I'm looking for a library in Python which will provide at and cron like functionality.
I'd quite like have a pure Python solution, rather than relying on tools installed on the box; this way I run on machines with no cron.
For those unfamiliar with cron: you can schedule tasks based upon an expression like:
0 2 * * 7 /usr/bin/run-backup # run the backups at 0200 on Every Sunday
0 9-17/2 * * 1-5 /usr/bin/purge-temps # run the purge temps command, every 2 hours between 9am and 5pm on Mondays to Fridays.
The cron time expression syntax is less important, but I would like to have something with this sort of flexibility.
If there isn't something that does this for me out-the-box, any suggestions for the building blocks to make something like this would be gratefully received.
Edit
I'm not interested in launching processes, just "jobs" also written in Python - python functions. By necessity I think this would be a different thread, but not in a different process.
To this end, I'm looking for the expressivity of the cron time expression, but in Python.
Cron has been around for years, but I'm trying to be as portable as possible. I cannot rely on its presence.
If you're looking for something lightweight checkout schedule:
import schedule
import time
def job():
print("I'm working...")
schedule.every(10).minutes.do(job)
schedule.every().hour.do(job)
schedule.every().day.at("10:30").do(job)
while 1:
schedule.run_pending()
time.sleep(1)
Disclosure: I'm the author of that library.
You could just use normal Python argument passing syntax to specify your crontab. For example, suppose we define an Event class as below:
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import time
# Some utility classes / functions first
class AllMatch(set):
"""Universal set - match everything"""
def __contains__(self, item): return True
allMatch = AllMatch()
def conv_to_set(obj): # Allow single integer to be provided
if isinstance(obj, (int,long)):
return set([obj]) # Single item
if not isinstance(obj, set):
obj = set(obj)
return obj
# The actual Event class
class Event(object):
def __init__(self, action, min=allMatch, hour=allMatch,
day=allMatch, month=allMatch, dow=allMatch,
args=(), kwargs={}):
self.mins = conv_to_set(min)
self.hours= conv_to_set(hour)
self.days = conv_to_set(day)
self.months = conv_to_set(month)
self.dow = conv_to_set(dow)
self.action = action
self.args = args
self.kwargs = kwargs
def matchtime(self, t):
"""Return True if this event should trigger at the specified datetime"""
return ((t.minute in self.mins) and
(t.hour in self.hours) and
(t.day in self.days) and
(t.month in self.months) and
(t.weekday() in self.dow))
def check(self, t):
if self.matchtime(t):
self.action(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
(Note: Not thoroughly tested)
Then your CronTab can be specified in normal python syntax as:
c = CronTab(
Event(perform_backup, 0, 2, dow=6 ),
Event(purge_temps, 0, range(9,18,2), dow=range(0,5))
)
This way you get the full power of Python's argument mechanics (mixing positional and keyword args, and can use symbolic names for names of weeks and months)
The CronTab class would be defined as simply sleeping in minute increments, and calling check() on each event. (There are probably some subtleties with daylight savings time / timezones to be wary of though). Here's a quick implementation:
class CronTab(object):
def __init__(self, *events):
self.events = events
def run(self):
t=datetime(*datetime.now().timetuple()[:5])
while 1:
for e in self.events:
e.check(t)
t += timedelta(minutes=1)
while datetime.now() < t:
time.sleep((t - datetime.now()).seconds)
A few things to note: Python's weekdays / months are zero indexed (unlike cron), and that range excludes the last element, hence syntax like "1-5" becomes range(0,5) - ie [0,1,2,3,4]. If you prefer cron syntax, parsing it shouldn't be too difficult however.
