Using tqdm to Display Real-Time Progress Bars in Python

1. Tool

The tutorial introduces tqdm , a Python progress‑bar library that can wrap any iterator to provide a fast, extensible visual indication of loop progress.

2. Installation

Install the library via pip:

$ pip install tqdm

3. Usage of tqdm

tqdm offers three main ways to control progress display: automatic control, manual control, and script/command‑line usage.

4. Example 1 – Passing an Iterable

Import the library and use tqdm to wrap a range object, sleeping 0.1 s each iteration to simulate work. The progress bar advances every 0.1 s, resulting in a total duration of 60 seconds.

import time
from tqdm import *

for i in tqdm(range(10 * 60)):
    time.sleep(0.1)    # progress bar advances every 0.1 s, total time = 60 s

5. Example 2 – Using trange

trange(i) is a shorthand for tqdm(range(i)) . The example demonstrates the same 60‑second loop with trange .

import time
from tqdm import trange

for i in trange(10 * 60):
    # do something
    time.sleep(0.1)

Both examples can be adapted by replacing the constant 60 with a variable to set the desired number of seconds for the progress bar.

For further exploration, refer to the official GitHub repository: https://github.com/tqdm/tqdm .