Stop keyboard.record() function at any keypress in Python

Question

I found this keyboard module in Python which is used to log keyboard events (from what I got, mainly) using keyboard.record(), which takes in a string as a parameter, indicating at which keypress the function should stop.

So my question is.. is there any way to make the function stop at any keypress? As far as I know the module has no special keyword which would indicate such a thing.

Like I tried doing this

keys_pressed = keyboard.record(until='any')

But that's causing an error.

If you want the logger to stop at any keypress I'm not sure why do you want it in the 1st place. Btw, the event types generated by the module are _key down_ and _key up_. Also, the question should contain the error as well. — CristiFati, Aug 30 '17 at 17:52

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 30 '17 at 17:52

1

I don't see the point to using keyboard.record() if all you need it for is to stop at (and record) only the first keypress.

Instead, you could use keyboard.read_key() like this:

import keyboard
k = keyboard.read_key()  # in my python interpreter, this captures "enter up"
k = keyboard.read_key()  # so repeat the line if in the python interpreter

answered Aug 30 '17 at 17:52

J-L

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Thanks for the suggestion! `read_key()` works perfectly here. – string_loginUsername Aug 30 '17 at 18:45

Aor · Answer 2 · 2017-08-30T18:39:17.910

After digging around in the source code, it looks like this is not possible.

def record(until='escape'):
    """
    Records all keyboard events from all keyboards until the user presses the
    given key combination. Then returns the list of events recorded, of type
    `keyboard.KeyboardEvent`. Pairs well with
    `play(events)`.

    Note: this is a blocking function.
    Note: for more details on the keyboard hook and events see `hook`.
    """
    recorded = []
    hook(recorded.append)
    wait(until)
    unhook(recorded.append)
    return recorded

The parameter until is passed into wait(). Thus, wait() must have code to handle an arbitrary key press, which it does not.

def wait(combination=None):
    """
    Blocks the program execution until the given key combination is pressed or,
    if given no parameters, blocks forever.
    """
    wait, unlock = _make_wait_and_unlock()
    if combination is not None:
        hotkey_handler = add_hotkey(combination, unlock)
    wait()
    remove_hotkey(hotkey_handler)

Ultimately, there is no source code built to handle something like keyboard.record(until='any'), so you'll have to find a workaround. Consider checking How do I make python to wait for a pressed key. However, if you need to record the arbitrary key you would have used to stop the recording, then use J-L's workaround:

import keyboard
k = keyboard.read_key()  # in my python interpreter, this captures "enter up"
k = keyboard.read_key()  # so repeat the line if in the python interpreter

Yeah, I should've snooped around the source code myself before asking. Anyway, `read_key()` seems to work just fine for what I'm trying to do, thanks for the answer anyway though. — string_loginUsername, Aug 30 '17 at 18:44

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 30 '17 at 18:43

You can make a function that sets a hook for all keys.

import keyboard

def record_until(any_key=False):
    recorded = []

    keyboard.hook(recorded.append) # need this to capture terminator

    wait, unlock = keyboard._make_wait_and_unlock()

    if any_key:
        hook = keyboard.hook(unlock)

    wait()

    try:
        keyboard.remove_hotkey(hook)
    except ValueError: pass

    return recorded


record_until(any_key=True)

Stop keyboard.record() function at any keypress in Python

3 Answers3

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