Simulate keystroke in Linux with Python

Question

How can I simulate a keystroke in python? I also want to press multiple keys simultaneously.

Something like:

keystroke('CTRL+F4')

or

keystroke('Shift+A')

May I ask why you want to do this? Also, under which environment? Command line? Graphical Desktop? — static_rtti, Apr 19 '11 at 09:13

gvalkov · Answer 1 · 2017-04-06T21:09:43.160

18

Consider python-uinput and evdev. Example of shift+a with the latter:

from evdev import uinput, ecodes as e

with uinput.UInput() as ui:
    ui.write(e.EV_KEY, e.KEY_LEFTSHIFT, 1)
    ui.write(e.EV_KEY, e.KEY_A, 1)
    ui.syn()

edited Apr 06 '17 at 21:09

answered Aug 23 '12 at 17:05

gvalkov

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I tried similar code, it is exeuted because I see in system log that a new virtual input device was created but the keystrokes do not appear in X? Any special thing can be done so the keys are received by X server? – akostadinov Jul 05 '13 at 10:18
1

The links are dead – Mehdi Nellen Apr 06 '17 at 10:56
This is great! Note that 1 is a keydown event and 0 is keyup, so if you wanted to simulate a pressing and releasing a key more than once, you would need to place something like the following lines in a loop: `ui.write(ecodes.EV_KEY, ecodes.KEY_DOWN, 1) #key down` `ui.write(ecodes.EV_KEY, ecodes.KEY_DOWN, 0) #key up` `ui.syn()` – cmperezg Mar 13 '19 at 18:43
2

it gave me this error: `UInputError: "/dev/uinput" cannot be opened for writing` Any suggestion? – Alex Jun 14 '19 at 20:15
Adding `KERNEL=="uinput", MODE="0666` to the top of /etc/udev/rules.d/50-rogdrv.rules and reloading rules solves the problem" ([github issue](https://github.com/kyokenn/rogdrv/issues/5)) You can reload udev rules like this `# udevadm control --reload-rules && udevadm trigger` ([source](https://newbedev.com/how-to-reload-udev-rules-without-reboot)) – Yann Hoffmann Aug 10 '21 at 10:44
The example given only requires [evdev](https://python-evdev.readthedocs.io/en/latest/). After I did `pip install evdev`, I pasted the example into a python3 interpreter. It worked straight away. It may have helped that I already had the uinput kernel module loaded.- `modprobe uinput`. – Michael Hamilton Dec 01 '22 at 04:08

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Answer 2 · 2017-04-06T22:35:25.543

15

python-uinput:

Pythonic API to Linux uinput kernel module...

Python-uinput is Python interface to Linux uinput kernel module which allows attaching userspace device drivers into kernel. In practice, Python-uinput makes it dead simple to create virtual joysticks, keyboards and mice for generating arbitrary input events programmatically...

edited Apr 06 '17 at 22:35

answered Apr 19 '11 at 09:12

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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4

Can i emit in lowercase? please an example!! – karensantana Apr 11 '13 at 22:22
2

the link is dead – Mehdi Nellen Apr 06 '17 at 10:56

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 19 '11 at 09:29

Although it's specific to X, you can install the xautomation package (apt-get install xautomation on Debian-based systems) and use xte to simulate keypresses, e.g.:

from subprocess import Popen, PIPE

control_f4_sequence = '''keydown Control_L
key F4
keyup Control_L
'''

shift_a_sequence = '''keydown Shift_L
key A
keyup Shift_L
'''

def keypress(sequence):
    p = Popen(['xte'], stdin=PIPE)
    p.communicate(input=sequence)

keypress(shift_a_sequence)
keypress(control_f4_sequence)

How can I send keys to the shell? – user2988257 Aug 30 '16 at 08:58 — user2988257, Aug 30 '16 at 08:58

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 26 '18 at 14:40

4

If you plan to use it on Linux, try pyautogui library. For multiple keys you will need to use hotkey, e.g.:

pyautogui.hotkey('ctrl', 'c')  # ctrl-c to copy

For me it worked - see here: How to pass a keystroke (ALT+TAB) using Popen.communicate (on Linux)?

answered Jan 26 '18 at 14:40

michalrudko

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Works on windows as well. – Jun 23 '18 at 23:06

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

2

If you are on Windows, use Sendkeys and if on Linux, try out the suggestion given here for xsendkeys or pexpect.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

Community

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1

answered Apr 19 '11 at 09:15

Senthil Kumaran

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Eduardo · Answer 6 · 2021-12-16T10:20:49.640

1

Simplest solution I have found was using pynput. You could do the following:

from pynput.keyboard import Key, Controller

keyboard = Controller()
with keyboard.pressed(Key.ctrl):
   keyboard.press(Key.f4)
   keyboard.release(Key.f4)

edited Dec 16 '21 at 10:20

answered Oct 06 '20 at 21:56

Eduardo

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Simulate keystroke in Linux with Python

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