docs/reST/ref/key.rst
.. include:: common.txt
pygame.key.. module:: pygame.key :synopsis: pygame module to work with the keyboard
| :sl:pygame module to work with the keyboard
This module contains functions for dealing with the keyboard.
The :mod:pygame.event queue gets pygame.KEYDOWN and pygame.KEYUP
events when the keyboard buttons are pressed and released. Both events have
key and mod attributes.
key: an :ref:integer ID <key-constants-label> representing every key
on the keyboardmod: a bitmask of all the :ref:modifier keys <key-modifiers-label>
that were in a pressed state when the event occurredThe pygame.KEYDOWN event has the additional attributes unicode and
scancode.
unicode: a single character string that is the fully translated
character entered, this takes into account the shift and composition keysscancode: the platform-specific key code, which could be different from
keyboard to keyboard, but is useful for key selection of weird keys like
the multimedia keys.. versionadded:: 2.0.0
The pygame.TEXTINPUT event is preferred to the unicode attribute
of pygame.KEYDOWN. The attribute text contains the input.
.. _key-constants-label:
The following is a list of all the constants (from :mod:pygame.locals) used to
represent keyboard keys.
Portability note: The integers for key constants differ between pygame 1 and 2.
Always use key constants (K_a) rather than integers directly (97) so
that your key handling code works well on both pygame 1 and pygame 2.
::
pygame
Constant ASCII Description
---------------------------------
K_BACKSPACE \b backspace
K_TAB \t tab
K_CLEAR clear
K_RETURN \r return
K_PAUSE pause
K_ESCAPE ^[ escape
K_SPACE space
K_EXCLAIM ! exclaim
K_QUOTEDBL " quotedbl
K_HASH # hash
K_DOLLAR $ dollar
K_AMPERSAND & ampersand
K_QUOTE quote
K_LEFTPAREN ( left parenthesis
K_RIGHTPAREN ) right parenthesis
K_ASTERISK * asterisk
K_PLUS + plus sign
K_COMMA , comma
K_MINUS - minus sign
K_PERIOD . period
K_SLASH / forward slash
K_0 0 0
K_1 1 1
K_2 2 2
K_3 3 3
K_4 4 4
K_5 5 5
K_6 6 6
K_7 7 7
K_8 8 8
K_9 9 9
K_COLON : colon
K_SEMICOLON ; semicolon
K_LESS < less-than sign
K_EQUALS = equals sign
K_GREATER > greater-than sign
K_QUESTION ? question mark
K_AT @ at
K_LEFTBRACKET [ left bracket
K_BACKSLASH \ backslash
K_RIGHTBRACKET ] right bracket
K_CARET ^ caret
K_UNDERSCORE _ underscore
K_BACKQUOTE ` grave
K_a a a
K_b b b
K_c c c
K_d d d
K_e e e
K_f f f
K_g g g
K_h h h
K_i i i
K_j j j
K_k k k
K_l l l
K_m m m
K_n n n
K_o o o
K_p p p
K_q q q
K_r r r
K_s s s
K_t t t
K_u u u
K_v v v
K_w w w
K_x x x
K_y y y
K_z z z
K_DELETE delete
K_KP0 keypad 0
K_KP1 keypad 1
K_KP2 keypad 2
K_KP3 keypad 3
K_KP4 keypad 4
K_KP5 keypad 5
K_KP6 keypad 6
K_KP7 keypad 7
K_KP8 keypad 8
K_KP9 keypad 9
K_KP_PERIOD . keypad period
K_KP_DIVIDE / keypad divide
K_KP_MULTIPLY * keypad multiply
K_KP_MINUS - keypad minus
K_KP_PLUS + keypad plus
K_KP_ENTER \r keypad enter
K_KP_EQUALS = keypad equals
K_UP up arrow
K_DOWN down arrow
K_RIGHT right arrow
K_LEFT left arrow
K_INSERT insert
K_HOME home
K_END end
K_PAGEUP page up
K_PAGEDOWN page down
K_F1 F1
K_F2 F2
K_F3 F3
K_F4 F4
K_F5 F5
K_F6 F6
K_F7 F7
K_F8 F8
K_F9 F9
K_F10 F10
K_F11 F11
K_F12 F12
K_F13 F13
K_F14 F14
K_F15 F15
K_NUMLOCK numlock
K_CAPSLOCK capslock
K_SCROLLOCK scrollock
K_RSHIFT right shift
K_LSHIFT left shift
K_RCTRL right control
K_LCTRL left control
K_RALT right alt
K_LALT left alt
K_RMETA right meta
K_LMETA left meta
K_LSUPER left Windows key
K_RSUPER right Windows key
K_MODE mode shift
K_HELP help
K_PRINT print screen
K_SYSREQ sysrq
K_BREAK break
K_MENU menu
K_POWER power
K_EURO Euro
K_AC_BACK Android back button
.. _key-modifiers-label:
The keyboard also has a list of modifier states (from :mod:pygame.locals) that
can be assembled by bitwise-ORing them together.
