Develop Reference

How can I use a file as stdin in Python?

I'm writing unit-tests for an application that uses Python's built-in cmd.Cmd class.
I'm writing test-cases to test the shell program, which listens for user input on sys.stdin.
In the constructor arguments for Cmd, there is an stdin parameter.
I have a Shell class that inherits from Cmd:
class Shell(cmd.Cmd):
intro = "shell"
prompt = "(shell) "
def __init__(self, incoming_q, outgoing_q, completekey='tab', stdin=None, stdout=None):
super().__init__(completekey=completekey, stdin=stdin, stdout=stdout)
self.incoming_q = incoming_q
self.outgoing_q = outgoing_q
def parse(self, args):
cm, args = args.split("+")
ret = {
"command": cm,
"args": [],
"flags": []
}
for arg in tuple(args.split()):
if arg[0] == "-":
ret["flags"].append(arg.strip("-"))
else:
ret["args"].append(arg)
return ret
def do_command(self, args):
args = self.parse("command+" + args)
self.outgoing_q.put(args)
try:
res = self.incoming_q.get(timeout=100)
print(res)
except Exception:
print("Command timed out")
I want to create a Cmd instance and run the cmdloop in a separate process in the test setup.
class TestShellMethods(unittest.TestCase):
def setUp(self):
self.incoming_q = Queue()
self.outgoing_q = Queue()
# What I want to do is something like this
self.stdin = open("test.txt", "w")
self.shell = Shell(self.incoming_q, self.outgoing_q, stdin=open("test.txt", "r"))
self.shell.use_rawinput = 0
self.shell_p = Process(target=self.shell.cmdloop)
self.shell_p.start()
def test_command(self):
self.stdin.write("command\r\n")
while self.outgoing_q.empty():
pass
res = self.outgoing_q.get()
self.incoming_q.put("RESPONSE RECEIVED")
def tearDown(self):
self.shell_p.terminate()
The built-in Cmd does the following to read from stdin when it is provided (using sys.stdin by default):
line = self.stdin.readline()
if not len(line):
line = 'EOF'
else:
line = line.rstrip('\r\n')
Since I am running the loop in a separate process, I'm trying to figure out the best way to implement this in Python. I could subclass Queue, and create a readline method for it and use that as stdin.
from multiprocessing import Queue
class FileQueue(Queue):
def readline(self):
if self.empty():
return ""
else:
return self.get()
Is there a way to do this without resorting to trickery that involves taking advantage of duck-typing to make the program think that a Queue is a file object? Considering how cmd.Cmd has stdin as a parameter, I'm guessing that there is an intended way to do this, but the documentation does not have any example usage of passing in stdin.

Use os.pipe().
Anything you write to the write end of the pipe will be read from the read end. Shell won't read EOF until your test code calls self.stdin.close().
Writing to a pipe is buffered, so you also need to flush after writing to it.
class TestShellMethods(unittest.TestCase):
def setUp(self):
self.incoming_q = Queue()
self.outgoing_q = Queue()
pipe = os.pipe
self.stdin = pipe[1]
self.shell = Shell(self.incoming_q, self.outgoing_q, stdin=pipe[0])
self.shell.use_rawinput = 0
self.shell_p = Process(target=self.shell.cmdloop)
self.shell_p.start()
def test_command(self):
self.stdin.write("command\r\n")
self.stdin.flush()
while self.outgoing_q.empty():
pass
res = self.outgoing_q.get()
self.incoming_q.put("RESPONSE RECEIVED")
def tearDown(self):
self.shell_p.terminate()
self.stdin.close()

Threading with Decorator in Python [duplicate]

The function foo below returns a string 'foo'. How can I get the value 'foo' which is returned from the thread's target?
from threading import Thread
def foo(bar):
print('hello {}'.format(bar))
return 'foo'
thread = Thread(target=foo, args=('world!',))
thread.start()
return_value = thread.join()
The "one obvious way to do it", shown above, doesn't work: thread.join() returned None.

One way I've seen is to pass a mutable object, such as a list or a dictionary, to the thread's constructor, along with a an index or other identifier of some sort. The thread can then store its results in its dedicated slot in that object. For example:
def foo(bar, result, index):
print 'hello {0}'.format(bar)
result[index] = "foo"
from threading import Thread
threads = [None] * 10
results = [None] * 10
for i in range(len(threads)):
threads[i] = Thread(target=foo, args=('world!', results, i))
threads[i].start()
# do some other stuff
for i in range(len(threads)):
threads[i].join()
print " ".join(results) # what sound does a metasyntactic locomotive make?
If you really want join() to return the return value of the called function, you can do this with a Thread subclass like the following:
from threading import Thread
def foo(bar):
print 'hello {0}'.format(bar)
return "foo"
class ThreadWithReturnValue(Thread):
def __init__(self, group=None, target=None, name=None,
args=(), kwargs={}, Verbose=None):
Thread.__init__(self, group, target, name, args, kwargs, Verbose)
self._return = None
def run(self):
if self._Thread__target is not None:
self._return = self._Thread__target(*self._Thread__args,
**self._Thread__kwargs)
def join(self):
Thread.join(self)
return self._return
twrv = ThreadWithReturnValue(target=foo, args=('world!',))
twrv.start()
print twrv.join() # prints foo
That gets a little hairy because of some name mangling, and it accesses "private" data structures that are specific to Thread implementation... but it works.
For Python 3:
class ThreadWithReturnValue(Thread):
def __init__(self, group=None, target=None, name=None,
args=(), kwargs={}, Verbose=None):
Thread.__init__(self, group, target, name, args, kwargs)
self._return = None
def run(self):
if self._target is not None:
self._return = self._target(*self._args,
**self._kwargs)
def join(self, *args):
Thread.join(self, *args)
return self._return

FWIW, the multiprocessing module has a nice interface for this using the Pool class. And if you want to stick with threads rather than processes, you can just use the multiprocessing.pool.ThreadPool class as a drop-in replacement.
def foo(bar, baz):
print 'hello {0}'.format(bar)
return 'foo' + baz
from multiprocessing.pool import ThreadPool
pool = ThreadPool(processes=1)
async_result = pool.apply_async(foo, ('world', 'foo')) # tuple of args for foo
# do some other stuff in the main process
return_val = async_result.get() # get the return value from your function.

