How to obtain the keycodes in Python

Lucas Gabriel Sánchez picture Lucas Gabriel Sánchez · Feb 22, 2009 · Viewed 37.7k times · Source

I have to know what key is pressed, but not need the code of the Character, i want to know when someone press the 'A' key even if the key obtained is 'a' or 'A', and so with all other keys.

I can't use PyGame or any other library (including Tkinter). Only Python Standard Library. And this have to be done in a terminal, not a graphical interface.

NOT NEED THE CHARACTER CODE. I NEED TO KNOW THE KEY CODE.

Ex:

ord('a') != ord('A')                      # 97 != 65
someFunction('a') == someFunction('A')    # a_code == A_code

Answer

myroslav picture myroslav · Feb 22, 2009

See tty standard module. It allows switching from default line-oriented (cooked) mode into char-oriented (cbreak) mode with tty.setcbreak(sys.stdin). Reading single char from sys.stdin will result into next pressed keyboard key (if it generates code):

import sys
import tty
tty.setcbreak(sys.stdin)
while True:
    print ord(sys.stdin.read(1))

Note: solution is Unix (including Linux) only.

Edit: On Windows try msvcrt.getche()/getwche(). /me has nowhere to try...


Edit 2: Utilize win32 low-level console API via ctypes.windll (see example at SO) with ReadConsoleInput function. You should filter out keypresses - e.EventType==KEY_EVENT and look for e.Event.KeyEvent.wVirtualKeyCode value. Example of application (not in Python, just to get an idea) can be found at http://www.benryves.com/tutorials/?t=winconsole&c=4.