python - How to kill a while loop with a keystroke?

Question

I am reading serial data and writing to a csv file using a while loop. I want the user to be able to kill the while loop once they feel they have collected enough data.

while True:
    #do a bunch of serial stuff

    #if the user presses the 'esc' or 'return' key:
        break

I have done something like this using opencv, but it doesn't seem to be working in this application (and i really don't want to import opencv just for this function anyway)...

        # Listen for ESC or ENTER key
        c = cv.WaitKey(7) % 0x100
        if c == 27 or c == 10:
            break

So. How can I let the user break out of the loop?

Also, I don't want to use keyboard interrupt, because the script needs to continue to run after the while loop is terminated.

Answer 1

The easiest way is to just interrupt it with the usual Ctrl-C (SIGINT).

try:
    while True:
        do_something()
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    pass

Since Ctrl-C causes KeyboardInterrupt to be raised, just catch it outside the loop and ignore it.

Answer 2

There is a solution that requires no non-standard modules and is 100% transportable

import thread

def input_thread(a_list):
    raw_input()
    a_list.append(True)

def do_stuff():
    a_list = []
    thread.start_new_thread(input_thread, (a_list,))
    while not a_list:
        stuff()

Answer 3

the following code works for me. It requires openCV (import cv2).

The code is composed of an infinite loop that is continuously looking for a key pressed. In this case, when the 'q' key is pressed, the program ends. Other keys can be pressed (in this example 'b' or 'k') to perform different actions such as change a variable value or execute a function.

import cv2

while True:
    k = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF
    # press 'q' to exit
    if k == ord('q'):
        break
    elif k == ord('b'):
        # change a variable / do something ...
    elif k == ord('k'):
        # change a variable / do something ...

Answer 4

For Python 3.7, I copied and changed the very nice answer by user297171 so it works in all scenarios in Python 3.7 that I tested.

import threading as th

keep_going = True
def key_capture_thread():
    global keep_going
    input()
    keep_going = False

def do_stuff():
    th.Thread(target=key_capture_thread, args=(), name='key_capture_thread', daemon=True).start()
    while keep_going:
        print('still going...')

do_stuff()

Answer 5

pyHook might help. http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/pyhook/index.php?title=PyHook_Tutorial#tocpyHook%5FTutorial4

See keyboard hooks; this is more generalized-- if you want specific keyboard interactions and not just using KeyboardInterrupt.

Also, in general (depending on your use) I think having the Ctrl-C option still available to kill your script makes sense.

See also previous question: Detect in python which keys are pressed

Answer 6

There is always sys.exit().

The system library in Python's core library has an exit function which is super handy when prototyping. The code would be along the lines of:

import sys

while True:
    selection = raw_input("U: Create User\nQ: Quit")
    if selection is "Q" or selection is "q":
        print("Quitting")
        sys.exit()
    if selection is "U" or selection is "u":
        print("User")
        #do_something()

Answer 7

pip install keyboard

import keyboard

while True:
    # do something
    if keyboard.is_pressed("q"):
        print("q pressed, ending loop")
        break

Answer 8

I modified the answer from rayzinnz to end the script with a specific key, in this case the escape key

import threading as th
import time
import keyboard

keep_going = True
def key_capture_thread():
    global keep_going
    a = keyboard.read_key()
    if a== "esc":
        keep_going = False


def do_stuff():
    th.Thread(target=key_capture_thread, args=(), name='key_capture_thread', daemon=True).start()
    i=0
    while keep_going:
        print('still going...')
        time.sleep(1)
        i=i+1
        print (i)
    print ("Schleife beendet")


do_stuff()

Answer 9

From following this thread down the rabbit hole, I came to this, works on Win10 and Ubuntu 20.04. I wanted more than just killing the script, and to use specific keys, and it had to work in both MS and Linux..

import _thread
import time
import sys
import os

class _Getch:
    """Gets a single character from standard input.  Does not echo to the screen."""
    def __init__(self):
        try:
            self.impl = _GetchWindows()
        except ImportError:
            self.impl = _GetchUnix()

    def __call__(self): return self.impl()

class _GetchUnix:
    def __init__(self):
        import tty, sys

    def __call__(self):
        import sys, tty, termios
        fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
        old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
        try:
            tty.setraw(sys.stdin.fileno())
            ch = sys.stdin.read(1)
        finally:
            termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings)
        return ch

class _GetchWindows:
    def __init__(self):
        import msvcrt

    def __call__(self):
        import msvcrt
        msvcrt_char = msvcrt.getch()
        return msvcrt_char.decode("utf-8")

def input_thread(key_press_list):
    char = 'x'
    while char != 'q': #dont keep doing this after trying to quit, or 'stty sane' wont work
        time.sleep(0.05)
        getch = _Getch()
        char = getch.impl()
        pprint("getch: "+ str(char))
        key_press_list.append(char)

def quitScript():
    pprint("QUITTING...")
    time.sleep(0.2) #wait for the thread to die
    os.system('stty sane')
    sys.exit()

def pprint(string_to_print): #terminal is in raw mode so we need to append \r\n
    print(string_to_print, end="\r\n")

def main():
    key_press_list = []
    _thread.start_new_thread(input_thread, (key_press_list,))
    while True:
        #do your things here
        pprint("tick")
        time.sleep(0.5)

        if key_press_list == ['q']:
            key_press_list.clear()
            quitScript()

        elif key_press_list == ['j']:
            key_press_list.clear()
            pprint("knock knock..")

        elif key_press_list:
            key_press_list.clear()

main()

Answer 10

Here is a solution that worked for me. Got some ideas from posts here and elsewhere. Loop won't end until defined key (abortKey) is pressed. The loop stops as fast as possible and does not try to run to next iteration.

from pynput import keyboard
from threading import Thread
from time import sleep

def on_press(key, abortKey='esc'):    
    try:
        k = key.char  # single-char keys
    except:
        k = key.name  # other keys    

    print('pressed %s' % (k))
    if k == abortKey:
        print('end loop ...')
        return False  # stop listener

def loop_fun():
    while True:
        print('sleeping')
        sleep(5)
        
if __name__ == '__main__':
    abortKey = 't'
    listener = keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press, abortKey=abortKey)
    listener.start()  # start to listen on a separate thread

    # start thread with loop
    Thread(target=loop_fun, args=(), name='loop_fun', daemon=True).start()

    listener.join() # wait for abortKey

Answer 11

This may be helpful install pynput with -- pip install pynput

from pynput.keyboard import Key, Listener
def on_release(key):
    if key == Key.esc:
        # Stop listener
        return False

# Collect events until released
while True:
    with Listener(
            on_release=on_release) as listener:
        listener.join()
    break 

Answer 12

This is the solution I found with threads and standard libraries

Loop keeps going on until one key is pressed
Returns the key pressed as a single character string

Works in Python 2.7 and 3

import thread
import sys

def getch():
    import termios
    import sys, tty
    def _getch():
        fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
        old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
        try:
            tty.setraw(fd)
            ch = sys.stdin.read(1)
        finally:
            termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings)
        return ch
    return _getch()

def input_thread(char):
    char.append(getch())

def do_stuff():
    char = []
    thread.start_new_thread(input_thread, (char,))
    i = 0
    while not char :
        i += 1

    print "i = " + str(i) + " char : " + str(char[0])

do_stuff()

Answer 13

Here is a simple Windows solution that safely ends current iteration and then quits. I used it with a counter example that breaks the loop with 'Esc' key and quits. It uses kbhit() and getch() functions from msvcrt package. Time package is only called for easement reasons (to set time delay between events).

import msvcrt, time

print("Press 'Esc' to stop the loop...")
x = 0
while True:
    x += 1
    time.sleep(0.5)
    print(x)
    
    if msvcrt.kbhit():
        if msvcrt.getch() == b'\x1b':
            print("You have pressed Esc! See you!")
            time.sleep(2)    
            break

kbhit() function returns True if a keypress is waiting to be read

getch() function reads a keypress and returns the resulting character as a byte string. It can be used with any key

b'\x1b' is the byte string character for the 'Esc' key.

Answer 14

import keyboard

while True:
    print('please say yes')
    if keyboard.is_pressed('y'):
         break
print('i got u :) ')
print('i was trying to write you are a idiot ')
print('  :( ')

for enter use 'ENTER'