curses module. i'd have a look at the addstr() and addch() functions. Never used it though.

Something like this, assuming your terminal handles \b

import sys
import time


def spinning_cursor():
while True:
for cursor in '|/-\\':
yield cursor


spinner = spinning_cursor()
for _ in range(50):
sys.stdout.write(next(spinner))
sys.stdout.flush()
time.sleep(0.1)
sys.stdout.write('\b')

Grab the awesome progressbar module - http://code.google.com/p/python-progressbar/ use RotatingMarker.

A nice pythonic way is to use itertools.cycle:

import itertools, sys
spinner = itertools.cycle(['-', '/', '|', '\\'])
while True:
sys.stdout.write(next(spinner))   # write the next character
sys.stdout.flush()                # flush stdout buffer (actual character display)
sys.stdout.write('\b')            # erase the last written char

Also, you might want to use threading to display the spinner during a long function call, as in http://www.interclasse.com/scripts/spin.php

import sys
def DrowWaitCursor(counter):
if counter % 4 == 0:
print("/",end = "")
elif counter % 4 == 1:
print("-",end = "")
elif counter % 4 == 2:
print("\\",end = "")
elif counter % 4 == 3:
print("|",end = "")
sys.stdout.flush()
sys.stdout.write('\b')

This can be also another solution using a function with a parameter.

Easy to use API (this will run the spinner in a separate thread):

import sys
import time
import threading


class Spinner:
busy = False
delay = 0.1


@staticmethod
def spinning_cursor():
while 1:
for cursor in '|/-\\': yield cursor


def __init__(self, delay=None):
self.spinner_generator = self.spinning_cursor()
if delay and float(delay): self.delay = delay


def spinner_task(self):
while self.busy:
sys.stdout.write(next(self.spinner_generator))
sys.stdout.flush()
time.sleep(self.delay)
sys.stdout.write('\b')
sys.stdout.flush()


def __enter__(self):
self.busy = True
threading.Thread(target=self.spinner_task).start()


def __exit__(self, exception, value, tb):
self.busy = False
time.sleep(self.delay)
if exception is not None:
return False

Now use it in a with block anywhere in the code:

with Spinner():
# ... some long-running operations
# time.sleep(3)

Here ya go - simple and clear.

import sys
import time


idx = 0
cursor = ['|','/','-','\\'] #frames of an animated cursor


while True:
sys.stdout.write(cursor[idx])
sys.stdout.write('\b')
idx = idx + 1


if idx > 3:
idx = 0


time.sleep(.1)

Crude but simple solution:

import sys
import time
cursor = ['|','/','-','\\']
for count in range(0,1000):
sys.stdout.write('\b{}'.format(cursor[count%4]))
sys.stdout.flush()
# replace time.sleep() with some logic
time.sleep(.1)

There are obvious limitations, but again, crude.

I built a generic Singleton, shared by the entire application

from itertools import cycle
import threading
import time




class Spinner:
__default_spinner_symbols_list = ['|-----|', '|#----|', '|-#---|', '|--#--|', '|---#-|', '|----#|']


def __init__(self, spinner_symbols_list: [str] = None):
spinner_symbols_list = spinner_symbols_list if spinner_symbols_list else Spinner.__default_spinner_symbols_list
self.__screen_lock = threading.Event()
self.__spinner = cycle(spinner_symbols_list)
self.__stop_event = False
self.__thread = None


def get_spin(self):
return self.__spinner


def start(self, spinner_message: str):
self.__stop_event = False
time.sleep(0.3)


def run_spinner(message):
while not self.__stop_event:
print("\r{message} {spinner}".format(message=message, spinner=next(self.__spinner)), end="")
time.sleep(0.3)


self.__screen_lock.set()


self.__thread = threading.Thread(target=run_spinner, args=(spinner_message,), daemon=True)
self.__thread.start()


def stop(self):
self.__stop_event = True
if self.__screen_lock.is_set():
self.__screen_lock.wait()
self.__screen_lock.clear()
print("\r", end="")


print("\r", end="")


if __name__ == '__main__':
import time
# Testing
spinner = Spinner()
spinner.start("Downloading")
# Make actions
time.sleep(5) # Simulate a process
#
spinner.stop()

