How to print one word at a time on one line?

Question

I want to write code which allows me to print a word out and then it disappears and the next word prints. For example, if I have "Hello World!," the program should print "Hello" then the word disappears and then "World!" prints and then disappears. I should be able to change the speed of the printing words as well. Currently I was able to figure out how to print characters at a certain speed, but how do I print words one by one?

import time
import sys

def print_char(s):
    for c in s:
        sys.stdout.write( '%s' % c )
        sys.stdout.flush()
        time.sleep(0.1)

print_char("hello world")

Fredrik Pihl · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-02T22:36:38.897

3

Try this:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import sys
import time

data = "this is a sentence with some words".split()

max_len=max([len(w) for w in data])
pad = " "*max_len
for w in data:
    sys.stdout.write('%s\r' % pad)
    sys.stdout.write("%s\r" % w)
    sys.stdout.flush()
    time.sleep(0.4)

print

Example, just for the fun of it

enter image description here

edited Dec 02 '13 at 22:36

answered Dec 02 '13 at 20:44

Fredrik Pihl

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I run this code through Python shell and I am not getting the same result as the gif file. – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 22:12
which python version? which os (in the gif I use sleep 0.4 just to have a clean separation of the words) – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 22:15
python 3.3.2 i have windows 8 – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 22:30
Tested using python 3.3.0 (on linux) and it works. Updated the code to my exact version (used in gif). Hope it helps... – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 22:38
I am using python 3.3.2 shell and I am still getting the same problem – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 22:46
well, what do you get? Please copy the exact output and place it, either update your post or put it on pastebin. – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 22:47
>>> this is a sentence with some words >>> it just prints the word one by one, but the previous words are not deleting – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 22:53
Probably an issue with the python-shell. Execute the code from the command-prompt. Start the windows-shell (cmd) and do `python c:\path\to\file\file.py` – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 22:57
Also, see this: http://stackoverflow.com/a/19188881/297323 apparently `\r` and `\b` have som issues in IDLE. – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 23:00
I did it in the cmd, and it works perfectly. Do you have any suggestions for shell? – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 23:14
Glad you got it to work! See my link, no support for those characters. What you can do is to use curses instead. Read more in http://docs.python.org/3.3/howto/curses.html to see what you can use on windows – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 23:17

inspectorG4dget · Answer 2 · 2013-12-02T20:51:14.893

0

If words is a list of strings:

def print_char(words):
    for s in words:
        for c in s:
            sys.stdout.write('%s' %c)
            sys.stdout.flush()
            time.sleep(0.1)
        # erase the word
        sys.stdout.write('\b'*len(s))  # backspace the cursor
        sys.stdout.write(' '*len(s))  # overwrite with spaces
        sys.stdout.write('\b'*len(s))  # backspace again, to write the next word

edited Dec 02 '13 at 20:51

answered Dec 02 '13 at 20:43

inspectorG4dget

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howabout using `sys.stdout.write("%s\r"% s)` and prior to that the same with witespace the maximum length of strings in word? – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 20:49
When I run this code, it adds a space between all the characters. It is not deleting the previous words. Is there at least a way for me to print the words one by one? – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 20:58
I just tested this on python3.3 and it works per the description in your OP. Do you want to print each word in a separate line, or do you want to erase each word and overwrite it with the next one? Also, which version of python are you using? – inspectorG4dget Dec 02 '13 at 21:00
I want to erase the word and replace it with the next word. I am using python 3.3 – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 22:32
@edboysega321: then this code should work. It works on my py3.3 – inspectorG4dget Dec 02 '13 at 22:34
I am actually using python 3.3.2 shell. Should I use another program? – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 22:37
>>> print_char("words words words words words words words") w o r d s w o r d s w o r d s w o r d s w o r d s w o r d s w o r d s This is what I'm getting – edboysega321 Dec 02 '13 at 22:54
See http://stackoverflow.com/a/19188881/297323 apparently \r and \b have som issues in idle. Use a different shell :-) – Fredrik Pihl Dec 02 '13 at 23:00

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

Based on the answer to this question:

remove last STDOUT line in Python

You can do something like this:

import time
import sys

CURSER_UP_ONE = '\x1b[1A'
ERASE_LINE = '\x1b[2K'

def delay_print(sentence, pause_between_words):
    for s in sentence.split(" "):
        sys.stdout.write( '%s' % s)
        sys.stdout.flush()
        time.sleep(pause_between_words)
        print(ERASE_LINE + CURSER_UP_ONE)

delay_print("Hello World!", 0.5)

This code will print a word at a time in my terminal, remove the last word and print the next. The last word will be deleted just before termination. Is this how you want it to work? Else let me know.

EDIT: Noticed that you also wanted to have a delay between each character print. Have updated my code accordingly.

EDIT: Based on your comment I removed char by char printing.

I want to print out one word, then the word erases, and the next word prints. I don't want to print a character one by one — edboysega321, Dec 02 '13 at 22:41
I have updated my code accordingly to reflect this. How does it look now? — Dyrborg, Dec 02 '13 at 23:17

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 11 '17 at 20:10

This might not be what youre looking for, and it might not be as fast as some of the other answers, but something that you can do is this:

import time, os

text = "This is a long sentence that has a lot of words in it.".split()

for i in range(len(text)):
    os.system("clear")
    print(text[i])
    time.sleep(0.5)
    os.system("clear")

Where text is the text you want to type, and time.sleep(XXX) is the time between words shown.

How to print one word at a time on one line?

4 Answers4