Python: Making a beep noise

Question

I'm trying to get the program to give me a beeping noise. I'm on a windows machine. I've looked at http://docs.python.org/library/winsound.html

But not sure how I can program this with a barcode scanner.

Here is my code for the serial barcode scanner.

ser = serial.Serial()
ser.baudrate = 9600

#for windows
ser.port = 2 #for COM3

ser.open()
ser.write('hello')
ser.close()

UPDATE: Since I'm annoying my co-workers with the beep. Can I get it to come through the audio jack for headphones?

You want the barcode scanner to make the noise or the windows machine it's connected too? — Setheron, Jun 30 '11 at 15:49
the windows machine. I think the barcode scanner will do it by itself — Marc Brigham, Jun 30 '11 at 15:52
Re "Update": Yep, it's a well-known fact that beeps are annoying :) — jforberg, Jun 30 '11 at 16:05
@CharlieParker because win sound is for windows. Print "\a" instead. — noɥʇʎԀʎzɐɹƆ, Jul 16 '16 at 16:32
Not sure about Windows, but on Linux, there's the command-line program called `play` that will play MP3s if you want to just record a compressed audio beep. You can probably get an equivalent for Windows. — Brōtsyorfuzthrāx, Sep 24 '21 at 14:45

score 234 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 16 '17 at 09:16

234

On Windows, if you want to just make the computer make a beep sound:

import winsound
frequency = 2500  # Set Frequency To 2500 Hertz
duration = 1000  # Set Duration To 1000 ms == 1 second
winsound.Beep(frequency, duration)

The winsound.Beep() can be used wherever you want the beep to occur.

edited Oct 16 '17 at 09:16

Oddthinking

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answered Jun 30 '11 at 15:53

CyanRook

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This one is neat: `def annoy(): for i in range(1, 10): winsound.Beep(i * 100, 200)` – Skurmedel Jun 30 '11 at 15:56
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Or `def sos(): for i in range(0, 3): winsound.Beep(2000, 100) for i in range(0, 3): winsound.Beep(2000, 400) for i in range(0, 3): winsound.Beep(2000, 100)`. I should probably go back to work now :D – Skurmedel Jun 30 '11 at 16:00
1

On windows winsound.Beep is carried across windows Sounds. – Jakob Bowyer Jun 30 '11 at 16:03
2

I am on Mac, can't find this on pip repo? – Volatil3 May 05 '16 at 17:23
winsound is a windows specific library – Ramast Aug 16 '20 at 20:11

score 188 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 28 '20 at 10:13

188

The cross-platform way to do this is to print('\a'). This will send the ASCII Bell character to stdout, and will hopefully generate a beep (a for 'alert'). Note that many modern terminal emulators provide the option to ignore bell characters.

Since you're on Windows, you'll be happy to hear that Windows has its own (brace yourself) Beep API, which allows you to send beeps of arbitrary length and pitch. Note that this is a Windows-only solution, so you should probably prefer print('\a') unless you really care about Hertz and milliseconds.

The Beep API is accessed through the winsound module: http://docs.python.org/library/winsound.html

edited Aug 28 '20 at 10:13

Cyberwiz

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answered Jun 30 '11 at 15:59

jforberg

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Although he asked specifically for Windows, I think this is the all around better solution, unless the WinSound API will revert to \a for OS independant. There are plenty of audio APIs as well – Setheron Jun 30 '11 at 16:17
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Frankly, I would avoid playing PC-speaker beeps altogether in a serious programming effort. If he is indeed on Windows, he should probably try to play the system theme's default "alert" signal instead. With any luck, that signal is accessible through whatever GUI package he's using. – jforberg Jun 30 '11 at 16:25
3

If you use print in a console app, consider adding end="" to prevent a newline every time you beep. – Tony Jul 28 '14 at 15:13
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@jforberg The api for that is [winsound.MessageBeep](https://docs.python.org/2/library/winsound.html#winsound.MessageBeep) which can take MB_ICONASTERISK, MB_ICONEXCLAMATION, MB_ICONHAND, MB_ICONQUESTION, and MB_OK. – Peter Wood Sep 28 '14 at 20:49
Also, if you're using `curses`, you can use `curses.beep()`. Haven't tested it to see if it works in the Windows version of `curses` yet. – ArtOfWarfare Feb 21 '15 at 19:48
This doesn't work in cygwin. I have a alias set up to do "doThis && cd there && doThat && cd here && doTheOtherThing" but the problem is that doThis, doThat, and doTheOtherThing all take a while, and doThat waits for user input, so I might go off and minimize that window and go do something else, not realizing that it is waiting for me. I thought maybe I could do a quick python script because echo -ne '\007' also does not work. I dont have the ability to use winsound from the accepted answer on my machine either. Does anyone have any suggestions? or is this a new question on superuser? – searchengine27 Mar 16 '15 at 17:06
@searchengine27 That's a new question – jforberg Mar 17 '15 at 20:08
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If you're using Python 3, don't forget to use parentheses or you'll get a syntax error. Use print('\a') – ZorroDeLaArena Mar 27 '15 at 19:38
"If he is indeed on Windows, he should probably try to play the system theme's default "alert" signal instead. With any luck, that signal is accessible through whatever GUI package he's using." FWIW, printing a `\a` does exactly that nowadays (at least on my Win10 system). – Karl Knechtel Oct 18 '18 at 06:26
On **MacOS** `\a` briefly dims the terminal window. A kinder, gentler beep. – Bob Stein Mar 07 '19 at 15:35
'\a' does NOT play anything for me on windows. – M.Hossein Rahimi Dec 30 '21 at 19:38
Trying to do this in python installed in termux on android. It does not play audio but vibrates. Any idea how to make it work? – MsA Nov 25 '22 at 18:07