Improved version from @Victor Moyseenko as the original version had few issues

1. was leaving spinner's characters after spinning is complete
2. and sometimes lead to removing following output's first character too
3. avoids a rare race condition by putting threading.Lock() on output
4. falls back to simpler output when no tty is available (no spinning)

import sys
import threading
import itertools
import time


class Spinner:


def __init__(self, message, delay=0.1):
self.spinner = itertools.cycle(['-', '/', '|', '\\'])
self.delay = delay
self.busy = False
self.spinner_visible = False
sys.stdout.write(message)


def write_next(self):
with self._screen_lock:
if not self.spinner_visible:
sys.stdout.write(next(self.spinner))
self.spinner_visible = True
sys.stdout.flush()


def remove_spinner(self, cleanup=False):
with self._screen_lock:
if self.spinner_visible:
sys.stdout.write('\b')
self.spinner_visible = False
if cleanup:
sys.stdout.write(' ')       # overwrite spinner with blank
sys.stdout.write('\r')      # move to next line
sys.stdout.flush()


def spinner_task(self):
while self.busy:
self.write_next()
time.sleep(self.delay)
self.remove_spinner()


def __enter__(self):
if sys.stdout.isatty():
self._screen_lock = threading.Lock()
self.busy = True
self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.spinner_task)
self.thread.start()


def __exit__(self, exception, value, tb):
if sys.stdout.isatty():
self.busy = False
self.remove_spinner(cleanup=True)
else:
sys.stdout.write('\r')

example of usage of the Spinner class above:

with Spinner("just waiting a bit.. "):


time.sleep(3)

uploaded code to https://github.com/Tagar/stuff/blob/master/spinner.py

Nice, simple, and clean...

while True:
for i in '|\\-/':
print('\b' + i, end='')

I have found py-spin package on GitHub. It has many nice spinning Styles. Here are some sample about how to use, Spin1 is the \-/ style:

from __future__ import print_function


import time


from pyspin.spin import make_spin, Spin1


# Choose a spin style and the words when showing the spin.
@make_spin(Spin1, "Downloading...")
def download_video():
time.sleep(10)


if __name__ == '__main__':
print("I'm going to download a video, and it'll cost much time.")
download_video()
print("Done!")
time.sleep(0.1)

It is also possible to control the spin manualy:

from __future__ import print_function


import sys
import time


from pyspin.spin import Spin1, Spinner


# Choose a spin style.
spin = Spinner(Spin1)
# Spin it now.
for i in range(50):
print(u"\r{0}".format(spin.next()), end="")
sys.stdout.flush()
time.sleep(0.1)

Other styles in the below gif.

I propose a solution using decorators

from itertools import cycle
import functools
import threading
import time




def spinner(message, spinner_symbols: list = None):
spinner_symbols = spinner_symbols or list("|/-\\")
spinner_symbols = cycle(spinner_symbols)
global spinner_event
spinner_event = True


def start():
global spinner_event
while spinner_event:
symbol = next(spinner_symbols)
print("\r{message} {symbol}".format(message=message, symbol=symbol), end="")
time.sleep(0.3)


def stop():
global spinner_event
spinner_event = False
print("\r", end="")


def external(fct):
@functools.wraps(fct)
def wrapper(*args):
spinner_thread = threading.Thread(target=start, daemon=True)
spinner_thread.start()
result = fct(*args)
stop()
spinner_thread.join()


return result


return wrapper


return external

Simple usage

@spinner("Downloading")
def f():
time.sleep(10)

For completeness I want to add the great package halo. It offers a lot of preset spinners and higher level customization options.

