PYNPUT(3)

NAME
pynput - pynput Documentation

This library allows you to control and monitor input devices.

It contains subpackages for each type of input device supported:

    pynput.mouse
        Contains classes for controlling and monitoring a mouse or trackpad.

    pynput.keyboard
        Contains classes for controlling and monitoring the keyboard.

All modules mentioned above are automatically imported into the pynput package. To use any of them, import them from the main package:

            from pynput import mouse, keyboard

FORCING A SPECIFIC BACKEND

pynput attempts to use the backend suitable for the current platform, but this automatic choice is possible to override.

If the environment variables $PYNPUT_BACKEND_KEYBOARD or $PYNPUT_BACKEND are set, their value will be used as backend name for the keyboard classes, and if $PYNPUT_BACKEND_MOUSE or $PYNPUT_BACKEND are set, their value will be used as backend name for the mouse classes.

Available backends are:

    •   darwin, the default for macOS.

    •   win32, the default for Windows.

    •   uinput, an optional backend for Linux requiring root privileges and supporting only keyboards.

    •   xorg, the default for other operating systems.

    •   dummy, a non-functional, but importable, backend. This is useful as mouse backend when using the uinput backend.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Handling the mouse

The package pynput.mouse contains classes for controlling and monitoring the mouse.

  Controlling the mouse

Use pynput.mouse.Controller like this:

            from pynput.mouse import Button, Controller

            mouse = Controller()

            # Read pointer position
            print('The current pointer position is {}'.format(
                mouse.position))

            # Set pointer position
            mouse.position = (10, 20)
            print('Now we have moved it to {}'.format(
                mouse.position))

            # Move pointer relative to current position
            mouse.move(5, -5)

            # Press and release
            mouse.press(Button.left)
            mouse.release(Button.left)

            # Double click; this is different from pressing and releasing
            # twice on macOS
            mouse.click(Button.left, 2)

            # Scroll two steps down
            mouse.scroll(0, 2)

  Monitoring the mouse

Use pynput.mouse.Listener like this:

            from pynput import mouse

            def on_move(x, y, injected):
                print('Pointer moved to {}; it was {}'.format(
                    (x, y, 'faked' if injected else 'not faked')))

            def on_click(x, y, button, pressed, injected):
                print('{} at {}; it was {}'.format(
                    'Pressed' if pressed else 'Released',
                    (x, y, 'faked' if injected else 'not faked')))
                if not pressed:
                    # Stop listener
                    return False

            def on_scroll(x, y, dx, dy, injected):
                print('Scrolled {} at {}; it was {}'.format(
                    'down' if dy < 0 else 'up',
                    (x, y, 'faked' if injected else 'not faked')))

            # Collect events until released
            with mouse.Listener(
                    on_move=on_move,
                    on_click=on_click,
                    on_scroll=on_scroll) as listener:
                listener.join()

            # ...or, in a non-blocking fashion:
            listener = mouse.Listener(
                on_move=on_move,
                on_click=on_click,
                on_scroll=on_scroll)
            listener.start()

A mouse listener is a threading.Thread, and all callbacks will be invoked from the thread.

Call pynput.mouse.Listener.stop from anywhere, raise StopException or return False from a callback to stop the listener.

When using the non-blocking version above, the current thread will continue executing. This might be necessary when integrating with other GUI frameworks that incorporate a main-loop, but when run from a script, this will cause the program to terminate immediately.

  The mouse listener thread

The listener callbacks are invoked directly from an operating thread on some platforms, notably Windows.

This means that long running procedures and blocking operations should not be invoked from the callback, as this risks freezing input for all processes.

A possible workaround is to just dispatch incoming messages to a queue, and let a separate thread handle them.

  Handling mouse listener errors

If a callback handler raises an exception, the listener will be stopped. Since callbacks run in a dedicated thread, the exceptions will not automatically be reraised.

To be notified about callback errors, call Thread.join on the listener instance:

            from pynput import mouse

            class MyException(Exception): pass

            def on_click(x, y, button, pressed):
                if button == mouse.Button.left:
                    raise MyException(button)

            # Collect events until released
            with mouse.Listener(
                    on_click=on_click) as listener:
                try:
                    listener.join()
                except MyException as e:
                    print('{} was clicked'.format(e.args[0]))

  Toggling event listening for the mouse listener

Once pynput.mouse.Listener.stop has been called, the listener cannot be restarted, since listeners are instances of threading.Thread.