In Python 3.2+, stdlib concurrent.futures module provides a higher level API to threading, including passing return values or exceptions from a worker thread back to the main thread:
import concurrent.futures
def foo(bar):
print('hello {}'.format(bar))
return 'foo'
with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor() as executor:
future = executor.submit(foo, 'world!')
return_value = future.result()
print(return_value)

Jake's answer is good, but if you don't want to use a threadpool (you don't know how many threads you'll need, but create them as needed) then a good way to transmit information between threads is the built-in Queue.Queue class, as it offers thread safety.
I created the following decorator to make it act in a similar fashion to the threadpool:
def threaded(f, daemon=False):
import Queue
def wrapped_f(q, *args, **kwargs):
'''this function calls the decorated function and puts the
result in a queue'''
ret = f(*args, **kwargs)
q.put(ret)
def wrap(*args, **kwargs):
'''this is the function returned from the decorator. It fires off
wrapped_f in a new thread and returns the thread object with
the result queue attached'''
q = Queue.Queue()
t = threading.Thread(target=wrapped_f, args=(q,)+args, kwargs=kwargs)
t.daemon = daemon
t.start()
t.result_queue = q
return t
return wrap
Then you just use it as:
#threaded
def long_task(x):
import time
x = x + 5
time.sleep(5)
return x
# does not block, returns Thread object
y = long_task(10)
print y
# this blocks, waiting for the result
result = y.result_queue.get()
print result
The decorated function creates a new thread each time it's called and returns a Thread object that contains the queue that will receive the result.
UPDATE
It's been quite a while since I posted this answer, but it still gets views so I thought I would update it to reflect the way I do this in newer versions of Python:
Python 3.2 added in the concurrent.futures module which provides a high-level interface for parallel tasks. It provides ThreadPoolExecutor and ProcessPoolExecutor, so you can use a thread or process pool with the same api.
One benefit of this api is that submitting a task to an Executor returns a Future object, which will complete with the return value of the callable you submit.
This makes attaching a queue object unnecessary, which simplifies the decorator quite a bit:
_DEFAULT_POOL = ThreadPoolExecutor()
def threadpool(f, executor=None):
#wraps(f)
def wrap(*args, **kwargs):
return (executor or _DEFAULT_POOL).submit(f, *args, **kwargs)
return wrap
This will use a default module threadpool executor if one is not passed in.
The usage is very similar to before:
#threadpool
def long_task(x):
import time
x = x + 5
time.sleep(5)
return x
# does not block, returns Future object
y = long_task(10)
print y
# this blocks, waiting for the result
result = y.result()
print result
If you're using Python 3.4+, one really nice feature of using this method (and Future objects in general) is that the returned future can be wrapped to turn it into an asyncio.Future with asyncio.wrap_future. This makes it work easily with coroutines:
result = await asyncio.wrap_future(long_task(10))
If you don't need access to the underlying concurrent.Future object, you can include the wrap in the decorator:
_DEFAULT_POOL = ThreadPoolExecutor()
def threadpool(f, executor=None):
#wraps(f)
def wrap(*args, **kwargs):
return asyncio.wrap_future((executor or _DEFAULT_POOL).submit(f, *args, **kwargs))
return wrap
Then, whenever you need to push cpu intensive or blocking code off the event loop thread, you can put it in a decorated function:
#threadpool
def some_long_calculation():
...
# this will suspend while the function is executed on a threadpool
result = await some_long_calculation()

Another solution that doesn't require changing your existing code:
import Queue # Python 2.x
#from queue import Queue # Python 3.x
from threading import Thread
def foo(bar):
print 'hello {0}'.format(bar) # Python 2.x
#print('hello {0}'.format(bar)) # Python 3.x
return 'foo'
que = Queue.Queue() # Python 2.x
#que = Queue() # Python 3.x
t = Thread(target=lambda q, arg1: q.put(foo(arg1)), args=(que, 'world!'))
t.start()
t.join()
result = que.get()
print result # Python 2.x
#print(result) # Python 3.x
It can be also easily adjusted to a multi-threaded environment:
import Queue # Python 2.x
#from queue import Queue # Python 3.x
from threading import Thread
def foo(bar):
print 'hello {0}'.format(bar) # Python 2.x
#print('hello {0}'.format(bar)) # Python 3.x
return 'foo'
que = Queue.Queue() # Python 2.x
#que = Queue() # Python 3.x
threads_list = list()
t = Thread(target=lambda q, arg1: q.put(foo(arg1)), args=(que, 'world!'))
t.start()
threads_list.append(t)
# Add more threads here
...
threads_list.append(t2)
...
threads_list.append(t3)
...
# Join all the threads
for t in threads_list:
t.join()
# Check thread's return value
while not que.empty():
result = que.get()
print result # Python 2.x
#print(result) # Python 3.x

