["python","windows","input"]
Non-blocking console input?

I am trying to make a simple IRC client in Python (as kind of a project while I learn the language). I have a loop that I use to receive and parse what the IRC server sends me, but if I use raw_input to input stuff, it stops the loop dead in its tracks until I input something (obviously). How can I input something without the loop stopping? (I don't think I need to post the code, I just want to input something without the while 1: loop stopping.) I'm on Windows.
For Windows, console only, use the msvcrt module: import msvcrt num = 0 done = False while not done: print(num) num += 1 if msvcrt.kbhit(): print "you pressed",msvcrt.getch(),"so now i will quit" done = True For Linux, this article describes the following solution, it requires the termios module: import sys import select import tty import termios def isData(): return select.select([sys.stdin], [], [], 0) == ([sys.stdin], [], []) old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(sys.stdin) try: tty.setcbreak(sys.stdin.fileno()) i = 0 while 1: print(i) i += 1 if isData(): c = sys.stdin.read(1) if c == '\x1b': # x1b is ESC break finally: termios.tcsetattr(sys.stdin, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings) For cross platform, or in case you want a GUI as well, you can use Pygame: import pygame from pygame.locals import * def display(str): text = font.render(str, True, (255, 255, 255), (159, 182, 205)) textRect = text.get_rect() textRect.centerx = screen.get_rect().centerx textRect.centery = screen.get_rect().centery screen.blit(text, textRect) pygame.display.update() pygame.init() screen = pygame.display.set_mode( (640,480) ) pygame.display.set_caption('Python numbers') screen.fill((159, 182, 205)) font = pygame.font.Font(None, 17) num = 0 done = False while not done: display( str(num) ) num += 1 pygame.event.pump() keys = pygame.key.get_pressed() if keys[K_ESCAPE]: done = True