Fix - NameError: name 'sleep' is not defined in Python

Fix - NameError: name 'sleep' is not defined in Python #

The Python "NameError: name 'sleep' is not defined" occurs when we use the sleep() function without importing it first. To solve the error, import the function from the time module before using it - from time import sleep.

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

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# ⛔️ NameError: name 'sleep' is not defined
sleep(3)

print('After 3 seconds')

To solve the error, we have to import the sleep function from the time module.

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# 👇️ import sleep function
from time import sleep

sleep(3) # 👈️ time in seconds

print('After 3 seconds')

Alternatively, you can import the time module and access the sleep function as time.sleep(N).

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import time

time.sleep(3)

print('After 3 seconds')

The sleep function takes a number of seconds as a parameter and suspends execution for the given number of seconds.

If you need to call a function or run some logic every N seconds, use a while loop.

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import time

while True:
    print('Runs every 3 seconds')
    time.sleep(3)

The code in the body of the while loop is ran every 3 seconds.

You can also pass a floating point number as an argument to sleep if you need to suspend execution for X.Y seconds.

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import time

time.sleep(2.5)

print('After 2.5 seconds')

Note that the sleep() function suspends execution at least for the provided number of seconds, except in the case when an exception is raised.