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Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here?

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Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Can you explain what's going on here then?
> 
> import sys, os
> import tty, termios, fcntl
> 
> def getch():
>     """Get a single character from standard input.
> 
>     Does not echo to the screen. This will block waiting for a keypress.
>     """
>     fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
>     old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
>     try:
>         tty.setraw(fd)
>         ch = sys.stdin.read(1)
>     finally:
>         termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings)
>     return ch

In Unix, normally line editing of terminal input is done
by the tty device driver in the kernel. (In the old days
it would have been talking to a real device connected by
a serial line; nowadays it's more likely to be a "pseudo
tty", which is a kind of funky pipe that looks like a
tty from one end.)

The tty driver can operate in a number of modes. In
"cooked" mode it buffers up a line of input, handles
backspacing and other editing, and a few other things
like turning ctrl-C into an interrupt signal. In "raw"
mode, it doesn't buffer anything and passes all characters
straight on to the user process.

The above code is temporarily putting the tty driver into
raw mode, reading one character, and then putting it back
the way it was.

I'm not sure exactly what happens when Python is configured
to use the readline library; probably something in the
file object detects when it's being attached to a tty
and interposes readline, which then puts the tty into raw
mode and does its own thing.

I have even less idea what happens on Windows. The console
there seems to have an API all of its own. (The Unix
philosophy is "everything is a file"; on Windows it
seems to be "only files are files, everything else is
some other weird thing of its own.")

-- 
Greg

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buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 03:42 +0000
  buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? - "TCdaemon.py"  yEnc me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 03:42 +0000
  Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Gary Herron <gary.herron@islandtraining.com> - 2014-01-26 21:04 -0800
    Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 06:17 +0000
      Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Gary Herron <gary.herron@islandtraining.com> - 2014-01-26 23:03 -0800
        Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 07:20 +0000
  Re:buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-01-27 00:36 -0500
    Re:buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 06:02 +0000
      Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Zachary Ware <zachary.ware+pylist@gmail.com> - 2014-01-27 00:47 -0600
        Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 07:17 +0000
          Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Alister <alister.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2014-01-27 12:19 +0000
          Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-01-27 13:48 +0000
          Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Zachary Ware <zachary.ware+pylist@gmail.com> - 2014-01-27 10:23 -0600
            Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Dan Sommers <dan@tombstonezero.net> - 2014-01-27 16:38 +0000
          Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-01-27 16:45 +0000
  Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-01-27 01:21 -0500
    Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 06:42 +0000
      Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-01-26 23:08 -0800
  Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 06:46 +0000
    Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Zachary Ware <zachary.ware+pylist@gmail.com> - 2014-01-27 00:55 -0600
    Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Gary Herron <gary.herron@islandtraining.com> - 2014-01-26 23:12 -0800
      Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 07:30 +0000
        Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2014-01-27 09:45 +0100
    Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-01-26 23:17 -0800
      Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 07:44 +0000
        Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-01-27 20:01 +1100
          Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? me <noone@all.net> - 2014-01-27 09:32 +0000
            Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2014-01-27 12:56 +0000
            Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-01-27 13:56 +0000
            Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2014-01-27 07:33 -0800
              Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-01-28 02:53 +1100
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2014-01-27 12:22 -0800
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-01-28 07:29 +1100
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-01-27 22:25 +0000
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-01-30 18:13 +1300
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-01-30 04:44 -0500
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-01-31 04:06 +0000
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Kushal Kumaran <kushal.kumaran@gmail.com> - 2014-01-31 10:37 +0530
                Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-01-31 19:59 +1300
              Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-01-27 16:22 +0000
            Re: buggy python interpretter or am I missing something here? Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2014-01-27 10:52 -0700

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