your code, verbatim with the exception of changing Print to py3 syntax, and adding a stdout.flush(). Windows7, python3.6
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 16:51













                up vote
                5
                down vote










                up vote
                5
                down vote









                And here's one that works on Windows



                I haven't been able to get any of these examples to work on Windows so I've merged some different StackOverflow answers to get the following:




                import threading, msvcrt
                import sys

                def readInput(caption, default, timeout = 5):
                class KeyboardThread(threading.Thread):
                def run(self):
                self.timedout = False
                self.input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                chr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(chr) == 13:
                break
                elif ord(chr) >= 32:
                self.input += chr
                if len(self.input) == 0 and self.timedout:
                break


                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default));
                result = default
                it = KeyboardThread()
                it.start()
                it.join(timeout)
                it.timedout = True
                if len(it.input) > 0:
                # wait for rest of input
                it.join()
                result = it.input
                print '' # needed to move to next line
                return result

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print 'The name is %s' % ans
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print 'The number is %s' % ans





                share|improve this answer














                And here's one that works on Windows



                I haven't been able to get any of these examples to work on Windows so I've merged some different StackOverflow answers to get the following:




                import threading, msvcrt
                import sys

                def readInput(caption, default, timeout = 5):
                class KeyboardThread(threading.Thread):
                def run(self):
                self.timedout = False
                self.input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                chr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(chr) == 13:
                break
                elif ord(chr) >= 32:
                self.input += chr
                if len(self.input) == 0 and self.timedout:
                break


                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default));
                result = default
                it = KeyboardThread()
                it.start()
                it.join(timeout)
                it.timedout = True
                if len(it.input) > 0:
                # wait for rest of input
                it.join()
                result = it.input
                print '' # needed to move to next line
                return result

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print 'The name is %s' % ans
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print 'The number is %s' % ans






                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited Oct 12 '10 at 3:33

























                answered Oct 12 '10 at 3:25









                Paul

                18924




                18924








                • 1




                  I just realised I didn't need to use a thread. See the same code but without a thread at stackoverflow.com/questions/3471461/raw-input-and-timeout/…
                  – Paul
                  Oct 12 '10 at 3:53












                • this does not seem to work on windows. I'm running your code, verbatim with the exception of changing Print to py3 syntax, and adding a stdout.flush(). Windows7, python3.6
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 16:51














                • 1




                  I just realised I didn't need to use a thread. See the same code but without a thread at stackoverflow.com/questions/3471461/raw-input-and-timeout/…
                  – Paul
                  Oct 12 '10 at 3:53












                • this does not seem to work on windows. I'm running your code, verbatim with the exception of changing Print to py3 syntax, and adding a stdout.flush(). Windows7, python3.6
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 16:51








                1




                1




                I just realised I didn't need to use a thread. See the same code but without a thread at stackoverflow.com/questions/3471461/raw-input-and-timeout/…
                – Paul
                Oct 12 '10 at 3:53






                I just realised I didn't need to use a thread. See the same code but without a thread at stackoverflow.com/questions/3471461/raw-input-and-timeout/…
                – Paul
                Oct 12 '10 at 3:53














                this does not seem to work on windows. I'm running your code, verbatim with the exception of changing Print to py3 syntax, and adding a stdout.flush(). Windows7, python3.6
                – mike
                Jan 23 '17 at 16:51




                this does not seem to work on windows. I'm running your code, verbatim with the exception of changing Print to py3 syntax, and adding a stdout.flush(). Windows7, python3.6
                – mike
                Jan 23 '17 at 16:51










                up vote
                4
                down vote













                Paul's answer did not quite work. Modified code below which works for me on




                • windows 7 x64



                • vanilla CMD shell (eg, not git-bash or other non-M$ shell)



                  -- nothing msvcrt works in git-bash it appears.



