I'm trying to let the user input commands at a console using raw_input(), this works fine. The problem is I have background threads that occasionally output log-information to the screen and when they do they mess up the input prompt (since the output go wherever the cursor happens to be at the moment).
This is a small Python program that illustrate what i mean.
#!/usr/bin/env python
import threading
import time
def message_loop():
while True:
time.sleep(1)
print "Hello World"
thread = threading.Thread(target = message_loop)
thread.start()
while True:
input = raw_input("Prompt> ")
print "You typed", input
This is an example of what it could look like when I run it:
Prompt> Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
test
You typed test
Prompt> Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
hellHello World
o
You typed hello
Prompt> Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
What I want is for the prompt to move along with the output from the thread. Like so:
Hello World
Hello World
Prompt> test
You typed test
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Prompt> hello
You typed hello
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Prompt>
Any ideas on how to achieve this without resorting to ugly hacks? :)
I recently encountered this problem, and would like to leave this solution here for future reference. These solutions clear the pending raw_input (readline) text from the terminal, print the new text, then reprint to the terminal what was in the raw_input buffer.
This first program is pretty simple, but only works correctly when there is only 1 line of text waiting for raw_input:
#!/usr/bin/python
import time,readline,thread,sys
def noisy_thread():
while True:
time.sleep(3)
sys.stdout.write('\r'+' '*(len(readline.get_line_buffer())+2)+'\r')
print 'Interrupting text!'
sys.stdout.write('> ' + readline.get_line_buffer())
sys.stdout.flush()
thread.start_new_thread(noisy_thread, ())
while True:
s = raw_input('> ')
Output:
$ ./threads_input.py
Interrupting text!
Interrupting text!
Interrupting text!
> WELL, PRINCE, Genoa and Lucca are now no more than private estates of the Bo
Interrupting text!
> WELL, PRINCE, Genoa and Lucca are now no more than private estates of the Bo
naparte family. No, I warn you, that if you do not tell me we are at war,
The second correctly handles 2 or more buffered lines, but has more (standard) module dependencies and requires a wee bit of terminal hackery:
#!/usr/bin/python
import time,readline,thread
import sys,struct,fcntl,termios
def blank_current_readline():
# Next line said to be reasonably portable for various Unixes
(rows,cols) = struct.unpack('hh', fcntl.ioctl(sys.stdout, termios.TIOCGWINSZ,'1234'))
text_len = len(readline.get_line_buffer())+2
# ANSI escape sequences (All VT100 except ESC[0G)
sys.stdout.write('\x1b[2K') # Clear current line
sys.stdout.write('\x1b[1A\x1b[2K'*(text_len/cols)) # Move cursor up and clear line
sys.stdout.write('\x1b[0G') # Move to start of line
def noisy_thread():
while True:
time.sleep(3)
blank_current_readline()
print 'Interrupting text!'
sys.stdout.write('> ' + readline.get_line_buffer())
sys.stdout.flush() # Needed or text doesn't show until a key is pressed
if __name__ == '__main__':
thread.start_new_thread(noisy_thread, ())
while True:
s = raw_input('> ')
Output. Previous readline lines cleared properly:
$ ./threads_input2.py
Interrupting text!
Interrupting text!
Interrupting text!
Interrupting text!
> WELL, PRINCE, Genoa and Lucca are now no more than private estates of the Bo
naparte family. No, I warn you, that if you do not tell me we are at war,
Useful sources:
How to get Linux console window width in Python
apt like column output - python library (This code sample shows how to get terminal width for either Unix or Windows)