score 41 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 24 '13 at 14:25

41

Linux.

$ apt-get install beep

$ python
>>> os.system("beep -f 555 -l 460")

OR

$ beep -f 659 -l 460 -n -f 784 -l 340 -n -f 659 -l 230 -n -f 659 -l 110 -n -f 880 -l 230 -n -f 659 -l 230 -n -f 587 -l 230 -n -f 659 -l 460 -n -f 988 -l 340 -n -f 659 -l 230 -n -f 659 -l 110 -n -f 1047-l 230 -n -f 988 -l 230 -n -f 784 -l 230 -n -f 659 -l 230 -n -f 988 -l 230 -n -f 1318 -l 230 -n -f 659 -l 110 -n -f 587 -l 230 -n -f 587 -l 110 -n -f 494 -l 230 -n -f 740 -l 230 -n -f 659 -l 460

answered Sep 24 '13 at 14:25

14

Downvoted for two reasons: first, GNU/Linux != Debian and apt-get isn't universal; second, you shouldn't use os.system, use the subprocess module instead. – Ben Feb 04 '15 at 10:42
1

As a linux user trying to get a simple and cheap beep going for when a long code finishes, this was by and far the easiest solution. I especially loved the little jingle! Note that you may have to call "sudo modprobe pcspkr" and install beep before this option will work, according to https://askubuntu.com/questions/19906/beep-in-shell-script-not-working – John Haberstroh Apr 17 '17 at 03:07
14

`os.system` is fine, especially with a hardcoded value, not everyone is writing a webserver. – c z Dec 05 '18 at 16:02
typo `-f 1047-l`, should be `-f 1047 -l`, space missing – Jun 26 '20 at 13:18
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@Ben Old question, but fwiw it seems pretty harsh to downvote this. The question relates to an area with no cross-platform solution as I understand it. The accepted answer with 140 likes is Windows-specific. And you don't explain why a legitimate module is "bad" practice. – geotheory Jul 14 '20 at 08:43
@geotheory this appears to be a typical case where adhesion to an arbitrary subset of specifics is upheld over the net (or big picture) relevance. It's highly likely any programmer who can use Linux, would know how to install packages or could easily figure it out. As for the second premise, it looks like c z might be correct in the same way as to the relevance. – ecv Oct 12 '21 at 14:18

c z · Answer 4 · 2019-01-08T17:35:36.360

There's a Windows answer, and a Debian answer, so here's a Mac one:

This assumes you're just here looking for a quick way to make a customisable alert sound, and not specifically the piezeoelectric beep you get on Windows:

os.system( "say beep" )

Disclaimer: You can replace os.system with a call to the subprocess module if you're worried about someone hacking on your beep code.

See: How to make the hardware beep sound in Mac OS X 10.6

score 24 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 03 '15 at 15:00

24

I was searching for the same but for Linux shell.

The topic brought me to an answer, -thanks-

Maybe more pythonic manner :

import os
beep = lambda x: os.system("echo -n '\a';sleep 0.2;" * x)
beep(3)

Notes :

the sleep value (here 0.2), depends on the length (seconds) of your default beep sound
I choosed to use os.system rather then subprocess.Popen for simplicity (it could be bad)
the '-n' for echo is to have no more display
the last ';' after sleep is necessary for the resulting text sequence (*x)
also tested through ssh on an X term

answered Nov 03 '15 at 15:00

s4mdf0o1

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Python has an equivalent of both `echo` (`print`) and `sleep`, so it is actually not pythonic to go through external calls, especially when they are (non-portable) Unix calls. – Eric O. Lebigot Dec 17 '17 at 12:36
what does (3) means? – bumbumpaw Mar 20 '19 at 13:08
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@bumbumpaw the `(3)` is passed to the lambda as the `x` argument. For this specific case, the "echo -n '\a';sleep 0.2;" string will be concatenated 3 time with itself generating the string "echo -n '\a';sleep 0.2;echo -n '\a';sleep 0.2;echo -n '\a';sleep 0.2;" before actual call to the `os.system` function. – Hemerson Tacon Jan 26 '22 at 16:15

score 21 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 15 '21 at 01:41

21

I found this library to be helpful: Install beepy,

pip install beepy

There are 6 different sound options, you can see details here: https://pypi.org/project/beepy/

