How can I make a time delay in Python? [duplicate]

Answer 1

This is an easy example of a time delay:

import time

def delay(period='5'):
    # If the user enters nothing, it'll wait 5 seconds
    try:
        # If the user not enters a int, I'll just return ''
        time.sleep(period)
    except:
        return ''

Another, in Tkinter:

import tkinter

def tick():
    pass

root = Tk()
delay = 100 # Time in milliseconds
root.after(delay, tick)
root.mainloop()

Answer 2

While everyone else has suggested the de facto time module, I thought I'd share a different method using matplotlib's pyplot function, pause.

An example

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
plt.pause(5)    # Pauses the program for 5 seconds

Typically this is used to prevent the plot from disappearing as soon as it is plotted or to make crude animations.

This would save you an import if you already have matplotlib imported.

Answer 3

Delays can be also implemented by using the following methods.

The first method:

import time
time.sleep(5) # Delay for 5 seconds.

The second method to delay would be using the implicit wait method:

 driver.implicitly_wait(5)

The third method is more useful when you have to wait until a particular action is completed or until an element is found:

self.wait.until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.ID, 'UserName'))

Answer 4

The Tkinter library in the Python standard library is an interactive tool which you can import. Basically, you can create buttons and boxes and popups and stuff that appear as windows which you manipulate with code.

If you use Tkinter, do not use time.sleep(), because it will muck up your program. This happened to me. Instead, use root.after() and replace the values for however many seconds, with a milliseconds. For example, time.sleep(1) is equivalent to root.after(1000) in Tkinter.

Otherwise, time.sleep(), which many answers have pointed out, which is the way to go.

Answer 5

You also can try this:

import time
# The time now
start = time.time() 
while time.time() - start < 10: # Run 1- seconds
    pass
# Do the job

Now the shell will not crash or not react.

Answer 6

import time
time.sleep(5)   # Delays for 5 seconds. You can also use a float value.

Here is another example where something is run approximately once a minute:

import time
while True:
    print("This prints once a minute.")
    time.sleep(60) # Delay for 1 minute (60 seconds).