Python script run in background windows

Are you wondering how to run a Python script in the background while you do other things? You can do so easily on both Linux and Windows by running the Python program as a service. That way, the program/service will start once the device powers on and stop as it shuts down, or you manually stop it.

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Python remains the most popular programming language globally because of its easy syntax, but you’ll need a tutorial to run Python script as a service on Linux or Windows if you don’t have coding experience.

In this article, you’ll learn how to run Python code in the background on Linux and Windows. Once we’ve covered how to run a Python script for scraping data, we’ll show you how to do it the easy way!

Why Learn How To Run a Python Script in the Background?

One of the most frequent uses of Python is web scraping. Web scraping involves programs crawling websites (HTML code) to extract data. Businesses may want to collect data for research or competitor analysis, and they need to do it continuously. Many websites are dynamic and constantly update their data.

You can learn how to run a Python script as a service, but manually scraping data from such websites would require running the code repeatedly, which can be a hassle.

A better solution is to write a script for scraping data and run it in the background. You can specify the websites the program should visit, the data it should collect, and where it should store it.

You can continue to run other programs on your device and do other tasks while the scraping script does its job silently in the backdrop.

If you want to learn how to run a Python script in Linux distributions, you’ve come to the right place.

On Linux, you can run a Python script in the background using a terminal or the interface of any Linux distribution. The former is more straightforward, so let’s talk about how to run a Python file in a terminal.

Here’s how to run a Python script for scraping as a Linux daemon (service).

Step 1: Write a script for collecting HTML content of web pages

The first step is to write the script for parsing through the URLs of webpages and collect the HTML content. This script can run in a loop, refreshing the data every time. That way, it collects the latest data from the websites.

urls = [

‘url1’,

‘url2’,

]

index = 0

while True:

   url = urls[index % len(urls)]

   index += 1

  print(‘Scraping url’, url)

   response = requests.get(url)

Enter appropriate URLs in place of URL1, URL2, and so on.

Step 2: Parse data with the BeautifulSoup library

Once you have collected the HTML data from the URLs, it’s time to parse the data for valuable information. The BeautifulSoup Python library allows for data extraction from HTML and XML files. This step is much easier as you need only to use this library and save the information in JSON format:

soup = BeautifulSoup(response.content, ‘html.parser’)

Step 3: Handle shutdown requests

This is how to run a Python script without any disruptions: Add a class to ensure that the operating system lets an iteration complete its cycle before it is shut down.

For example:

class SignalHandler:

   shutdown_requested = False

   def __init__(self):

     signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, self.request_shutdown)

     signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, self.request_shutdown)

   def request_shutdown(self, *args):

    print(‘Service stopping, shut down request received’)

     self.shutdown_requested = True

   def can_run(self):

    return not self.shutdown_requested

Running Linux Daemon with systemd

Now that you know how to run a Python script in the background using the terminal, let’s go over an easier alternative. It’s also possible to run a Python script in Linux distributions using the user interface. However, that approach is not feasible as it doesn’t ensure the script runs after the restart. A better way is to use systemd, which is a service manager.

Create a file with the service extension in the system directory, cd /etc/systemd/system.

Using any editor, write the code for running the Python script by defining the Python execute file. Define parameters for running the service, such as After, Restart, and ExecStart.

Then, run the daemon-reload command to refresh and tell the system about the new service. Start the service.

How To Run a Python Script in Windows

It’s not as simple or easy to run a Python script as a Windows service compared to Linux. If you want to run Python script from the command line, you’ll need to make changes to the code to define how the script executes based on input from the command line. You’ll also need to set properties.

It can be quite complicated. A better way to run Python code as a service in Windows is to use Non-Sucking Service Manager. NSSM is an application that lets Windows users create a service using any executable code or batch script. Windows operating system treats it as a service, which can be managed and run with the help of services.msc in Command Prompt or Services option in Task Manager.

The best part is that you don’t need to change your script. You’ll just need to download and install NSSM from the official website. Once you have the nssm.exe file downloaded, run it to install the application. It’s best to add the folder to your path environment variable.

To create and run the services, launch the Windows terminal. Change the directory to where your Python script exists.

Enter the commands to install the script and then run it. Here’s an example of a script saved as Python_BackgroundScript.exe:

nssm.exe install Python_BackgroundScript C:\Users\User\Username\dist\Python_BackgroundScript.exe

nssm.exe start Python_BackgroundScript

Now, check if the service is running successfully. You can look for it in Task Manager.

Should there be issues, you can direct the error output to a file using the following line of code in the terminal:

nssm set Python_BackgroundScript AppStderr C:\Users\User\Username\service-error.log

You don’t need to create and run the service in the Windows terminal manually. You can use simple commands with NSSM and get the Python code running in the background. Now, every time Windows runs, the Python program will also run automatically.

Thanks to NSSM, you don’t even have to learn how to run a Python script as a service manually.

An Easier Alternative To Running Python Scripts for Scraping

You don’t need to be a coding expert to know how to run a Python script as a service. Instead of coding the script and using a terminal to run the service, you can use the Scraping Robot API.

A scraping API automatically collects website data and integrates it with other software through API calls. It automates the scraping process, eliminating the need to run the code manually whenever you need data from specific websites. All the data is organized, too.