More or less same as above but concurrent using gevent :)
"""Gevent based crontab implementation"""
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import gevent
# Some utility classes / functions first
def conv_to_set(obj):
"""Converts to set allowing single integer to be provided"""
if isinstance(obj, (int, long)):
return set([obj]) # Single item
if not isinstance(obj, set):
obj = set(obj)
return obj
class AllMatch(set):
"""Universal set - match everything"""
def __contains__(self, item):
return True
allMatch = AllMatch()
class Event(object):
"""The Actual Event Class"""
def __init__(self, action, minute=allMatch, hour=allMatch,
day=allMatch, month=allMatch, daysofweek=allMatch,
args=(), kwargs={}):
self.mins = conv_to_set(minute)
self.hours = conv_to_set(hour)
self.days = conv_to_set(day)
self.months = conv_to_set(month)
self.daysofweek = conv_to_set(daysofweek)
self.action = action
self.args = args
self.kwargs = kwargs
def matchtime(self, t1):
"""Return True if this event should trigger at the specified datetime"""
return ((t1.minute in self.mins) and
(t1.hour in self.hours) and
(t1.day in self.days) and
(t1.month in self.months) and
(t1.weekday() in self.daysofweek))
def check(self, t):
"""Check and run action if needed"""
if self.matchtime(t):
self.action(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
class CronTab(object):
"""The crontab implementation"""
def __init__(self, *events):
self.events = events
def _check(self):
"""Check all events in separate greenlets"""
t1 = datetime(*datetime.now().timetuple()[:5])
for event in self.events:
gevent.spawn(event.check, t1)
t1 += timedelta(minutes=1)
s1 = (t1 - datetime.now()).seconds + 1
print "Checking again in %s seconds" % s1
job = gevent.spawn_later(s1, self._check)
def run(self):
"""Run the cron forever"""
self._check()
while True:
gevent.sleep(60)
import os
def test_task():
"""Just an example that sends a bell and asd to all terminals"""
os.system('echo asd | wall')
cron = CronTab(
Event(test_task, 22, 1 ),
Event(test_task, 0, range(9,18,2), daysofweek=range(0,5)),
)
cron.run()
None of the listed solutions even attempt to parse a complex cron schedule string. So, here is my version, using croniter. Basic gist:
schedule = "*/5 * * * *" # Run every five minutes
nextRunTime = getNextCronRunTime(schedule)
while True:
roundedDownTime = roundDownTime()
if (roundedDownTime == nextRunTime):
####################################
### Do your periodic thing here. ###
####################################
nextRunTime = getNextCronRunTime(schedule)
elif (roundedDownTime > nextRunTime):
# We missed an execution. Error. Re initialize.
nextRunTime = getNextCronRunTime(schedule)
sleepTillTopOfNextMinute()
Helper routines:
from croniter import croniter
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
# Round time down to the top of the previous minute
def roundDownTime(dt=None, dateDelta=timedelta(minutes=1)):
roundTo = dateDelta.total_seconds()
if dt == None : dt = datetime.now()
seconds = (dt - dt.min).seconds
rounding = (seconds+roundTo/2) // roundTo * roundTo
return dt + timedelta(0,rounding-seconds,-dt.microsecond)
# Get next run time from now, based on schedule specified by cron string
def getNextCronRunTime(schedule):
return croniter(schedule, datetime.now()).get_next(datetime)
# Sleep till the top of the next minute
def sleepTillTopOfNextMinute():
t = datetime.utcnow()
sleeptime = 60 - (t.second + t.microsecond/1000000.0)
time.sleep(sleeptime)
I know there are a lot of answers, but another solution could be to go with decorators. This is an example to repeat a function everyday at a specific time. The cool think about using this way is that you only need to add the Syntactic Sugar to the function you want to schedule:
#repeatEveryDay(hour=6, minutes=30)
def sayHello(name):
print(f"Hello {name}")
sayHello("Bob") # Now this function will be invoked every day at 6.30 a.m
And the decorator will look like:
def repeatEveryDay(hour, minutes=0, seconds=0):
"""
Decorator that will run the decorated function everyday at that hour, minutes and seconds.
:param hour: 0-24
:param minutes: 0-60 (Optional)
:param seconds: 0-60 (Optional)
"""
def decoratorRepeat(func):
#functools.wraps(func)
def wrapperRepeat(*args, **kwargs):
def getLocalTime():
return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(time.mktime(time.localtime()))
# Get the datetime of the first function call
td = datetime.timedelta(seconds=15)
if wrapperRepeat.nextSent == None:
now = getLocalTime()
wrapperRepeat.nextSent = datetime.datetime(now.year, now.month, now.day, hour, minutes, seconds)
if wrapperRepeat.nextSent < now:
wrapperRepeat.nextSent += td
# Waiting till next day
while getLocalTime() < wrapperRepeat.nextSent:
time.sleep(1)
# Call the function
func(*args, **kwargs)
# Get the datetime of the next function call
wrapperRepeat.nextSent += td
wrapperRepeat(*args, **kwargs)
wrapperRepeat.nextSent = None
return wrapperRepeat
return decoratorRepeat
I like how the pycron package solves this problem.
import pycron
import time
while True:
if pycron.is_now('0 2 * * 0'): # True Every Sunday at 02:00
print('running backup')
time.sleep(60) # The process should take at least 60 sec
# to avoid running twice in one minute
else:
time.sleep(15) # Check again in 15 seconds
There isn't a "pure python" way to do this because some other process would have to launch python in order to run your solution. Every platform will have one or twenty different ways to launch processes and monitor their progress. On unix platforms, cron is the old standard. On Mac OS X there is also launchd, which combines cron-like launching with watchdog functionality that can keep your process alive if that's what you want. Once python is running, then you can use the sched module to schedule tasks.
Another trivial solution would be:
from aqcron import At
from time import sleep
from datetime import datetime
# Event scheduling
event_1 = At( second=5 )
event_2 = At( second=[0,20,40] )
while True:
now = datetime.now()
# Event check
if now in event_1: print "event_1"
if now in event_2: print "event_2"
sleep(1)
And the class aqcron.At is:
# aqcron.py
class At(object):
def __init__(self, year=None, month=None,
day=None, weekday=None,
hour=None, minute=None,
second=None):
loc = locals()
loc.pop("self")
self.at = dict((k, v) for k, v in loc.iteritems() if v != None)
def __contains__(self, now):
for k in self.at.keys():
try:
if not getattr(now, k) in self.at[k]: return False
except TypeError:
if self.at[k] != getattr(now, k): return False
return True
I don't know if something like that already exists. It would be easy to write your own with time, datetime and/or calendar modules, see http://docs.python.org/library/time.html
The only concern for a python solution is that your job needs to be always running and possibly be automatically "resurrected" after a reboot, something for which you do need to rely on system dependent solutions.
I'm coding a pretty simple Twitch Chatbot in Python and I have all my "commands" running in if statements (basically if the chatbot sees something in chat it activates).
However, I want to add a cooldown of about 3 seconds or really an amount of time per command (or if statement), so that I can customize it depending. To do that I tried this (pseudo code)
if command is seen in chat
newtimestamp = create timestamp at now
if (newtimestamp - previoustimestamp) > 30
execute the command
make (previoustimestamp)
else
return
but that didn't work because obviously it does not detect the (previoustimestamp) on the first run since it's not declared yet, but when you declare it, it declares it every time the command is run.
So is there a way to make a declaration only once at the beginning of an if statement and then ignore it subsequently every other time? Or any other ideas? I'm still a pretty novice programmer so I apologize.
Here's an example code that I would want the cooldown for, something quite simple
if "!redb match" in message:
x = str(randint(1, 100))
realmessage = message.replace('!redb ship ', '')
array = realmessage.split(' ')
person1 = array[0]
person2 = array[1]
if ((9 - 2) > 5):
sendMessage(s, person1 + " and " + person2 + "have a " + x + "% love compatibility <3")
else:
break
I'd use a dictionary for the timestamps, accessing it like previous_timestamp = command_timestamps.get('!redb match', 0). This will give you the stored timestamp if it's in the dictionary, and 0 (Jan 1 of 1970 if you're using time.time() for your timestamps, which is hopefully far enough in the past that it won't foul up any of your cooldowns).
You could write a decorator for a function that stores the last time it was called, and return None if that was too close to now
from functools import wraps
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def cooldown(*delta_args, **delta_kwargs):
delta = timedelta(*delta_args, **delta_kwargs)
def decorator(func):
last_called = None
#wraps(func)
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
nonlocal last_called
now = datetime.now()
if last_called and (now - last_called < delta):
return
last_called = now
return func(*args, **kwargs)
return wrapper
return decorator
#cooldown(seconds=5)
def foo():
print("Run")
foo() # Run
time.sleep(1)
foo()
time.sleep(4)
foo() # Run
The arguments to cooldown are sent to timedelta, so you should read the documentation more on those objects
You could use time.sleep(3) to wait 3 seconds if a certain condition triggers for example. This will pause the execution for 3 seconds.
Edit: Since you want these if statements to have their own cooldowns you could try putting this within a control loop which is a bit more complex
cooldowns_dict = {"trigger_1": 0, "trigger_2":0}
while(True):
loop_start = time.time()
if ("!redb match" in message) and cooldowns_dict["trigger_1"] <= 0:
# Send message etc.
cooldowns_dict["trigger_1"] = 3 # Set a 3 second cooldown
time.sleep(0.1) # Just to stop this looping too fast
loop_end = time.time()
# update the cooldowns
for key, value in cooldowns_dict.items():
if value > 0:
cooldowns_dict[key] -= (loop_end - loop_start)
else:
cooldowns_dict[key] = 0
Does Python have a function similar to JavaScript's setInterval()?
I would like to have:
def set_interval(func, interval):
...
That will call func every interval time units.
This might be the correct snippet you were looking for:
import threading
def set_interval(func, sec):
def func_wrapper():
set_interval(func, sec)
func()
t = threading.Timer(sec, func_wrapper)
t.start()
return t
This is a version where you could start and stop.
It is not blocking.
There is also no glitch as execution time error is not added (important for long time execution with very short interval as audio for example)
import time, threading
StartTime=time.time()
def action() :
print('action ! -> time : {:.1f}s'.format(time.time()-StartTime))
class setInterval :
def __init__(self,interval,action) :
self.interval=interval
self.action=action
self.stopEvent=threading.Event()
thread=threading.Thread(target=self.__setInterval)
thread.start()
def __setInterval(self) :
nextTime=time.time()+self.interval
while not self.stopEvent.wait(nextTime-time.time()) :
nextTime+=self.interval
self.action()
def cancel(self) :
self.stopEvent.set()
# start action every 0.6s
inter=setInterval(0.6,action)
print('just after setInterval -> time : {:.1f}s'.format(time.time()-StartTime))
# will stop interval in 5s
t=threading.Timer(5,inter.cancel)
t.start()
Output is :
just after setInterval -> time : 0.0s
action ! -> time : 0.6s
action ! -> time : 1.2s
action ! -> time : 1.8s
action ! -> time : 2.4s
action ! -> time : 3.0s
action ! -> time : 3.6s
action ! -> time : 4.2s
action ! -> time : 4.8s
Just keep it nice and simple.
import threading
def setInterval(func,time):
e = threading.Event()
while not e.wait(time):
func()
def foo():
print "hello"
# using
setInterval(foo,5)
# output:
hello
hello
.
.
.
EDIT : This code is non-blocking
import threading
class ThreadJob(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self,callback,event,interval):
'''runs the callback function after interval seconds
:param callback: callback function to invoke
:param event: external event for controlling the update operation
:param interval: time in seconds after which are required to fire the callback
:type callback: function
:type interval: int
'''
self.callback = callback
self.event = event
self.interval = interval
super(ThreadJob,self).__init__()
def run(self):
while not self.event.wait(self.interval):
self.callback()
event = threading.Event()
def foo():
print "hello"
k = ThreadJob(foo,event,2)
k.start()
print "It is non-blocking"
Change Nailxx's answer a bit and you got the answer!
from threading import Timer
def hello():
print "hello, world"
Timer(30.0, hello).start()
Timer(30.0, hello).start() # after 30 seconds, "hello, world" will be printed
The sched module provides these abilities for general Python code. However, as its documentation suggests, if your code is multithreaded it might make more sense to use the threading.Timer class instead.
I think this is what you're after:
#timertest.py
import sched, time
def dostuff():
print "stuff is being done!"
s.enter(3, 1, dostuff, ())
s = sched.scheduler(time.time, time.sleep)
s.enter(3, 1, dostuff, ())
s.run()
If you add another entry to the scheduler at the end of the repeating method, it'll just keep going.
I use sched to create setInterval function gist
import functools
import sched, time
s = sched.scheduler(time.time, time.sleep)
def setInterval(sec):
def decorator(func):
#functools.wraps(func)
def wrapper(*argv, **kw):
setInterval(sec)(func)
func(*argv, **kw)
s.enter(sec, 1, wrapper, ())
return wrapper
s.run()
return decorator
#setInterval(sec=3)
def testInterval():
print ("test Interval ")
testInterval()
Simple setInterval utils
from threading import Timer
def setInterval(timer, task):
isStop = task()
if not isStop:
Timer(timer, setInterval, [timer, task]).start()
def hello():
print "do something"
return False # return True if you want to stop
if __name__ == "__main__":
setInterval(2.0, hello) # every 2 seconds, "do something" will be printed
The above method didn't quite do it for me as I needed to be able to cancel the interval. I turned the function into a class and came up with the following:
class setInterval():
def __init__(self, func, sec):
def func_wrapper():
self.t = threading.Timer(sec, func_wrapper)
self.t.start()
func()
self.t = threading.Timer(sec, func_wrapper)
self.t.start()
def cancel(self):
self.t.cancel()
Most of the answers above do not shut down the Thread properly. While using Jupyter notebook I noticed that when an explicit interrupt was sent, the threads were still running and worse, they would keep multiplying starting at 1 thread running,2, 4 etc. My method below is based on the answer by #doom but cleanly handles interrupts by running an infinite loop in the Main thread to listen for SIGINT and SIGTERM events
No drift
Cancelable
Handles SIGINT and SIGTERM very well
Doesnt make a new thread for every run
Feel free to suggest improvements
import time
import threading
import signal
# Record the time for the purposes of demonstration
start_time=time.time()
class ProgramKilled(Exception):
"""
An instance of this custom exception class will be thrown everytime we get an SIGTERM or SIGINT
"""
pass
# Raise the custom exception whenever SIGINT or SIGTERM is triggered
def signal_handler(signum, frame):
