Print 2 lines in the console concurrently in Python

Question

I'm using Python 3 to output 2 progress bars in the console like this:

100%|###############################################|       
 45%|######################                         |

Both bars grow concurrently in separate threads.

The thread operations are fine and both progress bars are doing their job, but when I want to print them out they print on top of each other on one line in the console. I just got one line progress bar which alternates between showing these 2 progress bars.

Is there any way these progress bars can grow on separate lines concurrently?

Answer 1

You need a CLI framework. Curses is perfect if you are working on Unix (and there is a port for Windows which can be found here : https://stackoverflow.com/a/19851287/1741450 )

import curses
import time
import threading

def show_progress(win,X_line,sleeping_time):

    # This is to move the progress bar per iteration.
    pos = 10
    # Random number I chose for demonstration.
    for i in range(15):
        # Add '.' for each iteration.
        win.addstr(X_line,pos,".")
        # Refresh or we'll never see it.
        win.refresh()
        # Here is where you can customize for data/percentage.
        time.sleep(sleeping_time)
        # Need to move up or we'll just redraw the same cell!
        pos += 1
    # Current text: Progress ............... Done!
    win.addstr(X_line,26,"Done!")
    # Gotta show our changes.
    win.refresh()
    # Without this the bar fades too quickly for this example.
    time.sleep(0.5)

def show_progress_A(win):
    show_progress( win, 1, 0.1)

def show_progress_B(win):
    show_progress( win, 4 , 0.5)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    curses.initscr()


    win = curses.newwin(6,32,14,10)
    win.border(0)
    win.addstr(1,1,"Progress ")
    win.addstr(4,1,"Progress ")
    win.refresh()

    threading.Thread( target = show_progress_B, args = (win,) ).start()
    time.sleep(2.0)
    threading.Thread( target = show_progress_A, args = (win,)).start()