Python Forum

To go back to beginning,so is msvcrt.getch() blocking.
To avoid this use it with msvcrt.kbhit().
Always run from command line when doing stuff like this or stuff(threading) that an editor/IDE can block.
Example:

import time, msvcrt

def stop_me(timeout=5):
   '''None Blocking version'''
   start_time = time.time()
   while True:
       if msvcrt.kbhit():
           key = msvcrt.getch()
           # Python 2 chr(27)
           if key == chr(27).encode():
               print('Esc key pushed')
               return
       if time.time() - start_time > timeout:
           print('Did not manage to stop me in {} sec'.format(timeout))
           return

stop_me()