Scraping Robot already has all the code for collecting data, so you don’t need to create your own. With a single API endpoint, you can send the HTTP request to collect data using the appropriate credentials. It’s simple, fast, and convenient, and makes scraping data easy for everyone.

Why use scraping robot?

Even if you’re confident you know how to run a Python script as a service or daemon for scraping, using a bot is a much better alternative. Here’s why.

Prebuilt and custom modules

Scraping Robot provides several models for parsing and scraping data that cater to different business needs. The prebuilt modules eliminate the need to define the kind of data you’re looking for.

Getting a custom module is also possible should you need more complex data. With these modules, you get the exact data you need from different websites. No more spending hours refining and filtering data.

Speedy automation

Scraping Robot scrapes data automatically based on the parameters defined. As a result, it can parse hundreds of web pages in minutes. Plus, little to no intervention is required as the program runs independently, collecting data and storing it in the appropriate location.

Easy to use

Not every business has a developer on their payroll. Scraping Robot API allows even those who aren’t tech-savvy to gather the data they need. As the API already has the code to execute the scraping bot, you don’t need to hire a developer or outsource one.

Try Scraping Robot Instead!

Now that you know how to run a Python script in Linux and Windows, you can see why Scraping Robot is the ideal solution. For both Linux and Windows, you must manually run the script as a service and add the necessary conditions to ensure it runs without disruption.

But even if you’re sure you know how to run a Python script in the background, errors are always a possibility. The Scraping Robot API provides a viable alternative. It’s cost-effective and convenient, ideal for eCommerce websites and companies that scrape websites to collect data on competitors and the market.

The information contained within this article, including information posted by official staff, guest-submitted material, message board postings, or other third-party material is presented solely for the purposes of education and furtherance of the knowledge of the reader. All trademarks used in this publication are hereby acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

In this article, you will learn to run Python Script Constantly in the Background. I’ll show you a variety of methods for keeping Python scripts running in the background on various platforms.

The Python scripting language (files with the extension.py) is run by the python.exe program by default. This application launches a terminal window, which remains open even if the program utilizes a graphical user interface (GUI).

If you do not want this to happen, use the extension.pyw, which will cause the script to be executed by pythonw.exe by default. This prevents the terminal window from appearing when the computer is first booted.

Let us see in the below example codes how you can run Python Script Constantly In Background.

In Python, you have a library named sched^[1] that acts as a Scheduler and allows you to run a script or program in Python continuously. Events can be scheduled using the scheduler class’s generic interface. When it comes to dealing with the “outside world,” two functions are needed: timefunc, which is callable without parameters and returns a number.

Let us see in the below example code the usage of sched to run Python script constantly.

import sched
import time

schedulerTest = sched.scheduler(time.time, time.sleep)

def randomFunc(test = 'default'):
    print("Testing Scheduler to Run Script Constantly.")
    schedulerTest.enter(30, 1, randomFunc, ('checkThis',))

schedulerTest.enter(30, 1, randomFunc, ('TestThis',))
schedulerTest.run()

Output:

Testing Scheduler to Run Script Constantly.
Testing Scheduler to Run Script Constantly.

If you are going to use the above code, and add the function that you want to run constantly then you can use the scheduler library.

2. Using the time.sleep() Function To Run Script repeatedly

So, if you do not want to use the above code and just want to run your script repeatedly then you can use the time.sleep() function. This function allows your script to keep running after sleeping for a certain amount of time.

Let see in the below example code the usage of time.sleep() function to run Python Script Repeatedly.

import time

while True:
   def randomFunctionYouWantToKeepRunning():
       print("Testing To Run Script in Background Every 10 secs.")
  randomFunctionYouWantToKeepRunning()
  time.sleep(10)

Output:

Testing To Run Script in Background Every 10 secs.
Testing To Run Script in Background Every 10 secs.

As you can see using the above code, I was able to run the script constantly after every 10 seconds. Based on your usage and after how much time you want the program to re-run you can change the time and then re-run the script.

How To Run Python Script In Background In Linux

You can use the below code on your terminal command line to run the Python Script in the background in Linux. You can also use the code described above to run the Python script constantly.

First, add a Shebang line in your Python Script using the below code.

#!/usr/bin/env python3

If you have numerous versions of Python installed, this path is required to ensure that the first Python interpreter listed in your $$PATH environment variable is taken into consideration. Your Python interpreter’s location can alternatively be hardcoded, although this is less flexible and less able to be used on different machines.

Now run the below command to make the Shebang executable.

chmod +x yourPythonScriptName.py

If you use no hangup, the application will continue to execute in the background even if your terminal is closed.

nohup /path/to/yourPythonScriptName.py &

or 

nohup python /path/to/test.py &

Here & is used as this will tell the operating system to put this process to run in the background.

How To Run Python Script In Background In Windows

If you want to run any Python script in Background in Windows operating System then all you are required to do is to rename the extension of your existing Python script that you want to run in background to ‘.pyw’.

Once you have re-named it then you can run the Python Script and it will start executing in the background. To Terminate the program that started running in the background you will require to use the below command.

TASKKILL /F /IM pythonw.exe

Wrap Up

I hope you got your answer and learned about how to run Python Scripts Constantly In the Background Of Windows, Linux or MacOS. I have discussed two methods and you can use any two methods that work perfectly for you.

Let me know in the comment section if you know any better method than the one discussed above, I will be happy to add it here. Also, let me know if you have any issues related to the above code.

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