Check if data available in sockets in python

Question

I want a functionality to check if data is waiting in the socket to be read before reading it. Something like this would be helpful:

if (data available) then read data

else wait in blocking mode till data becomes available

How can I achieve this in Python

Answer 1

while 1:
  socket_list = [sys.stdin, s]
  # Get the list sockets which are readable
  read_sockets, write_sockets, error_sockets = select.select(socket_list , [], [])
  for sock in read_sockets:
   #incoming message from remote server
   if sock == s:
      data = sock.recv(4096)
      if not data :
        print '\nDisconnected from server'
        sys.exit()
      else :
         #print data
         sys.stdout.write(data)


   #user entered a message
   else :
     msg = sys.stdin.readline()
     s.send(msg)