python overwrite previous line

Question

how do you overwrite the previous print in python 2.7? I am making a simple program to calculate pi. here is the code:

o = 0
hpi = 1.0
i = 1
print \"pi calcu         


        

Answer 1

Prefix your output with carriage return symbol '\r' and do not end it with line feed symbol '\n'. This will place cursor at the beginning of the current line, so output will overwrite previous its content. Pad it with some trailing blank space to guarantee overwrite. E.g.

sys.stdout.write('\r' + str(hpi) + ' ' * 20)
sys.stdout.flush() # important

Output the final value as usual with print.

I believe this should work both in most *nix terminal emulators and Windows console. YMMV, but this is the simplest way.