Python: Ask the user a yes/no question.

python_yes_no_question_timeout.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# License: MIT
# Author: James Cherti
# URL: https://gist.github.com/jamescherti/1f7d9adc428db00f9104312a24537d52
"""Ask the user a yes/no question."""

import sys
import signal
import select

def ask_question(question: str, timeout: int = 0) -> bool:
    """Ask the user a yes/no question."""
    # Empty stdin
    while sys.stdin in select.select([sys.stdin], [], [], 0)[0]:
        line = sys.stdin.readline()
        if not line:
            # stdin is empty
            break

    if timeout > 0:
        def alarm_handler(signum, frame):
            """SIGALRM handler."""
            raise TimeoutError

        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, alarm_handler)
        signal.alarm(timeout)

    try:
        while True:
            try:
                answer = input("{} [y, n] ".format(question))
            except (EOFError, KeyboardInterrupt):
                # Ignore EOF (CTRL-D) and SIGINT (CTRL-C)
                answer = ""

            answer = answer.strip()

            if answer == "y":
                return True
            elif answer == "n":
                return False
            else:
                answer = ""
    finally:
        if timeout > 0:
            signal.alarm(0)  # cancel the alarm

if __name__ == '__main__':
    try:
        print(ask_question("Are you sure? (you have 10 seconds)", timeout=10))
    except TimeoutError:
        print()
        print("Timeout!")