If your application requires toggling listening events, you must either add an internal flag to ignore events when not required, or create a new listener when resuming listening.

  Synchronous event listening for the mouse listener

To simplify scripting, synchronous event listening is supported through the utility class pynput.mouse.Events. This class supports reading single events in a non-blocking fashion, as well as iterating over all events.

To read a single event, use the following code:

            from pynput import mouse

            # The event listener will be running in this block
            with mouse.Events() as events:
                # Block at most one second
                event = events.get(1.0)
                if event is None:
                    print('You did not interact with the mouse within one second')
                else:
                    print('Received event {}'.format(event))

To iterate over mouse events, use the following code:

            from pynput import mouse

            # The event listener will be running in this block
            with mouse.Events() as events:
                for event in events:
                    if event.button == mouse.Button.right:
                        break
                    else:
                        print('Received event {}'.format(event))

Please note that the iterator method does not support non-blocking operation, so it will wait for at least one mouse event.

The events will be instances of the inner classes found in pynput.mouse.Events.

  Ensuring consistent coordinates between listener and controller on Windows

Recent versions of _Windows_ support running legacy applications scaled when the system scaling has been increased beyond 100%. This allows old applications to scale, albeit with a blurry look, and avoids tiny, unusable user interfaces.

This scaling is unfortunately inconsistently applied to a mouse listener and a controller: the listener will receive physical coordinates, but the controller has to work with scaled coordinates.

This can be worked around by telling Windows that your application is DPI aware. This is a process global setting, so _pynput_ cannot do it automatically. Do enable DPI awareness, run the following code:

            import ctypes

            PROCESS_PER_MONITOR_DPI_AWARE = 2

            ctypes.windll.shcore.SetProcessDpiAwareness(PROCESS_PER_MONITOR_DPI_AWARE)

  Reference

    class pynput.mouse.Controller
        A controller for sending virtual mouse events to the system.

        click(button, count=1)
            Emits a button click event at the current position.

            The default implementation sends a series of press and release events.

            Parameters

                •   button (Button) -- The button to click.

                •   count (int) -- The number of clicks to send.

        move(dx, dy)
            Moves the mouse pointer a number of pixels from its current position.

            Parameters

                •   dx (int) -- The horizontal offset.

                •   dy (int) -- The vertical offset.

            Raises
                ValueError -- if the values are invalid, for example out of bounds

        property position
            The current position of the mouse pointer.

            This is the tuple (x, y), and setting it will move the pointer.

        press(button)
            Emits a button press event at the current position.

            Parameters
                button (Button) -- The button to press.

        release(button)
            Emits a button release event at the current position.

            Parameters
                button (Button) -- The button to release.

        scroll(dx, dy)
            Sends scroll events.

            Parameters

                •   dx (int) -- The horizontal scroll. The units of scrolling is undefined.

                •   dy (int) -- The vertical scroll. The units of scrolling is undefined.

            Raises
                ValueError -- if the values are invalid, for example out of bounds

    class pynput.mouse.Listener(on_move=None, on_click=None, on_scroll=None, suppress=False, **kwargs)
        A listener for mouse events.

        Instances of this class can be used as context managers. This is equivalent to the following code:

                listener.start()
                try:
                    listener.wait()
                    with_statements()
                finally:
                    listener.stop()

    This class inherits from threading.Thread and supports all its methods. It will set daemon to True when created.

    All callback arguments are optional; a callback may take less arguments than actually passed, but not more, unless they are optional.

        Parameters

            •   on_move (callable) --

                The callback to call when mouse move events occur.

                It will be called with the arguments (x, y, injected), where (x, y) is the new pointer position and injected whether the event was injected and thus not generated by an actual input device. If this callback raises StopException or returns False, the listener is stopped.

                Please note that not all backends support injected and will always set it to False.

            •   on_click (callable) --

                The callback to call when a mouse button is clicked.

