##### pygame documentation

Pygame Home || Help Contents || Reference Index

Most useful stuff: Color | display | draw | event | font | image | key | locals | mixer | mouse | Rect | Surface | time | music | pygame

Advanced stuff: cursors | joystick | mask | sprite | transform | BufferProxy | freetype | gfxdraw | midi | PixelArray | pixelcopy | sndarray | surfarray | math

Other: camera | controller | examples | fastevent | scrap | tests | touch | version

`pygame.key`
  pygame module to work with the keyboard

  This module contains functions for dealing with the keyboard.

  The `pygame.event` pygame module for interacting with events and queues 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 integer ID representing every key on the keyboard

  > - `mod`: a bitmask of all the modifier keys that were in a pressed state when the event occurred

  The `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 keys

  > - `scancode`: 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

  New in pygame 2.0.0: The `pygame.TEXTINPUT` event is preferred to the `unicode` attribute of `pygame.KEYDOWN`. The attribute `text` contains the input.

  The following is a list of all the constants (from `pygame.locals` pygame constants) 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

  The keyboard also has a list of modifier states (from `pygame.locals` pygame constants) 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.')

  pygame.key.get_focused()
    true if the display is receiving keyboard input from the system
    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 `pygame.event.set_grab()`control the sharing of input devices with other applications to grab all input.

  pygame.key.get_pressed()
    get the state of all keyboard buttons
    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 `pygame.event` pygame module for interacting with events and queues queue for this functionality.

    New in pygame 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.

    New in pygame 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_mods()
    determine which modifier keys are being held
    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 modifier keys are pressed.

  pygame.key.set_mods()
    temporarily set which modifier keys are pressed
    set_mods(int) -> None

    Create a bitmask of the modifier key constants you want to impose on your program.

  pygame.key.set_repeat()
    control how held keys are repeated
    set_repeat() -> None
    set_repeat(delay) -> None
    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

    Changed in pygame 2.0.0: A `ValueError` is now raised (instead of a `pygame.error`) if `delay` or `interval` is < 0.

  pygame.key.get_repeat()
    see how held keys are repeated
    get_repeat() -> (delay, interval)

    Get the `delay` and `interval` keyboard repeat values. Refer to `pygame.key.set_repeat()`control how held keys are repeated for a description of these values.

    New in pygame 1.8.

  pygame.key.name()
    get the name of a key identifier
    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

    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)

    Changed in pygame 2.1.3: Added `use_compat` argument and guaranteed API stability for it

  pygame.key.key_code()
    get the key identifier from a key name
    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.

    New in pygame 2.0.0.

  pygame.key.start_text_input()
    start handling Unicode text input events
    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.

    New in pygame 2.0.0.

  pygame.key.stop_text_input()
    stop handling Unicode text input events
    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.

    New in pygame 2.0.0.

  pygame.key.set_text_input_rect()
    controls the position of the candidate list
    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.

    New in pygame 2.0.0.

Edit on GitHub