I would like to call a python function or a python file to execute with a hotkey. My function is an infinite loop. I would like to terminate the execution as well with a hotkey. Is it possible?
Windows shortcuts is not an option, because I would like to choose 1 key to execute and not a combination of keys ( for example CRTL + SHIFT + L ) .
It would be nice if the hotkey would be the middle ( scroll ) button of the mouse.
You can setup a hotkey using the mouse module (pip install mouse). To run a function in a loop and then stop in on the hotkey again, you will need to create a new thread (intro to threading) that will run this loop. Then you will want to use an event to stop this thread's execution when the hotkey is pressed again. Below is an example of an implementation that does this.
import mouse # pip install mouse
import threading
import time
def your_function():
# the function you want to execute in the loop
print("Executing your function...")
time.sleep(0.9) # You will probably want to remove this
def repeat_function(kill_event):
print("Starting loop...")
while not kill_event.is_set():
your_function()
print("Exiting loop...")
while True:
print("Waiting for hotkey press...")
kill_event = threading.Event()
new_thread = threading.Thread(target=lambda: repeat_function(kill_event))
# set the hotkey that will start the loop to middle mouse button click
start_hook = mouse.on_middle_click(new_thread.start)
mouse.wait(mouse.MIDDLE, mouse.UP) # wait till the hotkey gets released
mouse.unhook(start_hook) # clear the old hotkey
# set the hotkey to kill the loop instead
end_hook = mouse.on_middle_click(kill_event.set)
mouse.wait(mouse.MIDDLE, mouse.UP)
new_thread.join() # wait for thread to fully finish, unnecessary
mouse.unhook(end_hook) # remove kill hotkey and start again