UPDATE:
I think there's a significantly simpler and more concise way to save the result of the thread, and in a way that keeps the interface virtually identical to the threading.Thread class (please let me know if there are edge cases - I haven't tested as much as my original post below):
import threading
class ConciseResult(threading.Thread):
def run(self):
self.result = self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
To be robust and avoid potential errors:
import threading
class ConciseRobustResult(threading.Thread):
def run(self):
try:
if self._target is not None:
self.result = self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
finally:
# Avoid a refcycle if the thread is running a function with
# an argument that has a member that points to the thread.
del self._target, self._args, self._kwargs
Short explanation: we override only the run method of threading.Thread, and modify nothing else. This allows us to use everything else the threading.Thread class does for us, without needing to worry about missing potential edge cases such as _private attribute assignments or custom attribute modifications in the way that my original post does.
We can verify that we only modify the run method by looking at the output of help(ConciseResult) and help(ConciseRobustResult). The only method/attribute/descriptor included under Methods defined here: is run, and everything else comes from the inherited threading.Thread base class (see the Methods inherited from threading.Thread: section).
To test either of these implementations using the example code below, substitute ConciseResult or ConciseRobustResult for ThreadWithResult in the main function below.
Original post using a closure function in the init method:
Most answers I've found are long and require being familiar with other modules or advanced python features, and will be rather confusing to someone unless they're already familiar with everything the answer talks about.
Working code for a simplified approach:
import threading
class ThreadWithResult(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self, group=None, target=None, name=None, args=(), kwargs={}, *, daemon=None):
def function():
self.result = target(*args, **kwargs)
super().__init__(group=group, target=function, name=name, daemon=daemon)
Example code:
import time, random
def function_to_thread(n):
count = 0
while count < 3:
print(f'still running thread {n}')
count +=1
time.sleep(3)
result = random.random()
print(f'Return value of thread {n} should be: {result}')
return result
def main():
thread1 = ThreadWithResult(target=function_to_thread, args=(1,))
thread2 = ThreadWithResult(target=function_to_thread, args=(2,))
thread1.start()
thread2.start()
thread1.join()
thread2.join()
print(thread1.result)
print(thread2.result)
main()
Explanation:
I wanted to simplify things significantly, so I created a ThreadWithResult class and had it inherit from threading.Thread. The nested function function in __init__ calls the threaded function we want to save the value of, and saves the result of that nested function as the instance attribute self.result after the thread finishes executing.
Creating an instance of this is identical to creating an instance of threading.Thread. Pass in the function you want to run on a new thread to the target argument and any arguments that your function might need to the args argument and any keyword arguments to the kwargs argument.
e.g.
my_thread = ThreadWithResult(target=my_function, args=(arg1, arg2, arg3))
I think this is significantly easier to understand than the vast majority of answers, and this approach requires no extra imports! I included the time and random module to simulate the behavior of a thread, but they're not required to achieve the functionality asked in the original question.
I know I'm answering this looong after the question was asked, but I hope this can help more people in the future!
EDIT: I created the save-thread-result PyPI package to allow you to access the same code above and reuse it across projects (GitHub code is here). The PyPI package fully extends the threading.Thread class, so you can set any attributes you would set on threading.thread on the ThreadWithResult class as well!
The original answer above goes over the main idea behind this subclass, but for more information, see the more detailed explanation (from the module docstring) here.
Quick usage example:
pip3 install -U save-thread-result # MacOS/Linux
pip install -U save-thread-result # Windows
python3 # MacOS/Linux
python # Windows
from save_thread_result import ThreadWithResult
# As of Release 0.0.3, you can also specify values for
#`group`, `name`, and `daemon` if you want to set those
# values manually.
thread = ThreadWithResult(
target = my_function,
args = (my_function_arg1, my_function_arg2, ...)
kwargs = {my_function_kwarg1: kwarg1_value, my_function_kwarg2: kwarg2_value, ...}
)
thread.start()
thread.join()
if getattr(thread, 'result', None):
print(thread.result)
else:
# thread.result attribute not set - something caused
# the thread to terminate BEFORE the thread finished
# executing the function passed in through the
# `target` argument
print('ERROR! Something went wrong while executing this thread, and the function you passed in did NOT complete!!')
# seeing help about the class and information about the threading.Thread super class methods and attributes available:
help(ThreadWithResult)

Parris / kindall's answer join/return answer ported to Python 3:
from threading import Thread
def foo(bar):
print('hello {0}'.format(bar))
return "foo"
class ThreadWithReturnValue(Thread):
def __init__(self, group=None, target=None, name=None, args=(), kwargs=None, *, daemon=None):
Thread.__init__(self, group, target, name, args, kwargs, daemon=daemon)
self._return = None
def run(self):
if self._target is not None:
self._return = self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
def join(self):
Thread.join(self)
return self._return
twrv = ThreadWithReturnValue(target=foo, args=('world!',))
twrv.start()
print(twrv.join()) # prints foo
Note, the Thread class is implemented differently in Python 3.

I stole kindall's answer and cleaned it up just a little bit.
The key part is adding *args and **kwargs to join() in order to handle the timeout
class threadWithReturn(Thread):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(threadWithReturn, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self._return = None
def run(self):
if self._Thread__target is not None:
self._return = self._Thread__target(*self._Thread__args, **self._Thread__kwargs)
def join(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(threadWithReturn, self).join(*args, **kwargs)
return self._return
UPDATED ANSWER BELOW
This is my most popularly upvoted answer, so I decided to update with code that will run on both py2 and py3.
Additionally, I see many answers to this question that show a lack of comprehension regarding Thread.join(). Some completely fail to handle the timeout arg. But there is also a corner-case that you should be aware of regarding instances when you have (1) a target function that can return None and (2) you also pass the timeout arg to join(). Please see "TEST 4" to understand this corner case.
ThreadWithReturn class that works with py2 and py3:
import sys
from threading import Thread
from builtins import super # https://stackoverflow.com/a/30159479
_thread_target_key, _thread_args_key, _thread_kwargs_key = (
('_target', '_args', '_kwargs')
if sys.version_info >= (3, 0) else
('_Thread__target', '_Thread__args', '_Thread__kwargs')
)
class ThreadWithReturn(Thread):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self._return = None
def run(self):
target = getattr(self, _thread_target_key)
if target is not None:
self._return = target(
*getattr(self, _thread_args_key),
**getattr(self, _thread_kwargs_key)
)
def join(self, *args, **kwargs):
super().join(*args, **kwargs)
return self._return
Some sample tests are shown below:
import time, random
# TEST TARGET FUNCTION
def giveMe(arg, seconds=None):
if not seconds is None:
time.sleep(seconds)
return arg
# TEST 1
my_thread = ThreadWithReturn(target=giveMe, args=('stringy',))
my_thread.start()
returned = my_thread.join()
# (returned == 'stringy')
# TEST 2
my_thread = ThreadWithReturn(target=giveMe, args=(None,))
my_thread.start()
returned = my_thread.join()
# (returned is None)
# TEST 3
my_thread = ThreadWithReturn(target=giveMe, args=('stringy',), kwargs={'seconds': 5})
my_thread.start()
returned = my_thread.join(timeout=2)
# (returned is None) # because join() timed out before giveMe() finished
# TEST 4
my_thread = ThreadWithReturn(target=giveMe, args=(None,), kwargs={'seconds': 5})
my_thread.start()
returned = my_thread.join(timeout=random.randint(1, 10))
Can you identify the corner-case that we may possibly encounter with TEST 4?
The problem is that we expect giveMe() to return None (see TEST 2), but we also expect join() to return None if it times out.
returned is None means either:
(1) that's what giveMe() returned, or
(2) join() timed out
This example is trivial since we know that giveMe() will always return None. But in real-world instance (where the target may legitimately return None or something else) we'd want to explicitly check for what happened.
Below is how to address this corner-case:
# TEST 4
my_thread = ThreadWithReturn(target=giveMe, args=(None,), kwargs={'seconds': 5})
my_thread.start()
returned = my_thread.join(timeout=random.randint(1, 10))
if my_thread.isAlive():
# returned is None because join() timed out
# this also means that giveMe() is still running in the background
pass
# handle this based on your app's logic
else:
# join() is finished, and so is giveMe()
# BUT we could also be in a race condition, so we need to update returned, just in case
returned = my_thread.join()

