Python Standard Library

The termios Module

(Unix only, Optional) The termios module provides an interface to the Unix terminal control facilities. It can be used to control most aspects of the terminal communication ports.

In Example 12-8, this module is used to temporarily disable keyboard echo (which is controlled by the ECHO flag in the third flag field).

Example 12-8. Using the termios Module

File: termios-example-1.py

import termios, TERMIOS
import sys

fileno = sys.stdin.fileno()

attr = termios.tcgetattr(fileno)
orig = attr[:]

print "attr =>", attr[:4] # flags

# disable echo flag
attr[3] = attr[3] & ~TERMIOS.ECHO

try:
    termios.tcsetattr(fileno, TERMIOS.TCSADRAIN, attr)
    message = raw_input("enter secret message: ")
    print
finally:
    # restore terminal settings
    termios.tcsetattr(fileno, TERMIOS.TCSADRAIN, orig)

print "secret =>", repr(message)

attr => [1280, 5, 189, 35387]
enter secret message:
secret => 'and now for something completely different'