Question

I have a code:

function_1()
function_2()

Normally, function_1() takes 10 hours to end.
But I want function_1() to run for 2 hours, and after 2 hours, function_1 must return and program must continue with function_2(). It shouldn’t wait for function_1() to be completed. Is there a way to do this in python?

Answer 1

What makes functions in Python able to interrupt their execution and resuming is the use of the “yield” statement — your function then will work as a generator object. You call the “next” method on this object to have it start or continue after the last yield

import time
def function_1():
    start_time = time.time()
    while True:
         # do long stuff
         running_time = time.time() -start_time
         if running_time > 2 * 60 * 60: # 2 hours
              yield #<partial results can be yield here, if you want>
              start_time = time.time()



runner = function_1()
while True:
    try:
        runner.next()
    except StopIteration: 
        # function_1 had got to the end
        break
    # do other stuff