::
pygame
Constant Description
-------------------------
KMOD_NONE no modifier keys pressed
KMOD_LSHIFT left shift
KMOD_RSHIFT right shift
KMOD_SHIFT left shift or right shift or both
KMOD_LCTRL left control
KMOD_RCTRL right control
KMOD_CTRL left control or right control or both
KMOD_LALT left alt
KMOD_RALT right alt
KMOD_ALT left alt or right alt or both
KMOD_LMETA left meta
KMOD_RMETA right meta
KMOD_META left meta or right meta or both
KMOD_CAPS caps lock
KMOD_NUM num lock
KMOD_MODE AltGr
The modifier information is contained in the mod attribute of the
pygame.KEYDOWN and pygame.KEYUP events. The mod attribute is a
bitmask of all the modifier keys that were in a pressed state when the event
occurred. The modifier information can be decoded using a bitwise AND (except
for KMOD_NONE, which should be compared using equals ==). For example:
::
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN or event.type == pygame.KEYUP:
if event.mod == pygame.KMOD_NONE:
print('No modifier keys were in a pressed state when this '
'event occurred.')
else:
if event.mod & pygame.KMOD_LSHIFT:
print('Left shift was in a pressed state when this event '
'occurred.')
if event.mod & pygame.KMOD_RSHIFT:
print('Right shift was in a pressed state when this event '
'occurred.')
if event.mod & pygame.KMOD_SHIFT:
print('Left shift or right shift or both were in a '
'pressed state when this event occurred.')
.. function:: get_focused
| :sl:true if the display is receiving keyboard input from the system
| :sg:get_focused() -> bool
Returns True when the display window has keyboard focus from the
system. If the display needs to ensure it does not lose keyboard focus, it
can use :func:pygame.event.set_grab() to grab all input.
.. ## pygame.key.get_focused ##
.. function:: get_pressed
| :sl:get the state of all keyboard buttons
| :sg:get_pressed() -> bools
Returns a sequence of boolean values representing the state of every key on
the keyboard. Use the key constant values to index the array. A True
value means that the button is pressed.
.. note::
Getting the list of pushed buttons with this function is not the proper
way to handle text entry from the user. There is no way to know the order
of keys pressed, and rapidly pushed keys can be completely unnoticed
between two calls to pygame.key.get_pressed(). There is also no way to
translate these pushed keys into a fully translated character value. See
the pygame.KEYDOWN events on the :mod:pygame.event queue for this
functionality.
.. versionadded:: 2.2.0
The collection of bools returned by get_pressed can not be iterated
over because the indexes of the internal tuple does not correspond to the
keycodes.
.. versionadded:: 2.5.0
Iteration over the collection of bools returned by get_pressed is now
restored. However it still does not make sense to iterate over it. Currently.
.. ## pygame.key.get_pressed ##
.. function:: get_mods
| :sl:determine which modifier keys are being held
| :sg:get_mods() -> int
Returns a single integer representing a bitmask of all the modifier keys
being held. Using bitwise operators you can test if specific
:ref:modifier keys <key-modifiers-label> are pressed.
.. ## pygame.key.get_mods ##
.. function:: set_mods
| :sl:temporarily set which modifier keys are pressed
| :sg:set_mods(int) -> None
Create a bitmask of the :ref:modifier key constants <key-modifiers-label>
you want to impose on your program.
.. ## pygame.key.set_mods ##
.. function:: set_repeat
| :sl:control how held keys are repeated
| :sg:set_repeat() -> None
| :sg:set_repeat(delay) -> None
| :sg:set_repeat(delay, interval) -> None
When the keyboard repeat is enabled, keys that are held down will generate
multiple pygame.KEYDOWN events. The delay parameter is the number of
milliseconds before the first repeated pygame.KEYDOWN event will be sent.
