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merged 4 commits into from
May 13, 2025

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@MadLittleMods MadLittleMods commented May 9, 2025

Explain why we flush_buffer() for Python print(...). Spawning from using this code elsewhere and not knowing why it's there.

Based on this article and @reivilibre's experience mentioning PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1,

programming languages where the default “print” statement buffers

Also, here are a few programming language where the default print statement will buffer output when writing to a pipe, and some ways to disable buffering if you want:

  • Python (disable with python -u, or PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1, or sys.stdout.reconfigure(line_buffering=False), or print(x, flush=True))

-- https://jvns.ca/blog/2024/11/29/why-pipes-get-stuck-buffering/#programming-languages-where-the-default-print-statement-buffers

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@MadLittleMods MadLittleMods changed the title Explain why we flush_buffer() for Python print(...) Explain why we flush_buffer() for Python print(...) output May 9, 2025
@MadLittleMods MadLittleMods marked this pull request as ready for review May 9, 2025 17:00
@MadLittleMods MadLittleMods requested a review from a team as a code owner May 9, 2025 17:00
@MadLittleMods MadLittleMods merged commit a3bbd7e into develop May 13, 2025
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@MadLittleMods MadLittleMods deleted the madlittlemods/explain-flush-buffer-print branch May 13, 2025 15:40
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Thanks for the review @erikjohnston 🦈

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