                It will be called with the arguments (x, y, button, pressed, injected), where (x, y) is the new pointer position, button is one of the Button, pressed is whether the button was pressed and injected whether the event was injected and thus not generated by an actual input device.

                If this callback raises StopException or returns False, the listener is stopped.

                Please note that not all backends support injected and will always set it to False.

            •   on_scroll (callable) --

                The callback to call when mouse scroll events occur.

                It will be called with the arguments (x, y, dx, dy, injected), where (x, y) is the new pointer position, and (dx, dy) is the scroll vector and injected whether the event was injected and thus not generated by an actual input device.

                If this callback raises StopException or returns False, the listener is stopped.

                Please note that not all backends support injected and will always set it to False.

            •   suppress (bool) -- Whether to suppress events. Setting this to True will prevent the input events from being passed to the rest of the system.

            •   kwargs --

                Any non-standard platform dependent options. These should be prefixed with the platform name thus: darwin_, xorg_ or win32_.

                Supported values are:

                darwin_intercept
                    A callable taking the arguments (event_type, event), where event_type is any mouse related event type constant, and event is a CGEventRef.

                    This callable can freely modify the event using functions like Quartz.CGEventSetIntegerValueField. If this callable does not return the event, the event is suppressed system wide.

                win32_event_filter
                    A callable taking the arguments (msg, data), where msg is the current message, and data associated data as a MSLLHOOKSTRUCT <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/win32/api/winuser/ns-winuser-msllhookstruct>.

                    If this callback returns False, the event will not be propagated to the listener callback.

                    If self.suppress_event() is called, the event is suppressed system wide.

        __init__(on_move=None, on_click=None, on_scroll=None, suppress=False, **kwargs)
            This constructor should always be called with keyword arguments. Arguments are:

            group should be None; reserved for future extension when a ThreadGroup class is implemented.

            target is the callable object to be invoked by the run() method. Defaults to None, meaning nothing is called.

            name is the thread name. By default, a unique name is constructed of the form "Thread-N" where N is a small decimal number.

            args is a list or tuple of arguments for the target invocation. Defaults to ().

            kwargs is a dictionary of keyword arguments for the target invocation. Defaults to {}.

            context is the contextvars.Context value to use for the thread. The default value is None, which means to check sys.flags.thread_inherit_context. If that flag is true, use a copy of the context of the caller. If false, use an empty context. To explicitly start with an empty context, pass a new instance of contextvars.Context(). To explicitly start with a copy of the current context, pass the value from contextvars.copy_context().

            If a subclass overrides the constructor, it must make sure to invoke the base class constructor (Thread.__init__()) before doing anything else to the thread.

        property running
            Whether the listener is currently running.

        start()
            Start the thread's activity.

            It must be called at most once per thread object. It arranges for the object's run() method to be invoked in a separate thread of control.

            This method will raise a RuntimeError if called more than once on the same thread object.

        stop()
            Stops listening for events.

            When this method returns, no more events will be delivered. Once this method has been called, the listener instance cannot be used any more, since a listener is a threading.Thread, and once stopped it cannot be restarted.

            To resume listening for event, a new listener must be created.

        wait()
            Waits for this listener to become ready.

  Handling the keyboard

The package pynput.keyboard contains classes for controlling and monitoring the keyboard.

  Controlling the keyboard

Use pynput.keyboard.Controller like this:

            from pynput.keyboard import Key, Controller

            keyboard = Controller()

            # Press and release space
            keyboard.press(Key.space)
            keyboard.release(Key.space)

            # Type a lower case A; this will work even if no key on the
            # physical keyboard is labelled 'A'
            keyboard.press('a')
            keyboard.release('a')

            # Type two upper case As
            keyboard.press('A')
            keyboard.release('A')
            with keyboard.pressed(Key.shift):
                keyboard.press('a')
                keyboard.release('a')

            # Type 'Hello World' using the shortcut type method
            keyboard.type('Hello World')

  Monitoring the keyboard

Use pynput.keyboard.Listener like this:

            from pynput import keyboard

            def on_press(key, injected):
                try:
                    print('alphanumeric key {} pressed; it was {}'.format(
                        key.char, 'faked' if injected else 'not faked'))
                except AttributeError:
                    print('special key {} pressed'.format(
                        key))

            def on_release(key, injected):
                print('{} released; it was {}'.format(
                    key, 'faked' if injected else 'not faked'))
                if key == keyboard.Key.esc:
                    # Stop listener
                    return False

