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up vote 4 down vote favorite
1

I am currently using:

class RepeatedTimer(object):
    def __init__(self, interval, function, *args, **kwargs):
        self._timer = None
        self.interval = interval
        self.function = function
        self.args = args
        self.kwargs = kwargs
        self.is_running = False
        self.start()

    def _run(self):
        self.is_running = False
        self.start()
        self.function(*self.args, **self.kwargs)

    def start(self):
        if not self.is_running:
            self._timer = Timer(self.interval, self._run)
            self._timer.start()
            self.is_running = True

    def stop(self):
        self._timer.cancel()
        self.is_running = False

to run a section of code every 24 hours, however, this looks messy and I think it can be simplified.

I want to run a function every 24 hours. Is there a simpler and cleaner method?

share|improve this question
    
is_running should be set Fals AFTER calling the function, not BEFORE. Right? –  Don Sep 8 '14 at 13:42
5  
Why are you trying to do this in Python, rather than using cron (or the Windows Task Scheduler) which are tools designed for just this purpose? –  Gareth Rees Sep 12 '14 at 18:30
    
What is the definition of class Timer? –  Tom Barron Nov 16 '14 at 14:04

1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote

If the goal is to run a task at the same time each day, it is better to capture the value of the real-time clock, because using successive 24 hour intervals can give you a "time creep". Something along these lines would work fine (you'd probably put this in a separate thread):

import time

def time_of_day:
     return time.strftime("%H:%M:%S")

target_time = "18:00:00"

while True:
    while time_of_day() != target_time:
         time.sleep(.1)
    call_function()
    while time_of_day() == target_time:
         time.sleep(.1)
share|improve this answer
    
Oops. The original version used up cpu time. Corrected. –  RufusVS Dec 23 '14 at 20:31

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