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35 changes: 35 additions & 0 deletions docs/faq.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -248,6 +248,41 @@ that that were ``malloc()``-ed in another shared library, using data
structures with incompatible ABIs, and so on. pybind11 is very careful not
to make these types of mistakes.

How can I properly handle Ctrl-C in long-running functions?
===========================================================

Ctrl-C is received by the Python interpreter, and holds it until the GIL
is released, so a long-running function won't be interrupted.

To interrupt from inside your function, you can use the ``PyErr_CheckSignals()``
function, that will tell if a signal has been raised on the Python side. This
function merely checks a flag, so its impact is negligible. When a signal has
been received, you can explicitely interrupt execution by throwing an exception
that gets translated to KeyboardInterrupt (see :doc:`advanced/exceptions`
section):

.. code-block:: cpp

class interruption_error: public std::exception {
public:
const char* what() const noexcept {
return "Interruption signal caught.";
}
};

PYBIND11_MODULE(example, m)
{
m.def("long running_func", []()
{
for (;;) {
if (PyErr_CheckSignals() != 0)
throw interruption_error();
// Long running iteration
}
});
py::register_exception<interruption_error>(m, "KeyboardInterrupt");
}

Inconsistent detection of Python version in CMake and pybind11
==============================================================

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