Extract from their readme

from halo import Halo


spinner = Halo(text='Loading', spinner='dots')
spinner.start()


# Run time consuming work here
# You can also change properties for spinner as and when you want


spinner.stop()

Alternatively, you can use halo with Python's with statement:

from halo import Halo


with Halo(text='Loading', spinner='dots'):
# Run time consuming work here

Finally, you can use halo as a decorator:

from halo import Halo


@Halo(text='Loading', spinner='dots')
def long_running_function():
# Run time consuming work here
pass


long_running_function()

import requests
import time
import sys


weathercity = input("What city are you in? ")
weather = requests.get('http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q='+weathercity+'&appid=886705b4c1182eb1c69f28eb8c520e20')
url = ('http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q='+weathercity+'&appid=886705b4c1182eb1c69f28eb8c520e20')








def spinning_cursor():
while True:
for cursor in '|/-\\':
yield cursor




data = weather.json()


temp = data['main']['temp']
description = data['weather'][0]['description']
weatherprint ="In {}, it is currently {}°C with {}."
spinner = spinning_cursor()
for _ in range(25):
sys.stdout.write(next(spinner))
sys.stdout.flush()
time.sleep(0.1)
sys.stdout.write('\b')


convert = int(temp - 273.15)
print(weatherprint.format(weathercity, convert, description))

You can write '\r\033[K' to clear the current line. And the following is a example modified from @nos.

import sys
import time


def spinning_cursor():
while True:
for cursor in '|/-\\':
yield cursor


spinner = spinning_cursor()


for _ in range(1, 10):
content = f'\r{next(spinner)} Downloading...'
print(content, end="")
time.sleep(0.1)
print('\r\033[K', end="")

For anyone who interested in nodejs, I also write a nodejs example.

function* makeSpinner(start = 0, end = 100, step = 1) {
let iterationCount = 0;
while (true) {
for (const char of '|/-\\') {
yield char;
}
}
return iterationCount;
}


async function sleep(seconds) {
return new Promise((resolve) => {
setTimeout(resolve, seconds * 1000);
});
}


(async () => {
const spinner = makeSpinner();
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
content = `\r${spinner.next().value} Downloading...`;
process.stdout.write(content);
await sleep(0.1);
process.stdout.write('\r\033[K');
}
})();

I just started with python about a week ago and found this posting. I've combined a bit of what I found here with stuff I learned about threads and queues elsewhere to provide a much better implementation in my opinion. In my solution, writing to the screen is handled by a thread that checks a queue for content. If that queue has content, the cursor spinning thread knows to stop. On the flipside, the cursor spinning thread uses a queue as a lock so the printing thread knows not to print until a full pass of the spinner code is complete. This prevents race conditions and a lot of excess code people are using to keep the console clean.

See below:

import threading, queue, itertools, sys, time # all required for my version of spinner
import datetime #not required for spinning cursor solution, only my example


console_queue = queue.Queue() # this queue should be initialized before functions
screenlock = queue.Queue()    # this queue too...




def main():
threading.Thread(target=spinner).start()
threading.Thread(target=consoleprint).start()


while True:
# instead of invoking print or stdout.write, we just add items to the console_queue
# The next three lines are an example of my code in practice.
time.sleep(.5) # wait half a second
currenttime = "[" + datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S") + "] "
console_queue.put(currenttime) # The most important part.  Substitute your print and stdout functions with this.




def spinner(console_queue = console_queue, screenlock = screenlock):
spinnerlist = itertools.cycle(['|', '/', '-', '\\'])
while True:
if console_queue.empty():
screenlock.put("locked")
sys.stdout.write(next(spinnerlist))
sys.stdout.flush()
sys.stdout.write('\b')
sys.stdout.flush()
screenlock.get()
time.sleep(.1)




def consoleprint(console_queue = console_queue, screenlock = screenlock):
while True:
if not console_queue.empty():
while screenlock.empty() == False:
time.sleep(.1)
sys.stdout.flush()
print(console_queue.get())
sys.stdout.flush()




if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

Having said all I said and written all I've written, I've only been doing python stuff for a week. If there are cleaner ways of doing this or I missed some best practices I'd love to learn. Thanks.

Here is the simplest loading spinner for python:

import  time
spin=["loading...... ", "|", "/","-", "\"]
for i in spin:
print("\b"+i, end=" ")
time.sleep (0.2)

Output:

loading...... |

if you wanna python text spinner you can look picture

Simple:

print_spinner("Hayatta en hakiki mürşit ilimdir.")