I am writing to my Python process from the commandline on unix. I want to send EOF (or somehow flush the stdin buffer, so Python can read my input.)
If I hit CTRL-C, I get a KeyboardError.
If I hit CTRL-D, the program just stops.
How do I flush the stdin buffer?
Control-D should NOT make your program "just stop" -- it should close standard input, and if your program deals with that properly, it may perfectly well continue if it needs to!
For example, given the following st.py
:
import sys
def main():
inwas = []
for line in sys.stdin:
inwas.append(line)
print "%d lines" % len(inwas),
print "initials:", ''.join(x[0] for x in inwas)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
we could see something like
$ python st.py
nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
che la diritta via era smarrita
3 lines initials: nmc
$
if the control-D is hit right after the enter on the third line -- the program realizes that standard input is done, and performs the needed post-processing, all neat and proper.
If your program prematurely exits on control-D, it must be badly coded -- what about editing you question to add the smallest "misbehaving" program you can conceive of, so we can show you exactly HOW you're going wrong?
If you use 'for l in sys.stdin', it is buffered.
You can use:
while 1:
l = sys.stdin.readline()
I think I know what's happening. You are hitting ctrl-D
without hitting enter
. If you want to send a line to the program, just hit enter. If you hit ctrl-D
without hitting enter
, you can hit ctrl-D
again and your program should see the line then. In this case (two ctrl-D
s in succession), your program will not see a newline at the end of the line.
For example, let's say I have a Python script a.py
:
import sys
for line in sys.stdin:
sys.stdout.write('%s' % line)
And I execute it:
$ python a.py
And then enter the following:
line 1
line 2<ctrl-D><ctrl-D>
the program will print:
line 1
line 2$
$
is the shell-prompt. Here's a full session with the above input:
$ python a.py
line 1
line 2 line1
line 2$
(Bold show the program's output. Roman-case is for showing what I typed, sans the two ctrl-D
s)
If this is not what's happening, you need to tell us more about what you are doing.
try:
# You might be inside the while-loop
foo = raw_input('Spam: ') # Or whatever...
except EOFError:
print 'And now for something completely different.'
sys.exit()