raise ProgramKilled
# This function serves as the callback triggered on every run of our IntervalThread
def action() :
print('action ! -> time : {:.1f}s'.format(time.time()-start_time))
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2697039/python-equivalent-of-setinterval
class IntervalThread(threading.Thread) :
def __init__(self,interval,action, *args, **kwargs) :
super(IntervalThread, self).__init__()
self.interval=interval
self.action=action
self.stopEvent=threading.Event()
self.start()
def run(self) :
nextTime=time.time()+self.interval
while not self.stopEvent.wait(nextTime-time.time()) :
nextTime+=self.interval
self.action()
def cancel(self) :
self.stopEvent.set()
def main():
# Handle SIGINT and SIFTERM with the help of the callback function
signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, signal_handler)
signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
# start action every 1s
inter=IntervalThread(1,action)
print('just after setInterval -> time : {:.1f}s'.format(time.time()-start_time))
# will stop interval in 500s
t=threading.Timer(500,inter.cancel)
t.start()
# https://www.g-loaded.eu/2016/11/24/how-to-terminate-running-python-threads-using-signals/
while True:
try:
time.sleep(1)
except ProgramKilled:
print("Program killed: running cleanup code")
inter.cancel()
break
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
In the above solutions if a situation arises where program is shutdown, there is no guarantee that it will shutdown gracefully,Its always recommended to shut a program via a soft kill, neither did most of them have a function to stop I found a nice article on medium written by Sankalp which solves both of these issues (run periodic tasks in python) refer the attached link to get a deeper insight.
In the below sample a library named signal is used to track the kill is soft kill or a hard kill
import threading, time, signal
from datetime import timedelta
WAIT_TIME_SECONDS = 1
class ProgramKilled(Exception):
pass
def foo():
print time.ctime()
def signal_handler(signum, frame):
raise ProgramKilled
class Job(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self, interval, execute, *args, **kwargs):
threading.Thread.__init__(self)
self.daemon = False
self.stopped = threading.Event()
self.interval = interval
self.execute = execute
self.args = args
self.kwargs = kwargs
def stop(self):
self.stopped.set()
self.join()
def run(self):
while not self.stopped.wait(self.interval.total_seconds()):
self.execute(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
if __name__ == "__main__":
signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, signal_handler)
signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
job = Job(interval=timedelta(seconds=WAIT_TIME_SECONDS), execute=foo)
job.start()
while True:
try:
time.sleep(1)
except ProgramKilled:
print "Program killed: running cleanup code"
job.stop()
break
#output
#Tue Oct 16 17:47:51 2018
#Tue Oct 16 17:47:52 2018
#Tue Oct 16 17:47:53 2018
#^CProgram killed: running cleanup code
setInterval should be run on multiple thread, and not freeze the task when it running loop.
Here is my RUNTIME package that support multithread feature:
setTimeout(F,ms) : timming to fire function in independence thread.
delayF(F,ms) : similar setTimeout(F,ms).
setInterval(F,ms) : asynchronous loop
.pause, .resume : pause and resume the interval
clearInterval(interval) : clear the interval
It's short and simple. Note that python need lambda if you input direct the function, but lambda is not support command block, so you should define the function content before put it in the setInterval.
### DEMO PYTHON MULTITHREAD ASYNCHRONOUS LOOP ###
import time;
import threading;
import random;
def delay(ms):time.sleep(ms/1000); # Controil while speed
def setTimeout(R,delayMS):
t=threading.Timer(delayMS/1000,R)
t.start();
return t;
def delayF(R,delayMS):
t=threading.Timer(delayMS/1000,R)
t.start();
return t;
class THREAD:
def __init__(this):
this.R_onRun=None;
this.thread=None;
def run(this):
this.thread=threading.Thread(target=this.R_onRun);
this.thread.start();
def isRun(this): return this.thread.isAlive();
class setInterval :
def __init__(this,R_onRun,msInterval) :
this.ms=msInterval;
this.R_onRun=R_onRun;
this.kStop=False;
this.thread=THREAD();
this.thread.R_onRun=this.Clock;
this.thread.run();
def Clock(this) :
while not this.kStop :
this.R_onRun();
delay(this.ms);
def pause(this) :
this.kStop=True;
def stop(this) :
this.kStop=True;
def resume(this) :
if (this.kStop) :
this.kStop=False;
this.thread.run();
def clearInterval(Timer): Timer.stop();
# EXAMPLE
def p():print(random.random());
tm=setInterval(p,20);
tm2=setInterval(lambda:print("AAAAA"),20);
delayF(tm.pause,1000);
delayF(tm.resume,2000);
delayF(lambda:clearInterval(tm),3000);
Save to file .py and run it. You will see it print both random number and string "AAAAA". The print number thread will pause printing after 1 second and resume print again for 1 second then stop, while the print string keep printing text not corrupt.