Using Queue :
import threading, queue
def calc_square(num, out_queue1):
l = []
for x in num:
l.append(x*x)
out_queue1.put(l)
arr = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
out_queue1=queue.Queue()
t1=threading.Thread(target=calc_square, args=(arr,out_queue1))
t1.start()
t1.join()
print (out_queue1.get())

My solution to the problem is to wrap the function and thread in a class. Does not require using pools,queues, or c type variable passing. It is also non blocking. You check status instead. See example of how to use it at end of code.
import threading
class ThreadWorker():
'''
The basic idea is given a function create an object.
The object can then run the function in a thread.
It provides a wrapper to start it,check its status,and get data out the function.
'''
def __init__(self,func):
self.thread = None
self.data = None
self.func = self.save_data(func)
def save_data(self,func):
'''modify function to save its returned data'''
def new_func(*args, **kwargs):
self.data=func(*args, **kwargs)
return new_func
def start(self,params):
self.data = None
if self.thread is not None:
if self.thread.isAlive():
return 'running' #could raise exception here
#unless thread exists and is alive start or restart it
self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.func,args=params)
self.thread.start()
return 'started'
def status(self):
if self.thread is None:
return 'not_started'
else:
if self.thread.isAlive():
return 'running'
else:
return 'finished'
def get_results(self):
if self.thread is None:
return 'not_started' #could return exception
else:
if self.thread.isAlive():
return 'running'
else:
return self.data
def add(x,y):
return x +y
add_worker = ThreadWorker(add)
print add_worker.start((1,2,))
print add_worker.status()
print add_worker.get_results()

Taking into consideration #iman comment on #JakeBiesinger answer I have recomposed it to have various number of threads:
from multiprocessing.pool import ThreadPool
def foo(bar, baz):
print 'hello {0}'.format(bar)
return 'foo' + baz
numOfThreads = 3
results = []
pool = ThreadPool(numOfThreads)
for i in range(0, numOfThreads):
results.append(pool.apply_async(foo, ('world', 'foo'))) # tuple of args for foo)
# do some other stuff in the main process
# ...
# ...
results = [r.get() for r in results]
print results
pool.close()
pool.join()

I'm using this wrapper, which comfortably turns any function for running in a Thread - taking care of its return value or exception. It doesn't add Queue overhead.
def threading_func(f):
"""Decorator for running a function in a thread and handling its return
value or exception"""
def start(*args, **kw):
def run():
try:
th.ret = f(*args, **kw)
except:
th.exc = sys.exc_info()
def get(timeout=None):
th.join(timeout)
if th.exc:
raise th.exc[0], th.exc[1], th.exc[2] # py2
##raise th.exc[1] #py3
return th.ret
th = threading.Thread(None, run)
th.exc = None
th.get = get
th.start()
return th
return start
Usage Examples
def f(x):
return 2.5 * x
th = threading_func(f)(4)
print("still running?:", th.is_alive())
print("result:", th.get(timeout=1.0))
#threading_func
def th_mul(a, b):
return a * b
th = th_mul("text", 2.5)
try:
print(th.get())
except TypeError:
print("exception thrown ok.")
Notes on threading module
Comfortable return value & exception handling of a threaded function is a frequent "Pythonic" need and should indeed already be offered by the threading module - possibly directly in the standard Thread class. ThreadPool has way too much overhead for simple tasks - 3 managing threads, lots of bureaucracy. Unfortunately Thread's layout was copied from Java originally - which you see e.g. from the still useless 1st (!) constructor parameter group.

Based of what kindall mentioned, here's the more generic solution that works with Python3.
import threading
class ThreadWithReturnValue(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self, *init_args, **init_kwargs):
threading.Thread.__init__(self, *init_args, **init_kwargs)
self._return = None
def run(self):
self._return = self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
def join(self):
threading.Thread.join(self)
return self._return
Usage
th = ThreadWithReturnValue(target=requests.get, args=('http://www.google.com',))
th.start()
response = th.join()
response.status_code # => 200

join always return None, i think you should subclass Thread to handle return codes and so.

You can define a mutable above the scope of the threaded function, and add the result to that. (I also modified the code to be python3 compatible)
returns = {}
def foo(bar):
print('hello {0}'.format(bar))
returns[bar] = 'foo'
from threading import Thread
t = Thread(target=foo, args=('world!',))
t.start()
t.join()
print(returns)
This returns {'world!': 'foo'}
If you use the function input as the key to your results dict, every unique input is guaranteed to give an entry in the results

Define your target to
1) take an argument q
2) replace any statements return foo with q.put(foo); return
so a function
def func(a):
ans = a * a
return ans
would become
def func(a, q):
ans = a * a
q.put(ans)
return
and then you would proceed as such
from Queue import Queue
from threading import Thread
ans_q = Queue()
arg_tups = [(i, ans_q) for i in xrange(10)]
threads = [Thread(target=func, args=arg_tup) for arg_tup in arg_tups]
_ = [t.start() for t in threads]
_ = [t.join() for t in threads]
results = [q.get() for _ in xrange(len(threads))]
And you can use function decorators/wrappers to make it so you can use your existing functions as target without modifying them, but follow this basic scheme.