            # Collect events until released
            with keyboard.Listener(
                    on_press=on_press,
                    on_release=on_release) as listener:
                listener.join()

            # ...or, in a non-blocking fashion:
            listener = keyboard.Listener(
                on_press=on_press,
                on_release=on_release)
            listener.start()

A keyboard listener is a threading.Thread, and all callbacks will be invoked from the thread.

Call pynput.keyboard.Listener.stop from anywhere, raise StopException or return False from a callback to stop the listener.

The key parameter passed to callbacks is a pynput.keyboard.Key, for special keys, a pynput.keyboard.KeyCode for normal alphanumeric keys, or just None for unknown keys.

When using the non-blocking version above, the current thread will continue executing. This might be necessary when integrating with other GUI frameworks that incorporate a main-loop, but when run from a script, this will cause the program to terminate immediately.

  The keyboard listener thread

The listener callbacks are invoked directly from an operating thread on some platforms, notably Windows.

This means that long running procedures and blocking operations should not be invoked from the callback, as this risks freezing input for all processes.

A possible workaround is to just dispatch incoming messages to a queue, and let a separate thread handle them.

  Handling keyboard listener errors

If a callback handler raises an exception, the listener will be stopped. Since callbacks run in a dedicated thread, the exceptions will not automatically be reraised.

To be notified about callback errors, call Thread.join on the listener instance:

            from pynput import keyboard

            class MyException(Exception): pass

            def on_press(key):
                if key == keyboard.Key.esc:
                    raise MyException(key)

            # Collect events until released
            with keyboard.Listener(
                    on_press=on_press) as listener:
                try:
                    listener.join()
                except MyException as e:
                    print('{} was pressed'.format(e.args[0]))

  Toggling event listening for the keyboard listener

Once pynput.keyboard.Listener.stop has been called, the listener cannot be restarted, since listeners are instances of threading.Thread.

If your application requires toggling listening events, you must either add an internal flag to ignore events when not required, or create a new listener when resuming listening.

  Synchronous event listening for the keyboard listener

To simplify scripting, synchronous event listening is supported through the utility class pynput.keyboard.Events. This class supports reading single events in a non-blocking fashion, as well as iterating over all events.

To read a single event, use the following code:

            from pynput import keyboard

            # The event listener will be running in this block
            with keyboard.Events() as events:
                # Block at most one second
                event = events.get(1.0)
                if event is None:
                    print('You did not press a key within one second')
                else:
                    print('Received event {}'.format(event))

To iterate over keyboard events, use the following code:

            from pynput import keyboard

            # The event listener will be running in this block
            with keyboard.Events() as events:
                for event in events:
                    if event.key == keyboard.Key.esc:
                        break
                    else:
                        print('Received event {}'.format(event))

Please note that the iterator method does not support non-blocking operation, so it will wait for at least one keyboard event.

The events will be instances of the inner classes found in pynput.keyboard.Events.

  Global hotkeys

A common use case for keyboard monitors is reacting to global hotkeys. Since a listener does not maintain any state, hotkeys involving multiple keys must store this state somewhere.

pynput provides the class pynput.keyboard.HotKey for this purpose. It contains two methods to update the state, designed to be easily interoperable with a keyboard listener: pynput.keyboard.HotKey.press and pynput.keyboard.HotKey.release which can be directly passed as listener callbacks.

The intended usage is as follows:

            from pynput import keyboard

            def on_activate():
                print('Global hotkey activated!')

            def for_canonical(f):
                return lambda k: f(l.canonical(k))

            hotkey = keyboard.HotKey(
                keyboard.HotKey.parse('<ctrl>+<alt>+h'),
                on_activate)
            with keyboard.Listener(
                    on_press=for_canonical(hotkey.press),
                    on_release=for_canonical(hotkey.release)) as l:
                l.join()

This will create a hotkey, and then use a listener to update its state. Once all the specified keys are pressed simultaneously, on_activate will be invoked.