                • python 3.6



                (I'm posting a new answer, because editing Paul's answer directly would change it from python 2.x-->3.x, which seems too much for an edit (py2 is still in use)



                import sys, time, msvcrt

                def readInput( caption, default, timeout = 5):

                start_time = time.time()
                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default))
                sys.stdout.flush()
                input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                byte_arr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(byte_arr) == 13: # enter_key
                break
                elif ord(byte_arr) >= 32: #space_char
                input += "".join(map(chr,byte_arr))
                if len(input) == 0 and (time.time() - start_time) > timeout:
                print("timing out, using default value.")
                break

                print('') # needed to move to next line
                if len(input) > 0:
                return input
                else:
                return default

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print( 'The name is %s' % ans)
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print( 'The number is %s' % ans)





                share|improve this answer























                • formatting is not working as i expect here. I'm stumped, have asked over at Meta: meta.stackexchange.com/q/290162/208995
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 17:51















                up vote
                4
                down vote













                Paul's answer did not quite work. Modified code below which works for me on




                • windows 7 x64



                • vanilla CMD shell (eg, not git-bash or other non-M$ shell)



                  -- nothing msvcrt works in git-bash it appears.



                • python 3.6



                (I'm posting a new answer, because editing Paul's answer directly would change it from python 2.x-->3.x, which seems too much for an edit (py2 is still in use)



                import sys, time, msvcrt

                def readInput( caption, default, timeout = 5):

                start_time = time.time()
                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default))
                sys.stdout.flush()
                input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                byte_arr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(byte_arr) == 13: # enter_key
                break
                elif ord(byte_arr) >= 32: #space_char
                input += "".join(map(chr,byte_arr))
                if len(input) == 0 and (time.time() - start_time) > timeout:
                print("timing out, using default value.")
                break

                print('') # needed to move to next line
                if len(input) > 0:
                return input
                else:
                return default

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print( 'The name is %s' % ans)
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print( 'The number is %s' % ans)





                share|improve this answer























                • formatting is not working as i expect here. I'm stumped, have asked over at Meta: meta.stackexchange.com/q/290162/208995
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 17:51













                up vote
                4
                down vote










                up vote
                4
                down vote









                Paul's answer did not quite work. Modified code below which works for me on




                • windows 7 x64



                • vanilla CMD shell (eg, not git-bash or other non-M$ shell)



                  -- nothing msvcrt works in git-bash it appears.



                • python 3.6



                (I'm posting a new answer, because editing Paul's answer directly would change it from python 2.x-->3.x, which seems too much for an edit (py2 is still in use)



                import sys, time, msvcrt

                def readInput( caption, default, timeout = 5):

                start_time = time.time()
                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default))
                sys.stdout.flush()
                input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                byte_arr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(byte_arr) == 13: # enter_key
                break
                elif ord(byte_arr) >= 32: #space_char
                input += "".join(map(chr,byte_arr))
                if len(input) == 0 and (time.time() - start_time) > timeout:
                print("timing out, using default value.")
                break

                print('') # needed to move to next line
                if len(input) > 0:
                return input
                else:
                return default

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print( 'The name is %s' % ans)
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print( 'The number is %s' % ans)





                share|improve this answer














                Paul's answer did not quite work. Modified code below which works for me on




                • windows 7 x64



                • vanilla CMD shell (eg, not git-bash or other non-M$ shell)



                  -- nothing msvcrt works in git-bash it appears.