GuySoft's idea is great, but I think the object does not necessarily have to inherit from Thread and start() could be removed from interface:
from threading import Thread
import queue
class ThreadWithReturnValue(object):
def __init__(self, target=None, args=(), **kwargs):
self._que = queue.Queue()
self._t = Thread(target=lambda q,arg1,kwargs1: q.put(target(*arg1, **kwargs1)) ,
args=(self._que, args, kwargs), )
self._t.start()
def join(self):
self._t.join()
return self._que.get()
def foo(bar):
print('hello {0}'.format(bar))
return "foo"
twrv = ThreadWithReturnValue(target=foo, args=('world!',))
print(twrv.join()) # prints foo

This is a pretty old question, but I wanted to share a simple solution that has worked for me and helped my dev process.
The methodology behind this answer is the fact that the "new" target function, inner is assigning the result of the original function (passed through the __init__ function) to the result instance attribute of the wrapper through something called closure.
This allows the wrapper class to hold onto the return value for callers to access at anytime.
NOTE: This method doesn't need to use any mangled methods or private methods of the threading.Thread class, although yield functions have not been considered (OP did not mention yield functions).
Enjoy!
from threading import Thread as _Thread
class ThreadWrapper:
def __init__(self, target, *args, **kwargs):
self.result = None
self._target = self._build_threaded_fn(target)
self.thread = _Thread(
target=self._target,
*args,
**kwargs
)
def _build_threaded_fn(self, func):
def inner(*args, **kwargs):
self.result = func(*args, **kwargs)
return inner
Additionally, you can run pytest (assuming you have it installed) with the following code to demonstrate the results:
import time
from commons import ThreadWrapper
def test():
def target():
time.sleep(1)
return 'Hello'
wrapper = ThreadWrapper(target=target)
wrapper.thread.start()
r = wrapper.result
assert r is None
time.sleep(2)
r = wrapper.result
assert r == 'Hello'

As mentioned multiprocessing pool is much slower than basic threading. Using queues as proposeded in some answers here is a very effective alternative. I have use it with dictionaries in order to be able run a lot of small threads and recuperate multiple answers by combining them with dictionaries:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import threading
# use Queue for python2
import queue
import random
LETTERS = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
LETTERS = [ x for x in LETTERS ]
NUMBERS = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
def randoms(k, q):
result = dict()
result['letter'] = random.choice(LETTERS)
result['number'] = random.choice(NUMBERS)
q.put({k: result})
threads = list()
q = queue.Queue()
results = dict()
for name in ('alpha', 'oscar', 'yankee',):
threads.append( threading.Thread(target=randoms, args=(name, q)) )
threads[-1].start()
_ = [ t.join() for t in threads ]
while not q.empty():
results.update(q.get())
print(results)

Here is the version that I created of #Kindall's answer.
This version makes it so that all you have to do is input your command with arguments to create the new thread.
This was made with Python 3.8:
from threading import Thread
from typing import Any
def test(plug, plug2, plug3):
print(f"hello {plug}")
print(f'I am the second plug : {plug2}')
print(plug3)
return 'I am the return Value!'
def test2(msg):
return f'I am from the second test: {msg}'
def test3():
print('hello world')
def NewThread(com, Returning: bool, *arguments) -> Any:
"""
Will create a new thread for a function/command.
:param com: Command to be Executed
:param arguments: Arguments to be sent to Command
:param Returning: True/False Will this command need to return anything
"""
class NewThreadWorker(Thread):
def __init__(self, group = None, target = None, name = None, args = (), kwargs = None, *,
daemon = None):
Thread.__init__(self, group, target, name, args, kwargs, daemon = daemon)
self._return = None
def run(self):
if self._target is not None:
self._return = self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
def join(self):
Thread.join(self)
return self._return
ntw = NewThreadWorker(target = com, args = (*arguments,))
ntw.start()
if Returning:
return ntw.join()
if __name__ == "__main__":
print(NewThread(test, True, 'hi', 'test', test2('hi')))
NewThread(test3, True)

You can use pool.apply_async() of ThreadPool() to return the value from test() as shown below:
from multiprocessing.pool import ThreadPool
def test(num1, num2):
return num1 + num2
pool = ThreadPool(processes=1) # Here
result = pool.apply_async(test, (2, 3)) # Here
print(result.get()) # 5
And, you can also use submit() of concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor() to return the value from test() as shown below:
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
def test(num1, num2):
return num1 + num2
with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=1) as executor:
future = executor.submit(test, 2, 3) # Here
print(future.result()) # 5
And, instead of return, you can use the array result as shown below:
from threading import Thread
def test(num1, num2, r):
r[0] = num1 + num2 # Instead of "return"
result = [None] # Here
thread = Thread(target=test, args=(2, 3, result))
thread.start()
thread.join()
print(result[0]) # 5
And instead of return, you can also use the queue result as shown below:
from threading import Thread
import queue
def test(num1, num2, q):
q.put(num1 + num2) # Instead of "return"
queue = queue.Queue() # Here
thread = Thread(target=test, args=(2, 3, queue))
thread.start()
thread.join()
print(queue.get()) # '5'

The shortest and simplest way I've found to do this is to take advantage of Python classes and their dynamic properties. You can retrieve the current thread from within the context of your spawned thread using threading.current_thread(), and assign the return value to a property.
import threading
def some_target_function():
# Your code here.
threading.current_thread().return_value = "Some return value."
your_thread = threading.Thread(target=some_target_function)
your_thread.start()
your_thread.join()
return_value = your_thread.return_value
print(return_value)

One usual solution is to wrap your function foo with a decorator like
result = queue.Queue()
def task_wrapper(*args):
result.put(target(*args))
Then the whole code may looks like that
result = queue.Queue()
def task_wrapper(*args):
result.put(target(*args))
threads = [threading.Thread(target=task_wrapper, args=args) for args in args_list]
for t in threads:
t.start()
while(True):
if(len(threading.enumerate()) < max_num):
break
for t in threads:
t.join()
return result
Note
One important issue is that the return values may be unorderred.
(In fact, the return value is not necessarily saved to the queue, since you can choose arbitrary thread-safe data structure )

Kindall's answer in Python3
class ThreadWithReturnValue(Thread):
def __init__(self, group=None, target=None, name=None,
args=(), kwargs={}, *, daemon=None):
Thread.__init__(self, group, target, name, args, kwargs, daemon)
self._return = None
def run(self):
try:
if self._target:
self._return = self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
finally:
del self._target, self._args, self._kwargs
def join(self,timeout=None):
Thread.join(self,timeout)
return self._return

I know this thread is old.... but I faced the same problem... If you are willing to use thread.join()
import threading
class test:
def __init__(self):
self.msg=""
def hello(self,bar):
print('hello {}'.format(bar))
self.msg="foo"
def main(self):
thread = threading.Thread(target=self.hello, args=('world!',))
thread.start()
thread.join()
print(self.msg)
g=test()
g.main()

