Python | Create simple animation for console-based application

As we know Python is a scripting language, and can be easily used to automate simple tasks. In this article, we will learn how to create a simple console-based animation, which can be used while developing a console based project as a utility.

We will try to replicate the loading animation as shown below:

We will be using following modules –

sys module
os module
time module

Below is the Python implementation:

# importing the necessary packages
import time
import sys
import os

# Function for implementing the loading animation
def load_animation():

    # String to be displayed when the application is loading
    load_str = "starting your console application..."
    ls_len = len(load_str)


    # String for creating the rotating line
    animation = "|/-\\"
    anicount = 0

    # used to keep the track of
    # the duration of animation
    counttime = 0

    # pointer for travelling the loading string
    i = 0

    while (counttime != 100):

        # used to change the animation speed
        # smaller the value, faster will be the animation
        time.sleep(0.075)

        # converting the string to list
        # as string is immutable
        load_str_list = list(load_str)

        # x->obtaining the ASCII code
        x = ord(load_str_list[i])

        # y->for storing altered ASCII code
        y = 0

        # if the character is "." or " ", keep it unaltered
        # switch uppercase to lowercase and vice-versa
        if x != 32 and x != 46:
            if x>90:
                y = x-32
            else:
                y = x + 32
            load_str_list[i]= chr(y)

        # for storing the resultant string
        res =''
        for j in range(ls_len):
            res = res + load_str_list[j]

        # displaying the resultant string
        sys.stdout.write("\r"+res + animation[anicount])
        sys.stdout.flush()

        # Assigning loading string
        # to the resultant string
        load_str = res


        anicount = (anicount + 1)% 4
        i =(i + 1)% ls_len
        counttime = counttime + 1

    # for windows OS
    if os.name =="nt":
        os.system("cls")

    # for linux / Mac OS
    else:
        os.system("clear")

# Driver program
if __name__ == '__main__':
    load_animation()

    # Your desired code continues from here
    # s = input("Enter your name: ")
    s ="David"
    sys.stdout.write("Hello "+str(s)+"\n")

Output: