Keyboard input with timeout in Python

select_input.py

import sys, select

print "You have ten seconds to answer!"

i, o, e = select.select( [sys.stdin], [], [], 10 )

if (i):
  print "You said", sys.stdin.readline().strip()
else:
  print "You said nothing!"

signal_input.py

import signal
TIMEOUT = 5 # number of seconds your want for timeout

def interrupted(signum, frame):
    "called when read times out"
    print 'interrupted!'
signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, interrupted)

def input():
    try:
            print 'You have 5 seconds to type in your stuff...'
            foo = raw_input()
            return foo
    except:
            # timeout
            return

# set alarm
signal.alarm(TIMEOUT)
s = input()
# disable the alarm after success
signal.alarm(0)
print 'You typed', s

threading_input.py

import threading, msvcrt
import sys

def readInput(caption, default, timeout = 5):
    class KeyboardThread(threading.Thread):
        def run(self):
            self.timedout = False
            self.input = ''
            while True:
                if msvcrt.kbhit():
                    chr = msvcrt.getche()
                    if ord(chr) == 13:
                        break
                    elif ord(chr) >= 32:
                        self.input += chr
                if len(self.input) == 0 and self.timedout:
                    break    


    sys.stdout.write('%s(%s):'%(caption, default));
    result = default
    it = KeyboardThread()
    it.start()
    it.join(timeout)
    it.timedout = True
    if len(it.input) > 0:
        # wait for rest of input
        it.join()
        result = it.input
    print ''  # needed to move to next line
    return result

# and some examples of usage
ans = readInput('Please type a name', 'john') 
print 'The name is %s' % ans
ans = readInput('Please enter a number', 10 ) 
print 'The number is %s' % ans 

In the signal_input.py, need to raise the exception in the interrupted() function.

Thank you so much this logic is works fine on python 3 with syntax modification.

A NEW LIBRARRY HAS POPPED UP! Although to avoid dependency issue I will stick with the first example.

https://pypi.org/project/inputimeout/

I don't know why but I get this error for signal_input.py

AttributeError: module 'signal' has no attribute 'alarm'

In signal_input.py, It shows the following error: [WinError 10038] An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket.

I don't know why but I get this error for signal_input.py

AttributeError: module 'signal' has no attribute 'alarm'

I got this error too, figure it out?

Please check the signal package, whether it is supported for windows or not. Linux support this package.