Note that keys are passed through pynput.keyboard.Listener.canonical before being passed to the HotKey instance. This is to remove any modifier state from the key events, and to normalise modifiers with more than one physical button.

The method pynput.keyboard.HotKey.parse is a convenience function to transform shortcut strings to key collections. Please see its documentation for more information.

To register a number of global hotkeys, use the convenience class pynput.keyboard.GlobalHotKeys:

            from pynput import keyboard

            def on_activate_h():
                print('<ctrl>+<alt>+h pressed')

            def on_activate_i():
                print('<ctrl>+<alt>+i pressed')

            with keyboard.GlobalHotKeys({
                    '<ctrl>+<alt>+h': on_activate_h,
                    '<ctrl>+<alt>+i': on_activate_i}) as h:
                h.join()

  Reference

    class pynput.keyboard.Controller
        A controller for sending virtual keyboard events to the system.

        exception InvalidCharacterException
            The exception raised when an invalid character is encountered in the string passed to Controller.type().

            Its first argument is the index of the character in the string, and the second the character.

        exception InvalidKeyException
            The exception raised when an invalid key parameter is passed to either Controller.press() or Controller.release().

            Its first argument is the key parameter.

        property alt_gr_pressed
            Whether altgr is pressed.

            Please note that this reflects only the internal state of this controller. See modifiers for more information.

        property alt_pressed
            Whether any alt key is pressed.

            Please note that this reflects only the internal state of this controller. See modifiers for more information.

        property ctrl_pressed
            Whether any ctrl key is pressed.

            Please note that this reflects only the internal state of this controller. See modifiers for more information.

        property modifiers
            The currently pressed modifier keys.

            Please note that this reflects only the internal state of this controller, and not the state of the operating system keyboard buffer. This property cannot be used to determine whether a key is physically pressed.

            Only the generic modifiers will be set; when pressing either Key.shift_l, Key.shift_r or Key.shift, only Key.shift will be present.

            Use this property within a context block thus:

                    with controller.modifiers as modifiers:
                        with_block()

        This ensures that the modifiers cannot be modified by another thread.

        press(key)
            Presses a key.

            A key may be either a string of length 1, one of the Key members or a KeyCode.

            Strings will be transformed to KeyCode using KeyCode.char(). Members of Key will be translated to their value().

            Parameters
                key -- The key to press.

            Raises

                •   InvalidKeyException <#pynput.keyboard.Controller.InvalidKeyException> -- if the key is invalid

                •   ValueError -- if key is a string, but its length is not 1

        pressed(*args)
            Executes a block with some keys pressed.

            Parameters
                keys -- The keys to keep pressed.

        release(key)
            Releases a key.

            A key may be either a string of length 1, one of the Key members or a KeyCode.

            Strings will be transformed to KeyCode using KeyCode.char(). Members of Key will be translated to their value().

            Parameters
                key -- The key to release. If this is a string, it is passed to touches() and the returned releases are used.

            Raises

                •   InvalidKeyException <#pynput.keyboard.Controller.InvalidKeyException> -- if the key is invalid

                •   ValueError -- if key is a string, but its length is not 1

        property shift_pressed
            Whether any shift key is pressed, or caps lock is toggled.

            Please note that this reflects only the internal state of this controller. See modifiers for more information.

        tap(key)
            Presses and releases a key.

            This is equivalent to the following code:

                    controller.press(key)
                    controller.release(key)

            Parameters
                key -- The key to press.

            Raises

                •   InvalidKeyException <#pynput.keyboard.Controller.InvalidKeyException> -- if the key is invalid

                •   ValueError -- if key is a string, but its length is not 1

        touch(key, is_press)
            Calls either press() or release() depending on the value of is_press.

            Parameters

                •   key -- The key to press or release.

                •   is_press (bool) -- Whether to press the key.

            Raises
                InvalidKeyException <#pynput.keyboard.Controller.InvalidKeyException> -- if the key is invalid

        type(string)
            Types a string.

            This method will send all key presses and releases necessary to type all characters in the string.

            Parameters
                string (str) -- The string to type.