                • python 3.6



                (I'm posting a new answer, because editing Paul's answer directly would change it from python 2.x-->3.x, which seems too much for an edit (py2 is still in use)



                import sys, time, msvcrt

                def readInput( caption, default, timeout = 5):

                start_time = time.time()
                sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default))
                sys.stdout.flush()
                input = ''
                while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                byte_arr = msvcrt.getche()
                if ord(byte_arr) == 13: # enter_key
                break
                elif ord(byte_arr) >= 32: #space_char
                input += "".join(map(chr,byte_arr))
                if len(input) == 0 and (time.time() - start_time) > timeout:
                print("timing out, using default value.")
                break

                print('') # needed to move to next line
                if len(input) > 0:
                return input
                else:
                return default

                # and some examples of usage
                ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john')
                print( 'The name is %s' % ans)
                ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 )
                print( 'The number is %s' % ans)






                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited Jan 23 '17 at 17:53

























                answered Jan 23 '17 at 17:33









                mike

                5841624




                5841624












                • formatting is not working as i expect here. I'm stumped, have asked over at Meta: meta.stackexchange.com/q/290162/208995
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 17:51


















                • formatting is not working as i expect here. I'm stumped, have asked over at Meta: meta.stackexchange.com/q/290162/208995
                  – mike
                  Jan 23 '17 at 17:51
















                formatting is not working as i expect here. I'm stumped, have asked over at Meta: meta.stackexchange.com/q/290162/208995
                – mike
                Jan 23 '17 at 17:51




                formatting is not working as i expect here. I'm stumped, have asked over at Meta: meta.stackexchange.com/q/290162/208995
                – mike
                Jan 23 '17 at 17:51










                up vote
                3
                down vote













                Following code worked for me.



                I used two threads one to get the raw_Input and another to wait for a specific time.
                If any of the thread exits, both the thread is terminated and returned.



                def _input(msg, q):
                ra = raw_input(msg)
                if ra:
                q.put(ra)
                else:
                q.put("None")
                return

                def _slp(tm, q):
                time.sleep(tm)
                q.put("Timeout")
                return

                def wait_for_input(msg="Press Enter to continue", time=10):
                q = Queue.Queue()
                th = threading.Thread(target=_input, args=(msg, q,))
                tt = threading.Thread(target=_slp, args=(time, q,))

                th.start()
                tt.start()
                ret = None
                while True:
                ret = q.get()
                if ret:
                th._Thread__stop()
                tt._Thread__stop()
                return ret
                return ret

                print time.ctime()
                t= wait_for_input()
                print "nResponse :",t
                print time.ctime()





                share|improve this answer

























                  up vote
                  3
                  down vote













                  Following code worked for me.



                  I used two threads one to get the raw_Input and another to wait for a specific time.
                  If any of the thread exits, both the thread is terminated and returned.



                  def _input(msg, q):
                  ra = raw_input(msg)
                  if ra:
                  q.put(ra)
                  else:
                  q.put("None")
                  return

                  def _slp(tm, q):
                  time.sleep(tm)
                  q.put("Timeout")
                  return

                  def wait_for_input(msg="Press Enter to continue", time=10):
                  q = Queue.Queue()
                  th = threading.Thread(target=_input, args=(msg, q,))
                  tt = threading.Thread(target=_slp, args=(time, q,))

                  th.start()
                  tt.start()
                  ret = None
                  while True:
                  ret = q.get()
                  if ret:
                  th._Thread__stop()
                  tt._Thread__stop()
                  return ret
                  return ret

                  print time.ctime()
                  t= wait_for_input()
                  print "nResponse :",t
                  print time.ctime()





                  share|improve this answer























                    up vote
                    3
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    3
                    down vote









                    Following code worked for me.



                    I used two threads one to get the raw_Input and another to wait for a specific time.
                    If any of the thread exits, both the thread is terminated and returned.



                    def _input(msg, q):
                    ra = raw_input(msg)
                    if ra:
                    q.put(ra)
                    else:
                    q.put("None")
                    return

                    def _slp(tm, q):
                    time.sleep(tm)
                    q.put("Timeout")
                    return

                    def wait_for_input(msg="Press Enter to continue", time=10):
                    q = Queue.Queue()
                    th = threading.Thread(target=_input, args=(msg, q,))
                    tt = threading.Thread(target=_slp, args=(time, q,))

                    th.start()
                    tt.start()
                    ret = None
                    while True:
                    ret = q.get()
                    if ret:
                    th._Thread__stop()
                    tt._Thread__stop()
                    return ret
                    return ret

                    print time.ctime()
                    t= wait_for_input()
                    print "nResponse :",t
                    print time.ctime()





                    share|improve this answer












                    Following code worked for me.



