How to run a loop in the background while running other code in python

Question

I have a python script that (somewhat) plays 2048. The way it works is it presses left, detects if there has been a change or not, and if there hasn't (AKA the move didn't work) it presses up, if that doesn't work it presses down, etc.. If there had been a change it moves on to the next move.

At the same time, I want it to constantly be checking if the user is pressing esc, and if they are, end the program. This way you can end it at any time.

Here's the code that checks for esc:

while True:
    if keyboard.read_key() == "esc":
        endofgame = True
        break

And here's the code that does the moving:

while not endofgame:
    endgameim = grab()
    pxcolour = endgameim.getpixel((818,453))
    print(pxcolour)
    if pxcolour == (123, 110, 101):
        endofgame = True
        print(endofgame)
        break
    while True:
        im = grab()
        pyautogui.press("left")
        im2 = grab()
        diff = ImageChops.difference(im2, im)
        bbox = diff.getbbox()
        print(bbox)
        if bbox is not None:
            continue
        else:
            pyautogui.press("up")
            im2 = grab()
            diff = ImageChops.difference(im2, im)
            bbox = diff.getbbox()
            if bbox is not None:
                continue
            else:
                pyautogui.press("down")
                im2 = grab()
                diff = ImageChops.difference(im2, im)
                bbox = diff.getbbox()
                if bbox is not None:
                    continue
                else:
                    pyautogui.press("right")
                    continue
                    break
            break
    break

By the way, I know I could do this more simply by just scraping the code from the site, but I wanted to challenge myself and do it almost purely by images.

instead of `if bbox is not None: continue else: ...` you could do `if bbox is None: ...` without `continue` — furas, May 09 '21 at 13:04
@furas actually, I originally had this. It doesn't work for some reason, and when I did it the long way, it worked. — TotallyNotTeo, May 09 '21 at 13:44

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 09 '21 at 12:23

Just add your condition in the beginning of the while loop and it will loop with th rest of the code.

while not endofgame:
    if keyboard.read_key() == "esc":
        endofgame = True
        break
    endgameim = grab()
    pxcolour = endgameim.getpixel((818,453))
    print(pxcolour)
    if pxcolour == (123, 110, 101):
        endofgame = True
        print(endofgame)
        break
    while True:
        im = grab()
        pyautogui.press("left")
        im2 = grab()
        diff = ImageChops.difference(im2, im)
        bbox = diff.getbbox()
        print(bbox)
        if bbox is not None:
            continue
        else:
            pyautogui.press("up")
            im2 = grab()
            diff = ImageChops.difference(im2, im)
            bbox = diff.getbbox()
            if bbox is not None:
                continue
            else:
                pyautogui.press("down")
                im2 = grab()
                diff = ImageChops.difference(im2, im)
                bbox = diff.getbbox()
                if bbox is not None:
                    continue
                else:
                    pyautogui.press("right")
                    continue
                    break
            break
    break

This doesn't work - I think it's because FIRSTLY it detects if I press ```esc```, and then if I don't press it at that very millisecond it moves onto the rest of the code. Therefore I have to press ```esc``` right at the very millisecond before it makes its move, which is next to impossible. I could be wrong though. Either way, it doesn't work. — TotallyNotTeo, May 09 '21 at 13:49

How to run a loop in the background while running other code in python

1 Answers1