            Raises
                InvalidCharacterException <#pynput.keyboard.Controller.InvalidCharacterException> -- if an untypable character is encountered

    class pynput.keyboard.Listener(on_press=None, on_release=None, suppress=False, **kwargs)
        A listener for keyboard events.

        Instances of this class can be used as context managers. This is equivalent to the following code:

                listener.start()
                try:
                    listener.wait()
                    with_statements()
                finally:
                    listener.stop()

    This class inherits from threading.Thread and supports all its methods. It will set daemon to True when created.

    All callback arguments are optional; a callback may take less arguments than actually passed, but not more, unless they are optional.

        Parameters

            •   on_press (callable) --

                The callback to call when a button is pressed.

                It will be called with the arguments (key, injected), where key is a KeyCode, a Key or None if the key is unknown, and injected whether the event was injected and thus not generated by an actual input device.

                Please note that not all backends support injected and will always set it to False.

            •   on_release (callable) --

                The callback to call when a button is released.

                It will be called with the arguments (key, injected), where key is a KeyCode, a Key or None if the key is unknown, and injected whether the event was injected and thus not generated by an actual input device.

                Please note that not all backends support injected and will always set it to False.

            •   suppress (bool) -- Whether to suppress events. Setting this to True will prevent the input events from being passed to the rest of the system.

            •   kwargs --

                Any non-standard platform dependent options. These should be prefixed with the platform name thus: darwin_, uinput_, xorg_ or win32_.

                Supported values are:

                darwin_intercept
                    A callable taking the arguments (event_type, event), where event_type is Quartz.kCGEventKeyDown or Quartz.kCGEventKeyUp, and event is a CGEventRef.

                    This callable can freely modify the event using functions like Quartz.CGEventSetIntegerValueField. If this callable does not return the event, the event is suppressed system wide.

                uinput_device_paths
                    A list of device paths.

                    If this is specified, pynput will limit the number of devices checked for the capabilities needed to those passed, otherwise all system devices will be used. Passing this might be required if an incorrect device is chosen.

                win32_event_filter
                    A callable taking the arguments (msg, data), where msg is the current message, and data associated data as a KBDLLHOOKSTRUCT <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/win32/api/winuser/ns-winuser-kbdllhookstruct>.

                    If this callback returns False, the event will not be propagated to the listener callback.

                    If self.suppress_event() is called, the event is suppressed system wide.

        __init__(on_press=None, on_release=None, suppress=False, **kwargs)
            This constructor should always be called with keyword arguments. Arguments are:

            group should be None; reserved for future extension when a ThreadGroup class is implemented.

            target is the callable object to be invoked by the run() method. Defaults to None, meaning nothing is called.

            name is the thread name. By default, a unique name is constructed of the form "Thread-N" where N is a small decimal number.

            args is a list or tuple of arguments for the target invocation. Defaults to ().

            kwargs is a dictionary of keyword arguments for the target invocation. Defaults to {}.

            context is the contextvars.Context value to use for the thread. The default value is None, which means to check sys.flags.thread_inherit_context. If that flag is true, use a copy of the context of the caller. If false, use an empty context. To explicitly start with an empty context, pass a new instance of contextvars.Context(). To explicitly start with a copy of the current context, pass the value from contextvars.copy_context().

            If a subclass overrides the constructor, it must make sure to invoke the base class constructor (Thread.__init__()) before doing anything else to the thread.

        property running
            Whether the listener is currently running.

        start()
            Start the thread's activity.

            It must be called at most once per thread object. It arranges for the object's run() method to be invoked in a separate thread of control.

            This method will raise a RuntimeError if called more than once on the same thread object.

        stop()
            Stops listening for events.

            When this method returns, no more events will be delivered. Once this method has been called, the listener instance cannot be used any more, since a listener is a threading.Thread, and once stopped it cannot be restarted.

            To resume listening for event, a new listener must be created.

        wait()
            Waits for this listener to become ready.

    class pynput.keyboard.Key(*values)
        A class representing various buttons that may not correspond to letters. This includes modifier keys and function keys.