Best way... Define a global variable, then change the variable in the threaded function. Nothing to pass in or retrieve back
from threading import Thread
# global var
radom_global_var = 5
def function():
global random_global_var
random_global_var += 1
domath = Thread(target=function)
domath.start()
domath.join()
print(random_global_var)
# result: 6

Python Multiprocessing - terminate / restart worker process

I have a bunch of long running processes that I would like to split up into multiple processes. That part I can do no problem. The issue I run into is sometimes these processes go into a hung state. To address this issue I would like to be able to set a time threshold for each task that a process is working on. When that time threshold is exceeded I would like to restart or terminate the task.
Originally my code was very simple using a process pool, however with the pool I could not figure out how to retrieve the processes inside the pool, nevermind how to restart / terminate a process in the pool.
I have resorted to using a queue and process objects as is illustrated in this example (https://pymotw.com/2/multiprocessing/communication.html#passing-messages-to-processes with some changes.
My attempts to figure this out are in the code below. In its current state the process does not actually get terminated. Further to that I cannot figure out how to get the process to move onto the next task after the current task is terminated. Any suggestions / help appreciated, perhaps I’m going about this the wrong way.
Thanks
import multiprocess
import time
class Consumer(multiprocess.Process):
def __init__(self, task_queue, result_queue, startTimes, name=None):
multiprocess.Process.__init__(self)
if name:
self.name = name
print 'created process: {0}'.format(self.name)
self.task_queue = task_queue
self.result_queue = result_queue
self.startTimes = startTimes
def stopProcess(self):
elapseTime = time.time() - self.startTimes[self.name]
print 'killing process {0} {1}'.format(self.name, elapseTime)
self.task_queue.cancel_join_thread()
self.terminate()
# now want to get the process to start procesing another job
def run(self):
'''
The process subclass calls this on a separate process.
'''
proc_name = self.name
print proc_name
while True:
# pulling the next task off the queue and starting it
# on the current process.
task = self.task_queue.get()
self.task_queue.cancel_join_thread()
if task is None:
# Poison pill means shutdown
#print '%s: Exiting' % proc_name
self.task_queue.task_done()
break
self.startTimes[proc_name] = time.time()
answer = task()
self.task_queue.task_done()
self.result_queue.put(answer)
return
class Task(object):
def __init__(self, a, b, startTimes):
self.a = a
self.b = b
self.startTimes = startTimes
self.taskName = 'taskName_{0}_{1}'.format(self.a, self.b)
def __call__(self):
import time
import os
print 'new job in process pid:', os.getpid(), self.taskName
if self.a == 2:
time.sleep(20000) # simulate a hung process
else:
time.sleep(3) # pretend to take some time to do the work
return '%s * %s = %s' % (self.a, self.b, self.a * self.b)
def __str__(self):
return '%s * %s' % (self.a, self.b)
if __name__ == '__main__':
# Establish communication queues
# tasks = this is the work queue and results is for results or completed work
tasks = multiprocess.JoinableQueue()
results = multiprocess.Queue()
#parentPipe, childPipe = multiprocess.Pipe(duplex=True)
mgr = multiprocess.Manager()
startTimes = mgr.dict()
# Start consumers
numberOfProcesses = 4
processObjs = []
for processNumber in range(numberOfProcesses):
processObj = Consumer(tasks, results, startTimes)
processObjs.append(processObj)
for process in processObjs:
process.start()
# Enqueue jobs
num_jobs = 30
for i in range(num_jobs):
tasks.put(Task(i, i + 1, startTimes))
# Add a poison pill for each process object
for i in range(numberOfProcesses):
tasks.put(None)
# process monitor loop,
killProcesses = {}
executing = True
while executing:
allDead = True
for process in processObjs:
name = process.name
#status = consumer.status.getStatusString()
status = process.is_alive()
pid = process.ident
elapsedTime = 0
if name in startTimes:
elapsedTime = time.time() - startTimes[name]
if elapsedTime > 10:
process.stopProcess()
print "{0} - {1} - {2} - {3}".format(name, status, pid, elapsedTime)
if allDead and status:
allDead = False
if allDead:
executing = False
time.sleep(3)
# Wait for all of the tasks to finish
#tasks.join()
# Start printing results
while num_jobs:
result = results.get()
print 'Result:', result
num_jobs -= 1

I generally recommend against subclassing multiprocessing.Process as it leads to code hard to read.
I'd rather encapsulate your logic in a function and run it in a separate process. This keeps the code much cleaner and intuitive.
Nevertheless, rather than reinventing the wheel, I'd recommend you to use some library which already solves the issue for you such as Pebble or billiard.
For example, the Pebble library allows to easily set timeouts to processes running independently or within a Pool.
Running your function within a separate process with a timeout:
from pebble import concurrent
from concurrent.futures import TimeoutError
#concurrent.process(timeout=10)
def function(foo, bar=0):
return foo + bar
future = function(1, bar=2)
try:
result = future.result() # blocks until results are ready
except TimeoutError as error:
print("Function took longer than %d seconds" % error.args[1])
Same example but with a process Pool.
with ProcessPool(max_workers=5, max_tasks=10) as pool:
future = pool.schedule(function, args=[1], timeout=10)
try:
result = future.result() # blocks until results are ready
except TimeoutError as error:
print("Function took longer than %d seconds" % error.args[1])
In both cases, the timing out process will be automatically terminated for you.