In case you use OpenCV for graphic animation with those setInterval for boost animate speed, you must have 1 main thread to apply waitKey, otherwise the window will freeze no matter how slow delay or you applied waitKey in sub thread:
def p:... # Your drawing task
setInterval(p,1); # Subthread1 running draw
setInterval(p,1); # Subthread2 running draw
setInterval(p,1); # Subthread3 running draw
while True: cv2.waitKey(10); # Main thread which waitKey have effect
You can also try out this method:
import time
while True:
time.sleep(5)
print("5 seconds has passed")
So it will print "5 seconds has passed" every 5 seconds.
The function sleep() suspends execution for the given number of seconds. The argument may be a floating point number to indicate a more precise sleep time.
Recently, I have the same issue as you. And I find these soluation:
1. you can use the library: threading.Time(this have introduction above)
2. you can use the library: sched(this have introduction above too)
3. you can use the library: Advanced Python Scheduler(Recommend)
Some answers above that uses func_wrapper and threading.Timer indeed work, except that it spawns a new thread every time an interval is called, which is causing memory problems.
The basic example below roughly implemented a similar mechanism by putting interval on a separate thread. It sleeps at the given interval. Before jumping into code, here are some of the limitations that you need to be aware of:
JavaScript is single threaded, so when the function inside setInterval is fired, nothing else will be working at the same time (excluding worker thread, but let's talk general use case of setInterval. Therefore, threading is safe. But here in this implementation, you may encounter race conditions unless using a threading.rLock.
The implementation below uses time.sleep to simulate intervals, but adding the execution time of func, the total time for this interval may be greater than what you expect. So depending on use cases, you may want to "sleep less" (minus time taken for calling func)
I only roughly tested this, and you should definitely not use global variables the way I did, feel free to tweak it so that it fits in your system.
Enough talking, here is the code:
# Python 2.7
import threading
import time
class Interval(object):
def __init__(self):
self.daemon_alive = True
self.thread = None # keep a reference to the thread so that we can "join"
def ticktock(self, interval, func):
while self.daemon_alive:
time.sleep(interval)
func()
num = 0
def print_num():
global num
num += 1
print 'num + 1 = ', num
def print_negative_num():
global num
print '-num = ', num * -1
intervals = {} # keep track of intervals
g_id_counter = 0 # roughly generate ids for intervals
def set_interval(interval, func):
global g_id_counter
interval_obj = Interval()
# Put this interval on a new thread
t = threading.Thread(target=interval_obj.ticktock, args=(interval, func))
t.setDaemon(True)
interval_obj.thread = t
t.start()
# Register this interval so that we can clear it later
# using roughly generated id
interval_id = g_id_counter
g_id_counter += 1
intervals[interval_id] = interval_obj
# return interval id like it does in JavaScript
return interval_id
def clear_interval(interval_id):
# terminate this interval's while loop
intervals[interval_id].daemon_alive = False
# kill the thread
intervals[interval_id].thread.join()
# pop out the interval from registry for reusing
intervals.pop(interval_id)
if __name__ == '__main__':
num_interval = set_interval(1, print_num)
neg_interval = set_interval(3, print_negative_num)
time.sleep(10) # Sleep 10 seconds on main thread to let interval run
clear_interval(num_interval)
clear_interval(neg_interval)
print "- Are intervals all cleared?"
time.sleep(3) # check if both intervals are stopped (not printing)
print "- Yup, time to get beers"
Expected output:
num + 1 = 1
num + 1 = 2
-num = -2
num + 1 = 3
num + 1 = 4
num + 1 = 5
-num = -5
num + 1 = 6
num + 1 = 7
num + 1 = 8
-num = -8
num + 1 = 9
num + 1 = 10
-num = -10
Are intervals all cleared?
