Programming Forums > Script Programming > Python

SaturN · Jun 26th, 2005, 12:00 PM

Is there a way to skip on from the raw_input() or input() if nothing is entered in a certain ammount of time??

So if a user has not entered anything in say 5 seconds, it will declare the variable blank, and move on!

tempest · Jun 26th, 2005, 12:28 PM

You'll have to use some type of programming that reads the keyboard input buffer and checks it for new key entries and times out if the buffer is still empty after X number of seconds.

SaturN · Jun 26th, 2005, 12:38 PM

Right, ok then

thanks.

Sane · Jun 26th, 2005, 2:43 PM

I'm pretty sure you'll need Pygame for that. Once you get on MSN I'll probably help you with that.

Cerulean · Jun 26th, 2005, 4:13 PM

Quote:

I'm pretty sure you'll need Pygame for that. Once you get on MSN I'll probably help you with that.

Not really, there are a thousand other ways you could do it. My first idea was to send a signal to the program after 5 seconds and then catch and continue with the program, but that's not cross-platform (*nix only). My second idea was to raise an exception from another thread after timeout, but you can't do that as exceptions raised in one thread don't effect the other. My third idea (and IMO the cleanest) is to just use select.poll. Like so:

(Toggle Plain Text)

import sys, select

def readWithTimeout(message, timeout):
    """ Like raw_input, but you specify a timeout (in milliseconds). If that time
    is reached, then this just returns a blank string. """
    poller = select.poll()
    poller.register(sys.stdin, select.POLLIN)
    output = poller.poll(timeout)
    if output:
        return sys.stdin.readline()
    else:
        return ""

# Timeouts after 5 seconds.
name = readWithTimeout("Yeah, your name like: ", 5000)

Dietrich · Jun 27th, 2005, 9:06 AM

Ran Cerulean's code and got this error ...

(Toggle Plain Text)

poller = select.poll()
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'poll'

I am using Python 2.4 on an XP box.

Cerulean · Jun 27th, 2005, 9:36 AM

Meh, select.poll is *nix only as well. Oh well.. here's the same example using select.select instead of select.poll (which, unless i'm grossly mistaken, is cross platform

). The reason I didn't use it to begin with is that select.poll is more readable.

(Toggle Plain Text)

import sys, select

def readWithTimeout(message, timeout):
    """ Like raw_input, but you specify a timeout (in seconds). If that time
    is reached, then this just returns a blank string. """
    output = select.select([sys.stdin], [], [], timeout)
    if len(output[0]):
        return sys.stdin.readline()
    else:
        return ""

# Timeouts after 5 seconds.
name = readWithTimeout("Yeah, your name like: ", 5)

Jun 26th, 2005, 12:00 PM	#1
SaturN Programmer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Uk Posts: 68 Rep Power: 4	Timed Inputs?? Is there a way to skip on from the raw_input() or input() if nothing is entered in a certain ammount of time?? So if a user has not entered anything in say 5 seconds, it will declare the variable blank, and move on! __________________ (Toggle Plain Text) while me is alive: make(life,simple) while me is alive: make(life,simple)

Jun 26th, 2005, 12:28 PM	#2
tempest Programming Guru Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,041 Rep Power: 5	You'll have to use some type of programming that reads the keyboard input buffer and checks it for new key entries and times out if the buffer is still empty after X number of seconds. __________________

Jun 26th, 2005, 12:38 PM	#3
SaturN Programmer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Uk Posts: 68 Rep Power: 4	Right, ok then thanks. __________________ (Toggle Plain Text) while me is alive: make(life,simple) while me is alive: make(life,simple)

Jun 26th, 2005, 2:43 PM	#4
Sane Programming Guru Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Posts: 1,885 Rep Power: 5	I'm pretty sure you'll need Pygame for that. Once you get on MSN I'll probably help you with that. __________________ Waterloo's Canadian Computing Competition (CCC) - Stage 2 Problems, Solutions, and Test Data

Jun 27th, 2005, 9:06 AM	#6
Dietrich Professional Programmer Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 434 Rep Power: 4	Ran Cerulean's code and got this error ... (Toggle Plain Text) poller = select.poll() AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'poll' poller = select.poll() AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'poll' I am using Python 2.4 on an XP box. __________________ I looked it up on the Intergnats!

Jun 27th, 2005, 9:36 AM	#7
Cerulean Professional Programmer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London, England Posts: 459 Rep Power: 4	Meh, select.poll is *nix only as well. Oh well.. here's the same example using select.select instead of select.poll (which, unless i'm grossly mistaken, is cross platform ). The reason I didn't use it to begin with is that select.poll is more readable. (Toggle Plain Text) import sys, select def readWithTimeout(message, timeout): """ Like raw_input, but you specify a timeout (in seconds). If that time is reached, then this just returns a blank string. """ output = select.select([sys.stdin], [], [], timeout) if len(output[0]): return sys.stdin.readline() else: return "" # Timeouts after 5 seconds. name = readWithTimeout("Yeah, your name like: ", 5) import sys, select def readWithTimeout(message, timeout): """ Like raw_input, but you specify a timeout (in seconds). If that time is reached, then this just returns a blank string. """ output = select.select([sys.stdin], [], [], timeout) if len(output[0]): return sys.stdin.readline() else: return "" # Timeouts after 5 seconds. name = readWithTimeout("Yeah, your name like: ", 5)

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Programming Forums > Script Programming > Python

Timed Inputs??