After that, another pygame.KEYDOWN event will be sent every interval
milliseconds. If a delay value is provided and an interval value is
not provided or is 0, then the interval will be set to the same value as
delay.
To disable key repeat call this function with no arguments or with delay
set to 0.
When pygame is initialized the key repeat is disabled.
:raises ValueError: if delay or interval is < 0
.. versionchanged:: 2.0.0 A ValueError is now raised (instead of a
pygame.error) if delay or interval is < 0.
.. ## pygame.key.set_repeat ##
.. function:: get_repeat
| :sl:see how held keys are repeated
| :sg:get_repeat() -> (delay, interval)
Get the delay and interval keyboard repeat values. Refer to
:func:pygame.key.set_repeat() for a description of these values.
.. versionadded:: 1.8
.. ## pygame.key.get_repeat ##
.. function:: name
| :sl:get the name of a key identifier
| :sg:name(key, use_compat=True) -> str
Get the descriptive name of the button from a keyboard button id constant.
Returns an empty string ("") if the key is not found.
If use_compat argument is True (which is the default), this function
returns the legacy name of a key where applicable. The return value is
expected to be the same across different pygame versions (provided the
corresponding key constant exists and is unique). If the return value is
passed to the key_code function, the original constant will be returned.
Experimental: use_compat parameter still in development for testing and feedback. It may change.
Please leave use_compat feedback with authors <https://github.com/pygame/pygame/pull/3312>_
If this argument is False, the returned name may be prettier to display
and may cover a wider range of keys than with use_compat, but there are
no guarantees that this name will be the same across different pygame
versions. If the name returned is passed to the key_code function, the
original constant is returned back (this is an implementation detail which
may change later, do not rely on this)
.. versionchanged:: 2.1.3 Added use_compat argument and guaranteed API stability for it
.. ## pygame.key.name ##
.. function:: key_code
| :sl:get the key identifier from a key name
| :sg:key_code(name=string) -> int
Get the key identifier code from the descriptive name of the key. This returns an integer matching one of the K_* keycodes. For example:
::
>>> pygame.key.key_code("return") == pygame.K_RETURN
True
>>> pygame.key.key_code("0") == pygame.K_0
True
>>> pygame.key.key_code("space") == pygame.K_SPACE
True
:raises ValueError: if the key name is not known.
.. versionadded:: 2.0.0
.. ## pygame.key.key_code ##
.. function:: start_text_input
| :sl:start handling Unicode text input events
| :sg:start_text_input() -> None
Start receiving pygame.TEXTEDITING and pygame.TEXTINPUT
events. If applicable, show the on-screen keyboard or IME editor.
For many languages, key presses will automatically generate a
corresponding pygame.TEXTINPUT event. Special keys like
escape or function keys, and certain key combinations will not
generate pygame.TEXTINPUT events.
In other languages, entering a single symbol may require multiple
key presses, or a language-specific user interface. In this case,
pygame.TEXTINPUT events are preferable to pygame.KEYDOWN
events for text input.
A pygame.TEXTEDITING event is received when an IME composition
is started or changed. It contains the composition text, length,
and editing start position within the composition (attributes
text, length, and start, respectively).
When the composition is committed (or non-IME input is received),
a pygame.TEXTINPUT event is generated.
Text input events handling is on by default.
.. versionadded:: 2.0.0
.. ## pygame.key.start_text_input ##
.. function:: stop_text_input
| :sl:stop handling Unicode text input events
| :sg:stop_text_input() -> None
Stop receiving pygame.TEXTEDITING and pygame.TEXTINPUT
events. If an on-screen keyboard or IME editor was shown with
pygame.key.start_text_input(), hide it again.
Text input events handling is on by default.
To avoid triggering the IME editor or the on-screen keyboard when the user is holding down a key during gameplay, text input should be disabled once text entry is finished, or when the user clicks outside of a text box.
.. versionadded:: 2.0.0
.. ## pygame.key.stop_text_input ##
.. function:: set_text_input_rect
| :sl:controls the position of the candidate list
| :sg:set_text_input_rect(Rect) -> None
This sets the rectangle used for typing with an IME. It controls where the candidate list will open, if supported.
.. versionadded:: 2.0.0
.. ## pygame.key.set_text_input_rect ##
.. ## pygame.key ##