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Looking for a way to pause (and then later resume) a Python script every x minutes (with a small random +/-). The original script would run over and over and then every x minutes it would pause for a set amount (again with a random +/-) then continue.

MattC
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2 Answers2

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import time
import random

# this will pause between 1 & 10 minutes, randomly.
time.sleep(60*(random.randint(1, 10)))
Dharman
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Miguel Agurto
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  • Will this pause FOR 1-10 minutes, or will it pause EVERY 1-10 mins? – MattC Jun 22 '21 at 18:25
  • This will pause for 1 - 10 min. (Random). If you have need an specific time you can change to this: time.sleep(60*5) #this will pause for 5 minutes. – Miguel Agurto Jun 24 '21 at 00:26
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Here's an example code using random.uniform() to generate a random float and time.sleep() to wait for a given time.

import random
import time

BASE_DELAY = 60   # base amount in seconds
RAND_MAX = 30     # high end of random in seconds
RAND_MIN = -30    # low end of random in seconds

running = True

def do_stuff():
    #do stuff here, maybe setting running to False
    pass

def loop():
    while running:
        time.sleep(BASE_DELAY + random.uniform(RAND_MIN, RAND_MAX))
        do_stuff()

loop()
Antricks
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  • Where would I include my original code? Sorry, I'm new to coding. – MattC Jun 22 '21 at 19:08
  • You can either replace the call to `do_stuff()` with the things you want to do, or you can add them instead of `pass` inside the `do_stuff` function. (By the way, I like to help, but please try to find solutions to your problems yourself first. Maybe watch a Python Tutorial that covers the basics - there are lots of really good resources out there. The concepts I used here are loops and functions, so it's relatively simple stuff) – Antricks Jun 24 '21 at 04:52