Linux : python : clear input buffer before raw_input()

Question

I have looked at a few thread about this, but it doesn't seem to solve my problem. I am running linux and when I use raw_input(), with a pause between each, it will take the data that I have pressed before, here is an example :

 import time
 a = raw_input("first input")
 b = raw_input("second input")
 time.sleep(5)
 #flush junk?
 a = raw_input("third input")
 b = raw_input("fourth input")

if I press any keys followed by the enter during the 5 seconds, the two other raw input will take the input. I would like to be able to flush the data and let the user be prompted.

thank you.

Answer 1

For unix you can use termios.tcflush

from termios import tcflush, TCIFLUSH
import time,sys

a = raw_input("first input ")
b = raw_input("second input ")

time.sleep(5)
tcflush(sys.stdin, TCIFLUSH)

a = raw_input("third input ")
b = raw_input("fourth input ")

~$ python foo.py 
first input 1
second input 2
33
33
third input 3
fourth input 4

termios.tcflush(fd, queue)

Discard queued data on file descriptor fd. The queue selector specifies which queue: TCIFLUSH for the input queue, TCOFLUSH for the output queue, or TCIOFLUSH for both queues.

Answer 2

Use keypress getch class of tty (linux) and msvcrt (windows) and use sys.stdout.flush() function to flush the buffer