raw_input in python without pressing enter

python user-input
Somebody still uses you MS-DOS picture Somebody still uses you MS-DOS · Aug 19, 2010 · Viewed 78.8k times · Source

I'm using raw_input in Python to interact with user in shell.

c = raw_input('Press s or n to continue:')
if c.upper() == 'S':
    print 'YES'

It works as intended, but the user has to press enter in the shell after pressing 's'. Is there a way to accomplish what I need from an user input without needing to press enter in the shell? I'm using *nixes machines.

Answer

Alex Martelli picture Alex Martelli · Aug 19, 2010

Under Windows, you need the msvcrt module, specifically, it seems from the way you describe your problem, the function msvcrt.getch:

Read a keypress and return the resulting character. Nothing is echoed to the console. This call will block if a keypress is not already available, but will not wait for Enter to be pressed.

(etc -- see the docs I just pointed to). For Unix, see e.g. this recipe for a simple way to build a similar getch function (see also several alternatives &c in the comment thread of that recipe).

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