How can I make a time delay in Python? [duplicate]

Solution 1:

import time
time.sleep(5)   # Delays for 5 seconds. You can also use a float value.

Here is another example where something is run approximately once a minute:

import time
while True:
    print("This prints once a minute.")
    time.sleep(60) # Delay for 1 minute (60 seconds).

Solution 2:

You can use the sleep() function in the time module. It can take a float argument for sub-second resolution.

from time import sleep
sleep(0.1) # Time in seconds

Solution 3:

How can I make a time delay in Python?

In a single thread I suggest the sleep function:

>>> from time import sleep

>>> sleep(4)

This function actually suspends the processing of the thread in which it is called by the operating system, allowing other threads and processes to execute while it sleeps.

Use it for that purpose, or simply to delay a function from executing. For example:

>>> def party_time():
...     print('hooray!')
...
>>> sleep(3); party_time()
hooray!

"hooray!" is printed 3 seconds after I hit Enter.

Example using `sleep` with multiple threads and processes

Again, sleep suspends your thread - it uses next to zero processing power.

To demonstrate, create a script like this (I first attempted this in an interactive Python 3.5 shell, but sub-processes can't find the party_later function for some reason):

from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, ProcessPoolExecutor, as_completed
from time import sleep, time

def party_later(kind='', n=''):
    sleep(3)
    return kind + n + ' party time!: ' + __name__

def main():
    with ProcessPoolExecutor() as proc_executor:
        with ThreadPoolExecutor() as thread_executor:
            start_time = time()
            proc_future1 = proc_executor.submit(party_later, kind='proc', n='1')
            proc_future2 = proc_executor.submit(party_later, kind='proc', n='2')
            thread_future1 = thread_executor.submit(party_later, kind='thread', n='1')
            thread_future2 = thread_executor.submit(party_later, kind='thread', n='2')
            for f in as_completed([
              proc_future1, proc_future2, thread_future1, thread_future2,]):
                print(f.result())
            end_time = time()
    print('total time to execute four 3-sec functions:', end_time - start_time)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Example output from this script:

thread1 party time!: __main__
thread2 party time!: __main__
proc1 party time!: __mp_main__
proc2 party time!: __mp_main__
total time to execute four 3-sec functions: 3.4519670009613037

Multithreading

You can trigger a function to be called at a later time in a separate thread with the Timer threading object:

>>> from threading import Timer
>>> t = Timer(3, party_time, args=None, kwargs=None)
>>> t.start()
>>>
>>> hooray!

>>>

The blank line illustrates that the function printed to my standard output, and I had to hit Enter to ensure I was on a prompt.

The upside of this method is that while the Timer thread was waiting, I was able to do other things, in this case, hitting Enter one time - before the function executed (see the first empty prompt).

There isn't a respective object in the multiprocessing library. You can create one, but it probably doesn't exist for a reason. A sub-thread makes a lot more sense for a simple timer than a whole new subprocess.

How can I make a time delay in Python? [duplicate]

Solution 1:

Solution 2:

Solution 3: