[FIXED] Timeout when invoking IPython embed()

Issue

Is there a way to have a timeout when calling IPython.embed() in a python script? Say I have a script that stops for a IPython.embed() at various places, how can I let the script go on with its business when the user doesn't respond in time?

Solution

This is not quite an answer to the question, but it is adequate for what I wanted.

I used some cross-platform keypress timeout code from

• https://stackoverflow.com/a/23098294/1490584, and
• https://stackoverflow.com/a/5047058/1490584

to let the user decide within a time window if a IPython.embed() should be called:

import time
import IPython

try:
    from msvcrt import kbhit
except ImportError:
    import termios, fcntl, sys, os
    def kbfunc():
        fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
        oldterm = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
        newattr = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
        newattr[3] = newattr[3] & ~termios.ICANON & ~termios.ECHO
        termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSANOW, newattr)
        oldflags = fcntl.fcntl(fd, fcntl.F_GETFL)
        fcntl.fcntl(fd, fcntl.F_SETFL, oldflags | os.O_NONBLOCK)
        try:
            while True:
                try:
                    c = sys.stdin.read(1)
                    return c.decode()
                except IOError:
                    return False
        finally:
            termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSAFLUSH, oldterm)
            fcntl.fcntl(fd, fcntl.F_SETFL, oldflags)
else:
    import msvcrt
    def kbfunc():
        #this is boolean for whether the keyboard has bene hit
        x = msvcrt.kbhit()
        if x:
            #getch acquires the character encoded in binary ASCII
            ret = msvcrt.getch()
            return ret.decode()
        else:
            return False

def wait_for_interrupt(waitstr=None, exitstr=None, countdown=True, delay=3):
    if waitstr is not None: print(waitstr)
    for i in range(delay*10):
        if   countdown and i%10 ==0    : print('%d'%(i/10 + 1), end='')
        elif countdown and (i+1)%10 ==0: print('.')
        elif countdown                 : print('.', end='')

        key = kbfunc()
        if key: return key
        time.sleep(0.1)
    if exitstr is not None: print(exitstr)
    return False

if __name__ == "__main__":
    #wait_for_interrupt example test
    if wait_for_interrupt('wait_for_interrupt() Enter something in the next 3 seconds', '... Sorry too late'):
        IPython.embed()

    #begin the counter
    number = 1

    #interrupt a loop
    while True:

        #acquire the keyboard hit if exists
        x = kbfunc() 

        #if we got a keyboard hit
        if x != False and x == 'i':
            #we got the key!
            IPython.embed()
            #break loop
            break
        else:
            #prints the number
            print(number)
            #increment, there's no ++ in python
            number += 1
            #wait half a second
            time.sleep(0.5)

Answered By - Simon Streicher