A way simpler solution would be to continue using a than reimplementing the Pool is to design a mechanism which timeout the function you are running.
For instance:
from time import sleep
import signal
class TimeoutError(Exception):
pass
def handler(signum, frame):
raise TimeoutError()
def run_with_timeout(func, *args, timeout=10, **kwargs):
signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, handler)
signal.alarm(timeout)
try:
res = func(*args, **kwargs)
except TimeoutError as exc:
print("Timeout")
res = exc
finally:
signal.alarm(0)
return res
def test():
sleep(4)
print("ok")
if __name__ == "__main__":
import multiprocessing as mp
p = mp.Pool()
print(p.apply_async(run_with_timeout, args=(test,),
kwds={"timeout":1}).get())
The signal.alarm set a timeout and when this timeout, it run the handler, which stop the execution of your function.
EDIT: If you are using a windows system, it seems to be a bit more complicated as signal does not implement SIGALRM. Another solution is to use the C-level python API. This code have been adapted from this SO answer with a bit of adaptation to work on 64bit system. I have only tested it on linux but it should work the same on windows.
import threading
import ctypes
from time import sleep
class TimeoutError(Exception):
pass
def run_with_timeout(func, *args, timeout=10, **kwargs):
interupt_tid = int(threading.get_ident())
def interupt_thread():
# Call the low level C python api using ctypes. tid must be converted
# to c_long to be valid.
res = ctypes.pythonapi.PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc(
ctypes.c_long(interupt_tid), ctypes.py_object(TimeoutError))
if res == 0:
print(threading.enumerate())
print(interupt_tid)
raise ValueError("invalid thread id")
elif res != 1:
# "if it returns a number greater than one, you're in trouble,
# and you should call it again with exc=NULL to revert the effect"
ctypes.pythonapi.PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc(
ctypes.c_long(interupt_tid), 0)
raise SystemError("PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc failed")
timer = threading.Timer(timeout, interupt_thread)
try:
timer.start()
res = func(*args, **kwargs)
except TimeoutError as exc:
print("Timeout")
res = exc
else:
timer.cancel()
return res
def test():
sleep(4)
print("ok")
if __name__ == "__main__":
import multiprocessing as mp
p = mp.Pool()
print(p.apply_async(run_with_timeout, args=(test,),
kwds={"timeout": 1}).get())
print(p.apply_async(run_with_timeout, args=(test,),
kwds={"timeout": 5}).get())

For long running processes and/or long iterators, spawned workers might hang after some time. To prevent this, there are two built-in techniques:
Restart workers after they have delivered maxtasksperchild tasks from the queue.
Pass timeout to pool.imap.next(), catch the TimeoutError, and finish the rest of the work in another pool.
The following wrapper implements both, as a generator. This also works when replacing stdlib multiprocessing with multiprocess.
import multiprocessing as mp
def imap(
func,
iterable,
*,
processes=None,
maxtasksperchild=42,
timeout=42,
initializer=None,
initargs=(),
context=mp.get_context("spawn")
):
"""Multiprocessing imap, restarting workers after maxtasksperchild tasks to avoid zombies.
Example:
>>> list(imap(str, range(5)))
['0', '1', '2', '3', '4']
Raises:
mp.TimeoutError: if the next result cannot be returned within timeout seconds.
Yields:
Ordered results as they come in.
"""
with context.Pool(
processes=processes,
maxtasksperchild=maxtasksperchild,
initializer=initializer,
initargs=initargs,
) as pool:
it = pool.imap(func, iterable)
while True:
try:
yield it.next(timeout)
except StopIteration:
return
To catch the TimeoutError:
>>> import time
>>> iterable = list(range(10))
>>> results = []
>>> try:
... for i, result in enumerate(imap(time.sleep, iterable, processes=2, timeout=2)):
... results.append(result)
... except mp.TimeoutError:
... print("Failed to process the following subset of iterable:", iterable[i:])
Failed to process the following subset of iterable: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Is it possible to inherit multiprocessing.Process to communicate with the main process

I'm trying to inherit a sub class from multiprocessing.Process, which will have a queue for each instant, so that the queue can be use to catch the return value of the target.
But the problem is the multiprocessing.Process.start() uses subprocess.Popen (https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/master/Lib/multiprocessing/process.py) to create a process and run the target inside it. Is there a way to overload this without defining/overloading the entire Process module.
This is what I'm trying to do:
class Mprocessor(multiprocessing.Process):
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self, **kwargs)
self._ret = Queue.Queue()
def run(self):
self._ret.put(multiprocessing.Process.run(self))
def getReturn(self):
if self._ret.empty:
return None
return self._ret.get()
Here I try to create a multiprocessig.Queue inside the class.
I override the 'run' method so when it is executed the return value/s of the target is put inside the queue.
I have a 'getReturn' method which is called in the main function using the Mprocess class. This method should only be called when 'Mprocess.isalive()' method(which is defined for multiprocessing.Process) returns false.
But this mechanism is not working because when I call 'Mprocess.start()' it creates a subprocess which runs the target in its own environment.
I want to know if there's a way to use the queue in the start method to get the return value, and avoid the target to have a queue argument to communicate.
I wanted to generalize this module.
I don't want my methods to be defined to have a queue to get return value.
I want to have a module so that it can be applicable to any function, because I am planning to have a manager method, which takes a dict["process_name/ID" : methods/targets], a dict["process name/ID" : [argument_list]] and create a process for each of this targets and return a dict["process_name/ID" : (return tuple, ).
Any ideas will be welcomed.
EDIT
Manager function:
def Processor_call(func = None, func_args = None):
if sorted(func.keys()) != sorted(func_args()):
print "Names in func dict and args dict doesn't match"
return None
process_list = multiprocessing.Queue()
for i in func.keys():
p = Mprocessor(name = i, target = func[i], args = tuple(func_args[i]))
process_list.put(p)
p.start()
return_dict = {}
while not process_list.empty():
process_wait = process_list.get()
if not process_wait.is_alive():
process_wait.join()
if process_wait.exitcode == 0:
return_dict[process_wait.name] = process_wait.getReturn()
else:
print "Error in process %s, status not availabe" %process_wait.name
else:
join_process.put(process_wait)
return return_dict
EDIT: The target function should look like this.
def sum(a , b):
return a + b
I don't want to pass a queue into the function, and return with queue.
I want to make a common module so that, any existing methods can use multiprocessing without any change to its definition, So the interface with other modules are maintained.
I don't want a function to be designed only to be run as a process, I want to have the common interface so that other modules can also use this function as a normal method, without bothering to read from the queue to get the return value.

