error: (25, 'Inappropriate ioctl for device')

Question

So I've been trying to code a multiple choice question with the 'inquirer' function. The problem is that when I run it this appears with dozens of lines I don't understand:

error: (25, 'Inappropriate ioctl for device')

There should normally be no error in the code since I copy and pasted the model, so I have no idea on what's wrong. I'd be super grateful for any help. By the way, I use Jupyter Notebook.

So here's what the code looks like :

name = input("What's your name ?  ")


options = ['Social media', 'Ads', 'TV', 'Other']

questions = [
    inquirer.List('options', 
                 message = 'Welcome,' + name + '. How did you find out about this app?',
                 choices = options,
                 ),
]
answers = inquirer.prompt(questions)
print(answers)
print(answers['options'])

When I run it, it prints the choices the user is supposed to select from:

[?] Welcome,David. How did you find out about this app?: Social media


> Social media
   Ads
   TV
   Other

And immediately after, all this pops up:

---

error                                     Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[25], line 25
     17 options = ['Social media', 'Ads', 'TV', 'Other']
     19 questions = [
     20     inquirer.List('options', 
     21                  message = 'Welcome,' + name + '. How did you find out about this app?',
     22                  choices = options,
     23                  ),
     24 ]
---> 25 answers = inquirer.prompt(questions)
     26 print(answers)
     27 print(answers['options'])

File ~/anaconda3/lib/python3.10/site-packages/inquirer/prompt.py:11, in prompt(questions, render, answers, theme, raise_keyboard_interrupt)
      9 try:
     10     for question in questions:
---> 11         answers[question.name] = render.render(question, answers)
     12     return answers
     13 except KeyboardInterrupt:

File ~/anaconda3/lib/python3.10/site-packages/inquirer/render/console/__init__.py:38, in ConsoleRender.render(self, question, answers)
     35 self.clear_eos()
     37 try:
---> 38     return self._event_loop(render)
     39 finally:
     40     print("")

File ~/anaconda3/lib/python3.10/site-packages/inquirer/render/console/__init__.py:51, in ConsoleRender._event_loop(self, render)
     48         self._print_header(render)
     49         self._print_options(render)
---> 51         self._process_input(render)
     52         self._force_initial_column()
     53 except errors.EndOfInput as e:

File ~/anaconda3/lib/python3.10/site-packages/inquirer/render/console/__init__.py:95, in ConsoleRender._process_input(self, render)
     93 def _process_input(self, render):
     94     try:
---> 95         ev = self._event_gen.next()
     96         if isinstance(ev, events.KeyPressed):
     97             render.process_input(ev.value)

File ~/anaconda3/lib/python3.10/site-packages/inquirer/events.py:22, in KeyEventGenerator.next(self)
     21 def next(self):
---> 22     return KeyPressed(self._key_gen())

File ~/anaconda3/lib/python3.10/site-packages/readchar/_posix_read.py:34, in readkey()
     30 def readkey() -> str:
     31     """Get a keypress. If an escaped key is pressed, the full sequence is
     32     read and returned as noted in `_posix_key.py`."""
---> 34     c1 = readchar()
     36     if c1 in config.INTERRUPT_KEYS:
     37         raise KeyboardInterrupt

File ~/anaconda3/lib/python3.10/site-packages/readchar/_posix_read.py:18, in readchar()
     14 """Reads a single character from the input stream.
     15 Blocks until a character is available."""
     17 fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
---> 18 old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
     19 term = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
     20 try:

error: (25, 'Inappropriate ioctl for device')

Please help me...

Answer 1

As of my understanding, I suspect you are using PyCharm or Fleet.

The code Inappropriate ioctl for device means the terminal does not support key-listening, thus python-inquirer fails to wait for arrow keys. Try using another terminal emulator or the one built into your system.