Python - A keyboard command to stop infinite loop?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Why can't I handle a KeyboardInterrupt in python?

I was playing around with some Python code and created an infinite loop:

y = 0
x = -4

itersLeft = x
while(itersLeft<0):
    y = y + x
    itersLeft = itersLeft - 1
    print "y = ",y, "itersLeft = ", itersLeft

print y

Is there a keyboard shortcut that would allow me to stop the looping - allowing me to fix the loop and then restart it?

I've tried Ctrl+C and didn't have any luck. If it helps I'm using a Windows 7 environment.

Thanks.

EDIT

I should have also mentioned that I'm using Aptana Studio 3 and attempted to run the Ctrl+C command within that. It doesn't work there - but trying it within the regular console works fine. I'm assuming it must be because of the Aptana environment.

Seeing that you are using Aptana Studio 3, is it at least 3.03? http://jira.appcelerator.org/browse/APSTUD-1469 What happened when you killed it with task manager? Have you tried ctrl+z? — Keller Scholl, Dec 01 '11 at 00:55
Why the hell is this marked as a duplicate? That's just plain dumb, excluding cursing. The so-called "original" is about catching *KeyboardInterrupt* errors. — HarryCBurn, Jun 22 '14 at 19:27

score 33 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 02 '18 at 12:16

33

Ctrl+C is what you need. If it didn't work, hit it harder. :-) Of course, you can also just close the shell window.

Edit: You didn't mention the circumstances. As a last resort, you could write a batch file that contains taskkill /im python.exe, and put it on your desktop, Start menu, etc. and run it when you need to kill a runaway script. Of course, it will kill all Python processes, so be careful.

edited Mar 02 '18 at 12:16

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answered Dec 01 '11 at 00:47

kindall

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Thanks Kindall. I should also have mentioned that I'm using Aptana Studio 3 and attempted to use the Ctrl-C command there. It works fine in the regular terminal window, but not within Aptana. I actually had to restart Aptana in order to stop the loop. – PhillipKregg Dec 01 '11 at 00:53
@Phillip: Don't know about Aptana, but most IDE's have a "Stop" or "Stop and Restart" button for console apps. – mpen Dec 01 '11 at 01:00
Ok, thanks for the help - I was just hoping the keyboard shortcut would work within Aptana. – PhillipKregg Dec 01 '11 at 01:08
what if you executed the python script from rc.local? :( – john k Jun 18 '16 at 02:05
I've got nothing but an anecdotal "hunch" but I feel runaway printing responds more snappily to `` when the `-u` command line flag (for unbuffering stdout/err) is set. Eg. `python -u my-loop-script.py`. – J.M. Janzen Sep 13 '16 at 17:34
Does Ctrl-C throw an exception that would mean it wouldn't work if it's in a try block? – Kyle Delaney Dec 30 '16 at 02:11
On linux/osx you could use `pkill -f mynastyscript.py` — so you will only kill your script and not everything else. You don't have to include the extension if the name is unique enough since `-f` will match by any substring in the full command line. – ccpizza Nov 08 '17 at 20:46

Python - A keyboard command to stop infinite loop?

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