Python function to get keypresses from the terminal

key_detect.py

def getchar():
   #Returns a single character from standard input
   import tty, termios, sys
   fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
   old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
   try:
      tty.setraw(sys.stdin.fileno())
      ch = sys.stdin.read(1)
   finally:
      termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings)
   return ch
   
while 1:
    ch = getchar()
    print 'You pressed', ch

ty

Wouldn't it be better to move the imports outside the function body? That way the modules don't get imported every time the function is run but instead just once and then reused for every call to the function.