Yup, time to get beers
My Python 3 module jsinterval.py will be helpful! Here it is:
"""
Threaded intervals and timeouts from JavaScript
"""
import threading, sys
__all__ = ['TIMEOUTS', 'INTERVALS', 'setInterval', 'clearInterval', 'setTimeout', 'clearTimeout']
TIMEOUTS = {}
INTERVALS = {}
last_timeout_id = 0
last_interval_id = 0
class Timeout:
"""Class for all timeouts."""
def __init__(self, func, timeout):
global last_timeout_id
last_timeout_id += 1
self.timeout_id = last_timeout_id
TIMEOUTS[str(self.timeout_id)] = self
self.func = func
self.timeout = timeout
self.threadname = 'Timeout #%s' %self.timeout_id
def run(self):
func = self.func
delx = self.__del__
def func_wrapper():
func()
delx()
self.t = threading.Timer(self.timeout/1000, func_wrapper)
self.t.name = self.threadname
self.t.start()
def __repr__(self):
return '<JS Timeout set for %s seconds, launching function %s on timeout reached>' %(self.timeout, repr(self.func))
def __del__(self):
self.t.cancel()
class Interval:
"""Class for all intervals."""
def __init__(self, func, interval):
global last_interval_id
self.interval_id = last_interval_id
INTERVALS[str(self.interval_id)] = self
last_interval_id += 1
self.func = func
self.interval = interval
self.threadname = 'Interval #%s' %self.interval_id
def run(self):
func = self.func
interval = self.interval
def func_wrapper():
timeout = Timeout(func_wrapper, interval)
self.timeout = timeout
timeout.run()
func()
self.t = threading.Timer(self.interval/1000, func_wrapper)
self.t.name = self.threadname
self.t.run()
def __repr__(self):
return '<JS Interval, repeating function %s with interval %s>' %(repr(self.func), self.interval)
def __del__(self):
self.timeout.__del__()
def setInterval(func, interval):
"""
Create a JS Interval: func is the function to repeat, interval is the interval (in ms)
of executing the function.
"""
temp = Interval(func, interval)
temp.run()
idx = int(temp.interval_id)
del temp
return idx
def clearInterval(interval_id):
try:
INTERVALS[str(interval_id)].__del__()
del INTERVALS[str(interval_id)]
except KeyError:
sys.stderr.write('No such interval "Interval #%s"\n' %interval_id)
def setTimeout(func, timeout):
"""
Create a JS Timeout: func is the function to timeout, timeout is the timeout (in ms)
of executing the function.
"""
temp = Timeout(func, timeout)
temp.run()
idx = int(temp.timeout_id)
del temp
return idx
def clearTimeout(timeout_id):
try:
TIMEOUTS[str(timeout_id)].__del__()
del TIMEOUTS[str(timeout_id)]
except KeyError:
sys.stderr.write('No such timeout "Timeout #%s"\n' %timeout_id)
CODE EDIT:
Fixed the memory leak (spotted by #benjaminz). Now ALL threads are cleaned up upon end. Why does this leak happen? It happens because of the implicit (or even explicit) references. In my case, TIMEOUTS and INTERVALS. Timeouts self-clean automatically (after this patch) because they use function wrapper which calls the function and then self-kills. But how does this happen? Objects can't be deleted from memory unless all references are deleted too or gc module is used. Explaining: there's no way to create (in my code) unwanted references to timeouts/intervals. They have only ONE referrer: the TIMEOUTS/INTERVALS dicts. And, when interrupted or finished (only timeouts can finish uninterrupted) they delete the only existing reference to themselves: their corresponding dict element. Classes are perfectly encapsulated using __all__, so no space for memory leaks.
Here is a low time drift solution that uses a thread to periodically signal an Event object. The thread's run() does almost nothing while waiting for a timeout; hence the low time drift.
# Example of low drift (time) periodic execution of a function.
import threading
import time
# Thread that sets 'flag' after 'timeout'
class timerThread (threading.Thread):
def __init__(self , timeout , flag):
threading.Thread.__init__(self)
self.timeout = timeout
self.stopFlag = False
self.event = threading.Event()
self.flag = flag
# Low drift run(); there is only the 'if'
# and 'set' methods between waits.
def run(self):
while not self.event.wait(self.timeout):
if self.stopFlag:
break
self.flag.set()
def stop(self):
stopFlag = True
self.event.set()
# Data.
printCnt = 0
# Flag to print.
printFlag = threading.Event()
# Create and start the timer thread.
printThread = timerThread(3 , printFlag)
printThread.start()
# Loop to wait for flag and print time.
while True:
global printCnt
# Wait for flag.
printFlag.wait()
# Flag must be manually cleared.
printFlag.clear()
print(time.time())
printCnt += 1
if printCnt == 3:
break;
# Stop the thread and exit.
printThread.stop()
printThread.join()
print('Done')
fall asleep until the next interval of seconds length starts: (not concurrent)
def sleep_until_next_interval(self, seconds):
now = time.time()
fall_asleep = seconds - now % seconds
time.sleep(fall_asleep)
while True:
sleep_until_next_interval(10) # 10 seconds - worktime
# work here
simple and no drift.