Code snip to listen to all the sounds:

import beepy as beep
for ii in range(1,7): 
    beep.beep(ii)

answered Jan 15 '21 at 01:41

Brad123

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I had an issue with `winsound.Beep(....)` in w10 (I needed to run troubleshooter to solve it each time I run `winsound.Beep(....)`), but this solved it. – Minions Mar 15 '21 at 22:35
1

@user_007 I was also getting some errors after running it the first few times. I'm not sure what the problem was but I ended up bagging it and using '\a' instead. – Brad123 Mar 17 '21 at 00:20
On windows 10 in 2022, pip install beepy fails with error installing simpleaudio – tobi delbruck Dec 30 '22 at 15:26

FooBar167 · Answer 7 · 2021-05-13T08:18:57.643

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The cross-platform way:

import time
import sys
for i in range(1,6):
    sys.stdout.write('\r\a{i}'.format(i=i))
    sys.stdout.flush()
    time.sleep(1)
sys.stdout.write('\n')

Thanks to c z:

print(end='\a')

edited May 13 '21 at 08:18

answered Jul 13 '17 at 11:36

FooBar167

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The only important part of this is `sys.stdout.write('\a')` – jstrieb May 03 '18 at 00:51
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@jstrieb -- this is a tiny standalone program. Its importance in the completeness itself. – FooBar167 May 07 '18 at 10:24
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`print(end='\a')` – c z May 12 '21 at 11:31
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Does not work on windows when using `pythonw`, only `python` – Andy Aug 07 '21 at 18:47
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Note that \a doesn't seem to make a beep on Termux. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Sep 24 '21 at 14:44

score 10 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 31 '21 at 11:41

10

If you want beep from Zelda or Mario theme :

!pip install chime
import chime
chime.theme('zelda')

chime.success()
chime.warning()
chime.error()
chime.info()
chime.notify_exceptions()

1/0

answered Dec 31 '21 at 11:41

OrganicMustard

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This was the only thing that worked for me. Running PyCharm on Ubuntu. – JLagana Jan 19 '22 at 10:00

score 6 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Using `pygame` on any platform

The advantage of using pygame is that it can be made to work on any OS platform. Below example code is for GNU/Linux though.

First install the pygame module for python3 as explained in detail here.

$ sudo pip3 install pygame

The pygame module can play .wav and .ogg files from any file location. Here is an example:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import pygame
pygame.mixer.init()
sound = pygame.mixer.Sound('/usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/phone-incoming-call.oga')
sound.play()

score 6 · Answer 10 · edited Aug 29 '20 at 12:57

6

On linux: print('\007') will make the system bell sound.

edited Aug 29 '20 at 12:57

Arghya Sadhu

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answered Aug 29 '20 at 12:19

Rodrigo

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qed · Answer 11 · 2016-04-05T16:05:58.110

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I have made a package for that purpose.

You can use it like this:

from pybeep.pybeep import PyVibrate, PyBeep
PyVibrate().beep()
PyVibrate().beepn(3)
PyBeep().beep()
PyBeep().beepn(3)

It depends on sox and only supports python3.

edited Apr 05 '16 at 16:05

answered Dec 22 '14 at 13:24

qed

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Try pip3 install pybeep. – qed Apr 05 '16 at 03:13
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Just know that you gotta install sox. run: brew install sox – Jam M. Hernandez Quiceno Feb 28 '19 at 19:50

score 0 · Answer 12 · edited May 04 '23 at 07:26

For all systems:

def beep():
  output.eval_js('new Audio("data:audio/wav;base64,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").play()')

beep()

Notebook developers must add a beep function to the output.

score -3 · Answer 13 · edited Dec 03 '20 at 23:35

-3

# playsound in cross plate form, just install it with pip
#  first install playsound > pip install playsound
from playsound import playsound
playsound('audio.mp3')

edited Dec 03 '20 at 23:35

desertnaut

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answered Dec 03 '20 at 18:59

Wester king

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While this can play the file `audio.mp3`, it doesn't really give an answer to the original question. – Steven Dec 03 '20 at 19:25

Python: Making a beep noise

13 Answers13

Using `pygame` on any platform

Linked

Python: Making a beep noise

13 Answers13

Using pygame on any platform

Linked

Using `pygame` on any platform