How to display a countdown on a single line in the console?

Question

I need a countdown timer in python but without skipping line.

from time import sleep

for c in range (4,0,-1):
   print(c)
   sleep(1)

this code makes the countdown by jumping the lines ex:

print('3')
print('2')
print('1')

I need that in the same line show first 3, then 2, last 1. ex:

print('3,' + sleep(1) + '2,' + sleep(1) + '1.')

I don't know what you mean by "skipping line". Can you please clarify what your code is currently doing wrong? — Shadow, Nov 16 '17 at 02:27
See if the question [**Text Progress Bar in the Console**](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3173320/text-progress-bar-in-the-console) helps. — martineau, Nov 16 '17 at 02:32
You can print each digit with `print(c, end='\r')`. After the loop, do one `print()` to finish and go to the next line. — martineau, Nov 16 '17 at 02:34

SaGwa · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-16T02:37:55.700

8

If you want delete previous number in console, you can do like

from time import sleep
import os

for i in range(4, 0, -1):
    os.system("cls")
    print(i)
    sleep(1)

this.

or you can use end parameter in print function.

from time import sleep

for i in range(4, 0, -1):
    print(i, end = '\r')
    sleep(1)

like this.

edited Nov 16 '17 at 02:37

answered Nov 16 '17 at 02:32

SaGwa

For this to work you *may* need to disable input buffering in python... – Shadow Nov 16 '17 at 02:42
If you change the range to span numbers of more than two digits, when you get to 9 you see '90' instead of '9' in the terminal. Setting flush=True on print() doesn't remedy this issue either. Why is this? – rafello Oct 11 '19 at 13:19
`sh: 1: cls: not found` – alper Dec 08 '21 at 02:05
@alper cls is clear command for Windows. you should use clear or method below. – SaGwa Dec 11 '21 at 08:46

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 19 '22 at 22:44

from time import sleep

for i in range(4, 0, -1):
    print(i, end = ' \r')
    sleep(1)

Note the space before '\r'.

When counting down from 10 to 9, 90 is displayed instead of 9 or from 100 to 99, 990 is displayed instead of 99 when no space is added before '\r'.

Adding space before '\r' prevents the extra digit from being displayed.

2 Answers2