                    I used two threads one to get the raw_Input and another to wait for a specific time.
                    If any of the thread exits, both the thread is terminated and returned.



                    def _input(msg, q):
                    ra = raw_input(msg)
                    if ra:
                    q.put(ra)
                    else:
                    q.put("None")
                    return

                    def _slp(tm, q):
                    time.sleep(tm)
                    q.put("Timeout")
                    return

                    def wait_for_input(msg="Press Enter to continue", time=10):
                    q = Queue.Queue()
                    th = threading.Thread(target=_input, args=(msg, q,))
                    tt = threading.Thread(target=_slp, args=(time, q,))

                    th.start()
                    tt.start()
                    ret = None
                    while True:
                    ret = q.get()
                    if ret:
                    th._Thread__stop()
                    tt._Thread__stop()
                    return ret
                    return ret

                    print time.ctime()
                    t= wait_for_input()
                    print "nResponse :",t
                    print time.ctime()






                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered Mar 23 '17 at 12:22









                    Mechatron

                    312




                    312






















                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote













                        I spent a good twenty minutes or so on this, so I thought it was worth a shot to put this up here. It is directly building off of user137673's answer, though. I found it most useful to do something like this:



                        #! /usr/bin/env python

                        import signal

                        timeout = None

                        def main():
                        inp = stdinWait("You have 5 seconds to type text and press <Enter>... ", "[no text]", 5, "Aw man! You ran out of time!!")
                        if not timeout:
                        print "You entered", inp
                        else:
                        print "You didn't enter anything because I'm on a tight schedule!"

                        def stdinWait(text, default, time, timeoutDisplay = None, **kwargs):
                        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupt)
                        signal.alarm(time) # sets timeout
                        global timeout
                        try:
                        inp = raw_input(text)
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        timeout = False
                        except (KeyboardInterrupt):
                        printInterrupt = kwargs.get("printInterrupt", True)
                        if printInterrupt:
                        print "Keyboard interrupt"
                        timeout = True # Do this so you don't mistakenly get input when there is none
                        inp = default
                        except:
                        timeout = True
                        if not timeoutDisplay is None:
                        print timeoutDisplay
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        inp = default
                        return inp

                        def interrupt(signum, frame):
                        raise Exception("")

                        if __name__ == "__main__":
                        main()





                        share|improve this answer























                        • Great solution. Works very fine in Python3. Can't up-vote it enough.
                          – Regis May
                          Apr 25 at 14:46















                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote













                        I spent a good twenty minutes or so on this, so I thought it was worth a shot to put this up here. It is directly building off of user137673's answer, though. I found it most useful to do something like this:



                        #! /usr/bin/env python

                        import signal

                        timeout = None

                        def main():
                        inp = stdinWait("You have 5 seconds to type text and press <Enter>... ", "[no text]", 5, "Aw man! You ran out of time!!")
                        if not timeout:
                        print "You entered", inp
                        else:
                        print "You didn't enter anything because I'm on a tight schedule!"

                        def stdinWait(text, default, time, timeoutDisplay = None, **kwargs):
                        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupt)
                        signal.alarm(time) # sets timeout
                        global timeout
                        try:
                        inp = raw_input(text)
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        timeout = False
                        except (KeyboardInterrupt):
                        printInterrupt = kwargs.get("printInterrupt", True)
                        if printInterrupt:
                        print "Keyboard interrupt"
                        timeout = True # Do this so you don't mistakenly get input when there is none
                        inp = default
                        except:
                        timeout = True
                        if not timeoutDisplay is None:
                        print timeoutDisplay
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        inp = default
                        return inp

                        def interrupt(signum, frame):
                        raise Exception("")

                        if __name__ == "__main__":
                        main()





                        share|improve this answer























                        • Great solution. Works very fine in Python3. Can't up-vote it enough.
                          – Regis May
                          Apr 25 at 14:46













                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote









                        I spent a good twenty minutes or so on this, so I thought it was worth a shot to put this up here. It is directly building off of user137673's answer, though. I found it most useful to do something like this:



                        #! /usr/bin/env python

                        import signal

                        timeout = None

                        def main():
                        inp = stdinWait("You have 5 seconds to type text and press <Enter>... ", "[no text]", 5, "Aw man! You ran out of time!!")
                        if not timeout:
                        print "You entered", inp
                        else:
                        print "You didn't enter anything because I'm on a tight schedule!"

                        def stdinWait(text, default, time, timeoutDisplay = None, **kwargs):
                        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupt)
                        signal.alarm(time) # sets timeout
                        global timeout
                        try:
                        inp = raw_input(text)
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        timeout = False
                        except (KeyboardInterrupt):
                        printInterrupt = kwargs.get("printInterrupt", True)
                        if printInterrupt:
                        print "Keyboard interrupt"
                        timeout = True # Do this so you don't mistakenly get input when there is none
                        inp = default
                        except:
                        timeout = True
                        if not timeoutDisplay is None:
                        print timeoutDisplay
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        inp = default
                        return inp

                        def interrupt(signum, frame):
                        raise Exception("")

                        if __name__ == "__main__":
                        main()





                        share|improve this answer














                        I spent a good twenty minutes or so on this, so I thought it was worth a shot to put this up here. It is directly building off of user137673's answer, though. I found it most useful to do something like this:



                        #! /usr/bin/env python

                        import signal

                        timeout = None

                        def main():
                        inp = stdinWait("You have 5 seconds to type text and press <Enter>... ", "[no text]", 5, "Aw man! You ran out of time!!")
                        if not timeout:
                        print "You entered", inp
                        else:
                        print "You didn't enter anything because I'm on a tight schedule!"

                        def stdinWait(text, default, time, timeoutDisplay = None, **kwargs):
                        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupt)
                        signal.alarm(time) # sets timeout
                        global timeout
                        try:
                        inp = raw_input(text)
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        timeout = False
                        except (KeyboardInterrupt):
                        printInterrupt = kwargs.get("printInterrupt", True)
                        if printInterrupt:
                        print "Keyboard interrupt"
                        timeout = True # Do this so you don't mistakenly get input when there is none
                        inp = default
                        except:
                        timeout = True
                        if not timeoutDisplay is None:
                        print timeoutDisplay
                        signal.alarm(0)
                        inp = default
                        return inp

                        def interrupt(signum, frame):
                        raise Exception("")

                        if __name__ == "__main__":
                        main()






                        share|improve this answer














                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer








                        edited Oct 24 '14 at 20:52

























                        answered Sep 16 '14 at 4:59









                        dylnmc

                        1,89321327




                        1,89321327












                        • Great solution. Works very fine in Python3. Can't up-vote it enough.
                          – Regis May
                          Apr 25 at 14:46


















                        • Great solution. Works very fine in Python3. Can't up-vote it enough.
                          – Regis May
                          Apr 25 at 14:46
















                        Great solution. Works very fine in Python3. Can't up-vote it enough.
                        – Regis May
                        Apr 25 at 14:46




                        Great solution. Works very fine in Python3. Can't up-vote it enough.
                        – Regis May
                        Apr 25 at 14:46










                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote













                        Analogous to Locane's for windows:



                        import subprocess  
                        subprocess.call('timeout /T 30')





                        share|improve this answer



















                        • 1




                          If it matters, timeout was introduced with or after Windows Vista.
                          – DevPlayer
                          Sep 15 '16 at 12:43















                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote













                        Analogous to Locane's for windows:



                        import subprocess  
                        subprocess.call('timeout /T 30')





                        share|improve this answer



















                        • 1




                          If it matters, timeout was introduced with or after Windows Vista.
                          – DevPlayer
                          Sep 15 '16 at 12:43













                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote









                        Analogous to Locane's for windows:



                        import subprocess  
                        subprocess.call('timeout /T 30')





                        share|improve this answer














                        Analogous to Locane's for windows:



                        import subprocess  
                        subprocess.call('timeout /T 30')






                        share|improve this answer














                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer








                        edited Sep 8 '16 at 12:23









                        Petter Friberg

                        15.2k83568




                        15.2k83568










                        answered Sep 8 '16 at 12:23









                        Martijn van de Donk

                        212




                        212








                        • 1




                          If it matters, timeout was introduced with or after Windows Vista.
                          – DevPlayer
                          Sep 15 '16 at 12:43














                        • 1




                          If it matters, timeout was introduced with or after Windows Vista.
                          – DevPlayer
                          Sep 15 '16 at 12:43








                        1




                        1




                        If it matters, timeout was introduced with or after Windows Vista.
                        – DevPlayer
                        Sep 15 '16 at 12:43




                        If it matters, timeout was introduced with or after Windows Vista.
                        – DevPlayer
                        Sep 15 '16 at 12:43










                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote













                        Since this question seems to serve as a duplicate target, here the link to my accepted answer in a duplicate question.



                        Features




                        • Plattform independent (Unix / Windows).

                        • StdLib only, no external dependencies.

                        • Threads only, no Subprocesses.

                        • Immediate interrupt at timeout.

                        • Clean shutdown of prompter at timeout.

                        • Unlimited inputs possible during time span.

                        • Easy expandable PromptManager class.

                        • Program may resume after timeout, multiple runs of prompter instances possible without program restart.






                        share|improve this answer

























                          up vote
                          0
                          down vote













                          Since this question seems to serve as a duplicate target, here the link to my accepted answer in a duplicate question.



                          Features




                          • Plattform independent (Unix / Windows).

                          • StdLib only, no external dependencies.

                          • Threads only, no Subprocesses.

                          • Immediate interrupt at timeout.

                          • Clean shutdown of prompter at timeout.

                          • Unlimited inputs possible during time span.

                          • Easy expandable PromptManager class.

                          • Program may resume after timeout, multiple runs of prompter instances possible without program restart.






                          share|improve this answer























                            up vote
                            0
                            down vote










                            up vote
                            0
                            down vote









                            Since this question seems to serve as a duplicate target, here the link to my accepted answer in a duplicate question.



                            Features




                            • Plattform independent (Unix / Windows).

                            • StdLib only, no external dependencies.

                            • Threads only, no Subprocesses.

                            • Immediate interrupt at timeout.

                            • Clean shutdown of prompter at timeout.

                            • Unlimited inputs possible during time span.

                            • Easy expandable PromptManager class.

                            • Program may resume after timeout, multiple runs of prompter instances possible without program restart.






                            share|improve this answer












                            Since this question seems to serve as a duplicate target, here the link to my accepted answer in a duplicate question.



                            Features




                            • Plattform independent (Unix / Windows).

                            • StdLib only, no external dependencies.

                            • Threads only, no Subprocesses.

                            • Immediate interrupt at timeout.

                            • Clean shutdown of prompter at timeout.

                            • Unlimited inputs possible during time span.

                            • Easy expandable PromptManager class.

                            • Program may resume after timeout, multiple runs of prompter instances possible without program restart.







                            share|improve this answer












                            share|improve this answer



                            share|improve this answer










                            answered 13 hours ago









                            Darkonaut

                            1,8782615




                            1,8782615






















                                up vote
                                -3
                                down vote













                                A late answer :)



                                I would do something like this:



                                from time import sleep

                                print('Please provide input in 20 seconds! (Hit Ctrl-C to start)')
                                try:
                                for i in range(0,20):
                                sleep(1) # could use a backward counter to be preeety :)
                                print('No input is given.')
                                except KeyboardInterrupt:
                                raw_input('Input x:')
                                print('You, you! You know something.')