        The actual values for these items differ between platforms. Some platforms may have additional buttons, but these are guaranteed to be present everywhere.

        alt = <0>
            A generic Alt key. This is a modifier.

        alt_gr = <0>
            The AltGr key. This is a modifier.

        alt_l = <0>
            The left Alt key. This is a modifier.

        alt_r = <0>
            The right Alt key. This is a modifier.

        backspace = <0>
            The Backspace key.

        caps_lock = <0>
            The CapsLock key.

        cmd = <0>
            A generic command button. On PC platforms, this corresponds to the Super key or Windows key, and on Mac it corresponds to the Command key. This may be a modifier.

        cmd_l = <0>
            The left command button. On PC platforms, this corresponds to the Super key or Windows key, and on Mac it corresponds to the Command key. This may be a modifier.

        cmd_r = <0>
            The right command button. On PC platforms, this corresponds to the Super key or Windows key, and on Mac it corresponds to the Command key. This may be a modifier.

        ctrl = <0>
            A generic Ctrl key. This is a modifier.

        ctrl_l = <0>
            The left Ctrl key. This is a modifier.

        ctrl_r = <0>
            The right Ctrl key. This is a modifier.

        delete = <0>
            The Delete key.

        down = <0>
            A down arrow key.

        end = <0>
            The End key.

        enter = <0>
            The Enter or Return key.

        esc = <0>
            The Esc key.

        f1 = <0>
            The function keys. F1 to F20 are defined.

        home = <0>
            The Home key.

        insert = <0>
            The Insert key. This may be undefined for some platforms.

        left = <0>
            A left arrow key.

        media_next = <0>
            The next track button.

        media_play_pause = <0>
            The play/pause toggle.

        media_previous = <0>
            The previous track button.

        media_volume_down = <0>
            The volume down button.

        media_volume_mute = <0>
            The volume mute button.

        media_volume_up = <0>
            The volume up button.

        menu = <0>
            The Menu key. This may be undefined for some platforms.

        num_lock = <0>
            The NumLock key. This may be undefined for some platforms.

        page_down = <0>
            The PageDown key.

        page_up = <0>
            The PageUp key.

        pause = <0>
            The Pause/Break key. This may be undefined for some platforms.

        print_screen = <0>
            The PrintScreen key. This may be undefined for some platforms.

        right = <0>
            A right arrow key.

        scroll_lock = <0>
            The ScrollLock key. This may be undefined for some platforms.

        shift = <0>
            A generic Shift key. This is a modifier.

        shift_l = <0>
            The left Shift key. This is a modifier.

        shift_r = <0>
            The right Shift key. This is a modifier.

        space = <0>
            The Space key.

        tab = <0>
            The Tab key.

        up = <0>
            An up arrow key.

    class pynput.keyboard.KeyCode(vk=None, char=None, is_dead=False, **kwargs)
        A KeyCode represents the description of a key code used by the operating system.

        classmethod from_char(char, **kwargs)
            Creates a key from a character.

            Parameters
                char (str) -- The character.

            Returns
                a key code

        classmethod from_dead(char, **kwargs)
            Creates a dead key.

            Parameters
                char -- The dead key. This should be the unicode character representing the stand alone character, such as '~' for COMBINING TILDE.

            Returns
                a key code

        classmethod from_vk(vk, **kwargs)
            Creates a key from a virtual key code.

            Parameters

                •   vk -- The virtual key code.

                •   kwargs -- Any other parameters to pass.

            Returns
                a key code

        join(key)
            Applies this dead key to another key and returns the result.

            Joining a dead key with space (' ') or itself yields the non-dead version of this key, if one exists; for example, KeyCode.from_dead('~').join(KeyCode.from_char(' ')) equals KeyCode.from_char('~') and KeyCode.from_dead('~').join(KeyCode.from_dead('~')).

            Parameters
                key (KeyCode <#pynput.keyboard.KeyCode>) -- The key to join with this key.

            Returns
                a key code

            Raises
                ValueError -- if the keys cannot be joined

  Frequently asked question

  How do I suppress specific events only?

Passing the suppress=True flag to listeners will suppress all events system-wide. If this is not what you want, you will have to employ different solutions for different backends.

