pythonwindowscursespython-curses

curses.addstr does not output to console

I've recently installed the windows-curses module on my machine, via py -m pip install windows-curses run in an elevated command prompt.

I wrote the following code to test if it was working correctly. If it runs correctly, it should print the string test to the console. However, nothing happens - i.e the terminal remains blank, with no characters displayed.

#initialise curses
import curses
stdscr=curses.initscr()
curses.noecho()
curses.cbreak()
stdscr.keypad(True)

#write text
stdscr.addstr(0,0,'test')

#loop program so the terminal does not close
while 1:
    pass

I've tried putting the addstr call inside the while loop, as well as using the wrapper, but neither resolved the issue. What's going on, and how can I resolve this issue? Thanks in advance!

Solution

  • You have to refresh the screen. Curses does a physical screen update when you ask for input, e.g. with window.getch() or call window.refresh() directly. Try this snippet:

    #write text
stdscr.addstr(0, 0, 'test')

#loop program so the terminal does not close
while 1:
    c = stdscr.getch()
    key = curses.keyname(c)
    if key == b'q':
        break
    else:
        stdscr.addstr(1, 0, repr(key))

curses.endwin()