                                I know this is not the same but many real life problem could be solved this way. (I usually need timeout for user input when I want something to continue running if the user not there at the moment.)



                                Hope this at least partially helps. (If anyone reads it anyway :) )






                                share|improve this answer

















                                • 1




                                  No, KeyboardInterrupt exception occurs when users sends an interrupt signal, usually by hitting Ctrl+C on the terminal.
                                  – Radian
                                  Oct 31 '12 at 9:42















                                up vote
                                -3
                                down vote













                                A late answer :)



                                I would do something like this:



                                from time import sleep

                                print('Please provide input in 20 seconds! (Hit Ctrl-C to start)')
                                try:
                                for i in range(0,20):
                                sleep(1) # could use a backward counter to be preeety :)
                                print('No input is given.')
                                except KeyboardInterrupt:
                                raw_input('Input x:')
                                print('You, you! You know something.')


                                I know this is not the same but many real life problem could be solved this way. (I usually need timeout for user input when I want something to continue running if the user not there at the moment.)



                                Hope this at least partially helps. (If anyone reads it anyway :) )






                                share|improve this answer

















                                • 1




                                  No, KeyboardInterrupt exception occurs when users sends an interrupt signal, usually by hitting Ctrl+C on the terminal.
                                  – Radian
                                  Oct 31 '12 at 9:42













                                up vote
                                -3
                                down vote










                                up vote
                                -3
                                down vote









                                A late answer :)



                                I would do something like this:



                                from time import sleep

                                print('Please provide input in 20 seconds! (Hit Ctrl-C to start)')
                                try:
                                for i in range(0,20):
                                sleep(1) # could use a backward counter to be preeety :)
                                print('No input is given.')
                                except KeyboardInterrupt:
                                raw_input('Input x:')
                                print('You, you! You know something.')


                                I know this is not the same but many real life problem could be solved this way. (I usually need timeout for user input when I want something to continue running if the user not there at the moment.)



                                Hope this at least partially helps. (If anyone reads it anyway :) )






                                share|improve this answer












                                A late answer :)



                                I would do something like this:



                                from time import sleep

                                print('Please provide input in 20 seconds! (Hit Ctrl-C to start)')
                                try:
                                for i in range(0,20):
                                sleep(1) # could use a backward counter to be preeety :)
                                print('No input is given.')
                                except KeyboardInterrupt:
                                raw_input('Input x:')
                                print('You, you! You know something.')


                                I know this is not the same but many real life problem could be solved this way. (I usually need timeout for user input when I want something to continue running if the user not there at the moment.)



                                Hope this at least partially helps. (If anyone reads it anyway :) )







                                share|improve this answer












                                share|improve this answer



                                share|improve this answer










                                answered Mar 14 '12 at 15:50









                                try

                                17




                                17








                                • 1




                                  No, KeyboardInterrupt exception occurs when users sends an interrupt signal, usually by hitting Ctrl+C on the terminal.
                                  – Radian
                                  Oct 31 '12 at 9:42














                                • 1




                                  No, KeyboardInterrupt exception occurs when users sends an interrupt signal, usually by hitting Ctrl+C on the terminal.
                                  – Radian
                                  Oct 31 '12 at 9:42








                                1




                                1




                                No, KeyboardInterrupt exception occurs when users sends an interrupt signal, usually by hitting Ctrl+C on the terminal.
                                – Radian
                                Oct 31 '12 at 9:42




                                No, KeyboardInterrupt exception occurs when users sends an interrupt signal, usually by hitting Ctrl+C on the terminal.
                                – Radian
                                Oct 31 '12 at 9:42


















                                 

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