If your backend of choice is not listed below, it does not support suppression of specific events.

  macOS

For macOS, pass the named argument darwin_intercept to the listener constructor. This argument should be a callable taking the arguments (event_type, event), where event_type is any mouse related event type constant, and event is a CGEventRef <https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coregraphics/cgeventref?language=objc>. The event argument can be manipulated by the functions found on the Apple documentation <https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coregraphics/quartz_event_services?language=objc>.

If the interceptor function determines that the event should be suppressed, return None, otherwise return the event, which you may modify.

Here is a keyboard example:

            def darwin_intercept(event_type, event):
                import Quartz
                length, chars = Quartz.CGEventKeyboardGetUnicodeString(
                    event, 100, None, None)
                if length > 0 and chars == 'x':
                    # Suppress x
                    return None
                elif length > 0 and chars == 'a':
                    # Transform a to b
                    Quartz.CGEventKeyboardSetUnicodeString(event, 1, 'b')
                else:
                    return event

  Windows

For Windows, pass the argument named win32_event_filter to the listener constructor. This argument should be a callable taking the arguments (msg, data), where msg is the current message, and data associated data as a MSLLHOOKSTRUCT <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/win32/api/winuser/ns-winuser-msllhookstruct> or a KBDLLHOOKSTRUCT, depending on whether you are creating a mouse or keyboard listener.

If the filter function determines that the event should be suppressed, call suppress_event on the listener. If you return False, the event will be hidden from other listener callbacks.

Here is a keyboard example:

            # Values for MSLLHOOKSTRUCT.vkCode can be found here:
            # https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/inputdev/virtual-key-codes
            def win32_event_filter(msg, data):
                if data.vkCode == 0x58:
                    # Suppress x
                    listener.suppress_event()

  When using a packager I get an ImportError on startup

This happens when using a packager, such as PyInstaller, to package your application.

The reason for the error is that the packager attempts to build a dependency tree of the modules used by inspecting import statements, and pynput finds the platform dependent backend modules at runtime using importlib.

To solve this problem, please consult the documentation of your tool to find how to explicitly add modules.

Which modules to add depends on your distribution platform. The backend modules are those starting with an underscore ('_') in the pynput.keyboard and pynput.mouse packages. Additionally, you will need modules with corresponding names from the pynput._util package.

  Platform limitations

pynput aims at providing a unified API for all supported platforms. In some cases, however, that is not entirely possible.

  Linux

On Linux, pynput uses X or uinput.

When running under X, the following must be true:

    •   An X server must be running.

    •   The environment variable $DISPLAY must be set.

When running under uinput, the following must be true:

    •   You must run your script as root, to that is has the required permissions for uinput.

Also please note that the injected flag is not supported for uinput.

The latter requirement for X means that running pynput over SSH generally will not work. To work around that, make sure to set $DISPLAY:

            $ DISPLAY=:0 python -c 'import pynput'

Please note that the value DISPLAY=:0 is just an example. To find the actual value, please launch a terminal application from your desktop environment and issue the command echo $DISPLAY.

When running under Wayland, the X server emulator Xwayland will usually run, providing limited functionality. Notably, you will only receive input events from applications running under this emulator.

  macOS

Recent versions of macOS restrict monitoring of the keyboard for security reasons. For that reason, one of the following must be true:

    •   The process must run as root.

    •   Your application must be white listed under Enable access for assistive devices. Note that this might require that you package your application, since otherwise the entire Python installation must be white listed.

    •   On versions after Mojave, you may also need to whitelist your terminal application if running your script from a terminal.

Please note that this does not apply to monitoring of the mouse or trackpad.

All listener classes have the additional attribute IS_TRUSTED, which is True if no permissions are lacking.

  Windows

On Windows, virtual events sent by other processes may not be received. This library takes precautions, however, to dispatch any virtual events generated to all currently running listeners of the current process.

Furthermore, sending key press events will properly propagate to the rest of the system, but the operating system does not consider the buttons to be truly pressed. This means that key press events will not be continuously emitted as when holding down a physical key, and certain key sequences, such as shift pressed while pressing arrow keys, do not work as expected.

    •   Index <>

Author
Moses Palmér

Copyright
2015-2026, Moses Palmér