How to start a job and return value before job has completed?

Question

I want the following:

def start_job_and_return_string():
    start_job() #takes a while  
    return "job started"

by calling start_job_and_return_string I want to instantly get a string back. Later on the job will dump its results into the filesystem.

How can I accomplish this?

This might be useful: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57234827/wait-for-async-function-to-complete — Cyclonecode, Jun 19 '22 at 13:51

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 19 '22 at 13:52

One simple option is to use a thread:

from time import sleep
from threading import Thread

def start_job():
    sleep(1)
    print("all done!")

def start_job_and_return_string():
    Thread(target=start_job).start()
    return "job started"

print(start_job_and_return_string())

prints:

job started
all done!

How to start a job and return value before job has completed?

1 Answers1