Comment: ... so that I'll get the return value from the process started from start method
This will work for me, for instance:
class Mprocessor
class Mprocessor(multiprocessing.Process):
def __init__(self, queue, **kwargs):
multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self, **kwargs)
self._ret = queue
def run(self):
return_value = self._target( *self._args )
self._ret.put((self.name, return_value))
time.sleep(0.25)
exit(0)
Start processes and wait for return values
def Processor_call(func=None, func_args=None):
print('func=%s, func_args=%s' % (func, func_args))
ret_q = multiprocessing.Manager().Queue()
process_list = []
for i in func.keys():
p = Mprocessor(name=i, target=func[i], args=(func_args[i],), queue=ret_q)
p.start()
process_list.append(p)
time.sleep(0.1)
print('Block __main__ until all process terminated')
for p in process_list:
p.join()
print('Aggregate alle return values')
return_dict = {}
while not ret_q.empty():
p_name, value = ret_q.get()
return_dict[p_name] = value
return return_dict
__main__
if __name__ == '__main__':
rd = Processor_call({'f1':f1, 'f2':f1}, {'f1':1, 'f2':2})
print('rd=%s' % rd)
Output:
func={'f1': , 'f2': }, func_args={'f1': 1, 'f2': 2}
pid:4501 start 2
pid:4501 running
pid:4500 start 1
pid:4500 running
Block __main__ until all process terminated
pid:4501 running
pid:4500 running
pid:4501 running
pid:4500 running
pid:4501 Terminate
pid:4500 Terminate
Aggregate alle return values
rd={'f1': 1, 'f2': 2}
Tested with Python:3.4.2 and 2.7.9
Question: Is it possible to inherit multiprocessing.Process to communicate with the main process
Yes, it's possible. But not useing a class object, as your process use it's own copy of the class object .
You have to use a global Queue object and pass it to your process .

Start python Process with output and timeout

I'm trying to find the way to start a new Process and get its output if it takes less than X seconds. If the process takes more time I would like to ignore the Process result, kill the Process and carry on.
I need to basically add the timer to the code below. Now sure if there's a better way to do it, I'm open to a different and better solution.
from multiprocessing import Process, Queue
def f(q):
# Ugly work
q.put(['hello', 'world'])
if __name__ == '__main__':
q = Queue()
p = Process(target=f, args=(q,))
p.start()
print q.get()
p.join()
Thanks!

You may find the following module useful in your case:
Module
#! /usr/bin/env python3
"""Allow functions to be wrapped in a timeout API.
Since code can take a long time to run and may need to terminate before
finishing, this module provides a set_timeout decorator to wrap functions."""
__author__ = 'Stephen "Zero" Chappell ' \
'<stephen.paul.chappell#atlantis-zero.net>'
__date__ = '18 December 2017'
__version__ = 1, 0, 1
__all__ = [
'set_timeout',
'run_with_timeout'
]
import multiprocessing
import sys
import time
DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 60
def set_timeout(limit=None):
"""Return a wrapper that provides a timeout API for callers."""
if limit is None:
limit = DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
_Timeout.validate_limit(limit)
def wrapper(entry_point):
return _Timeout(entry_point, limit)
return wrapper
def run_with_timeout(limit, polling_interval, entry_point, *args, **kwargs):
"""Execute a callable object and automatically poll for results."""
engine = set_timeout(limit)(entry_point)
engine(*args, **kwargs)
while engine.ready is False:
time.sleep(polling_interval)
return engine.value
def _target(queue, entry_point, *args, **kwargs):
"""Help with multiprocessing calls by being a top-level module function."""
# noinspection PyPep8,PyBroadException
try:
queue.put((True, entry_point(*args, **kwargs)))
except:
queue.put((False, sys.exc_info()[1]))
class _Timeout:
"""_Timeout(entry_point, limit) -> _Timeout instance"""
def __init__(self, entry_point, limit):
"""Initialize the _Timeout instance will all needed attributes."""
self.__entry_point = entry_point
self.__limit = limit
self.__queue = multiprocessing.Queue()
self.__process = multiprocessing.Process()
self.__timeout = time.monotonic()
def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
"""Begin execution of the entry point in a separate process."""
self.cancel()
self.__queue = multiprocessing.Queue(1)
self.__process = multiprocessing.Process(
target=_target,
args=(self.__queue, self.__entry_point) + args,
kwargs=kwargs
)
self.__process.daemon = True
self.__process.start()
self.__timeout = time.monotonic() + self.__limit
def cancel(self):
"""Terminate execution if possible."""
if self.__process.is_alive():
self.__process.terminate()
#property
def ready(self):
"""Property letting callers know if a returned value is available."""
if self.__queue.full():
return True
elif not self.__queue.empty():
return True
elif self.__timeout < time.monotonic():
self.cancel()
else:
return False
#property
def value(self):
"""Property that retrieves a returned value if available."""
if self.ready is True:
valid, value = self.__queue.get()
if valid:
return value
raise value
raise TimeoutError('execution timed out before terminating')
#property
def limit(self):
"""Property controlling what the timeout period is in seconds."""
return self.__limit
#limit.setter
def limit(self, value):
self.validate_limit(value)
self.__limit = value
#staticmethod
def validate_limit(value):
"""Verify that the limit's value is not too low."""
if value <= 0:
raise ValueError('limit must be greater than zero')
To use, see the following example that demonstrates its usage:
Example
from time import sleep
def main():
timeout_after_four_seconds = timeout(4)
# create copies of a function that have a timeout
a = timeout_after_four_seconds(do_something)
b = timeout_after_four_seconds(do_something)
c = timeout_after_four_seconds(do_something)
# execute the functions in separate processes
a('Hello', 1)
b('World', 5)
c('Jacob', 3)
# poll the functions to find out what they returned
results = [a, b, c]
polling = set(results)
while polling:
for process, name in zip(results, 'abc'):
if process in polling:
ready = process.ready
if ready is True: # if the function returned
print(name, 'returned', process.value)
polling.remove(process)
elif ready is None: # if the function took too long
print(name, 'reached timeout')
polling.remove(process)
else: # if the function is running
assert ready is False, 'ready must be True, False, or None'
sleep(0.1)
print('Done.')
def do_something(data, work):
sleep(work)
print(data)
return work
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()

Does the process you are running involve a loop?
If so you can get the timestamp prior to starting the loop and include an if statement within the loop with an sys.exit(); command terminating the script if the current timestamp differs from the recorded start time stamp by more than x seconds.

All you need to adapt the queue example from the docs to your case is to pass the timeout to the q.get() call and terminate the process on timeout:
from Queue import Empty
...
try:
print q.get(timeout=timeout)
except Empty: # no value, timeout occured
p.terminate()
q = None # the queue might be corrupted after the `terminate()` call
p.join()
Using a Pipe might be more lightweight otherwise the code is the same (you could use .poll(timeout), to find out whether there is a data to receive).