I have written my code to make a very very flexible setInterval in python. Here you are:
import threading
class AlreadyRunning(Exception):
pass
class IntervalNotValid(Exception):
pass
class setInterval():
def __init__(this, func=None, sec=None, args=[]):
this.running = False
this.func = func # the function to be run
this.sec = sec # interval in second
this.Return = None # The returned data
this.args = args
this.runOnce = None # asociated with run_once() method
this.runOnceArgs = None # asociated with run_once() method
if (func is not None and sec is not None):
this.running = True
if (not callable(func)):
raise TypeError("non-callable object is given")
if (not isinstance(sec, int) and not isinstance(sec, float)):
raise TypeError("A non-numeric object is given")
this.TIMER = threading.Timer(this.sec, this.loop)
this.TIMER.start()
def start(this):
if (not this.running):
if (not this.isValid()):
raise IntervalNotValid("The function and/or the " +
"interval hasn't provided or invalid.")
this.running = True
this.TIMER = threading.Timer(this.sec, this.loop)
this.TIMER.start()
else:
raise AlreadyRunning("Tried to run an already run interval")
def stop(this):
this.running = False
def isValid(this):
if (not callable(this.func)):
return False
cond1 = not isinstance(this.sec, int)
cond2 = not isinstance(this.sec, float)
if (cond1 and cond2):
return False
return True
def loop(this):
if (this.running):
this.TIMER = threading.Timer(this.sec, this.loop)
this.TIMER.start()
function_, Args_ = this.func, this.args
if (this.runOnce is not None): # someone has provide the run_once
runOnce, this.runOnce = this.runOnce, None
result = runOnce(*(this.runOnceArgs))
this.runOnceArgs = None
# if and only if the result is False. not accept "None"
# nor zero.
if (result is False):
return # cancel the interval right now
this.Return = function_(*Args_)
def change_interval(this, sec):
cond1 = not isinstance(sec, int)
cond2 = not isinstance(sec, float)
if (cond1 and cond2):
raise TypeError("A non-numeric object is given")
# prevent error when providing interval to a blueprint
if (this.running):
this.TIMER.cancel()
this.sec = sec
# prevent error when providing interval to a blueprint
# if the function hasn't provided yet
if (this.running):
this.TIMER = threading.Timer(this.sec, this.loop)
this.TIMER.start()
def change_next_interval(this, sec):
if (not isinstance(sec, int) and not isinstance(sec, float)):
raise TypeError("A non-numeric object is given")
this.sec = sec
def change_func(this, func, args=[]):
if (not callable(func)):
raise TypeError("non-callable object is given")
this.func = func
this.args = args
def run_once(this, func, args=[]):
this.runOnce = func
this.runOnceArgs = args
def get_return(this):
return this.Return
You can get many features and flexibility. Running this code won't freeze your code, you can change the interval at run time, you can change the function at run time, you can pass arguments, you can get the returned object from your function, and many more. You can make your tricks too!
here's a very simple and basic example to use it:
import time
def interval(name="world"):
print(f"Hello {name}!")
# function named interval will be called every two seconds
# output: "Hello world!"
interval1 = setInterval(interval, 2)
# function named interval will be called every 1.5 seconds
# output: "Hello Jane!"
interval2 = setInterval(interval, 1.5, ["Jane"])
time.sleep(5) #stop all intervals after 5 seconds
interval1.stop()
interval2.stop()
Check out my Github project to see more examples and follow next updates :D
https://github.com/Hzzkygcs/setInterval-python
Here's something easy peazy:
import time
delay = 10 # Seconds
def setInterval():
print('I print in intervals!')
time.sleep(delay)
setInterval()
Things work differently in Python: you need to either sleep() (if you want to block the current thread) or start a new thread. See http://docs.python.org/library/threading.html
From Python Documentation:
from threading import Timer
def hello():
print "hello, world"
t = Timer(30.0, hello)
t.start() # after 30 seconds, "hello, world" will be printed