Detect keyboard input with support of Unicode in python

Question

I want to detect keystrokes in python code. I already try a lot of methods with different libraries but all of them cant detect the UTF keyboard input and only detect Ascii. For example, I want to detect Unicode characters like ("د") or ("ۼ") if a user typed these keys. It means that if I press Alt+Shift it changes my input to another language that uses Unicode characters and I want to detect them.

IMPORTANT: I need the Windows version.

It must detect keystrokes even not focusing on the terminal.

Suppose this simple example:

from pynput import keyboard
def on_press(key):
    try:
        print(key.char)
    except AttributeError:
        print(key)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press) as listener:
            listener.join()

Francis Potter · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-18 05:05:43Z

2

A lot depends on the operating system and keyboard entry method, but this works on my Ubuntu system; I tested with some Spanish characters.

import sys
import tty
import termios

def getch():
    fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
    old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
    try:
        tty.setraw(fd)
        ch = sys.stdin.read(1)
    finally:
        termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_settings)
    return ch

x = getch()
print("You typed: ", x, " which is Unicode ", ord(x))

Here's the same keystroke in English vs. Spanish:

$ python3 unicode-keystroke.py
You typed:  :  which is Unicode  58

$ python3 unicode-keystroke.py
You typed:  Ñ  which is Unicode  209

The getch function is from ActiveState.

answered Sep 18, 2017 at 5:05

Francis Potter

1,6391 gold badge17 silver badges19 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Masoud Rahimi Over a year ago

Thanks but I need a windows code. In windows tty and termios is not working.

Danyal Over a year ago

Any pointers for a windows solution?

Masoud Rahimi · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-21 09:46:36Z

1

Here is the code which returns the number of Unicode. It cannot detect the current language and always shows the old one but only in cmd window itself and if you focus on any other window it shows the current Unicode number perfectly.

from pynput import keyboard

def on_press(key):
    if key == keyboard.Key.esc:
        listener.stop()
    else:
        print(ord(getattr(key, 'char', '0')))

controller = keyboard.Controller()
with keyboard.Listener(
        on_press=on_press) as listener:
    listener.join()

answered Sep 21, 2017 at 9:46

Masoud Rahimi

6,08916 gold badges44 silver badges71 bronze badges

1 Comment

Danyal Over a year ago

No, this does not seem to work.

Victor · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-15 07:19:11Z

0

Alternative to pynput that works also over ssh: sshkeyboard. Install with pip install sshkeyboard,

then write script such as:

from sshkeyboard import listen_keyboard

def press(key):
    print(f"'{key}' pressed")

def release(key):
    print(f"'{key}' released")

listen_keyboard(
    on_press=press,
    on_release=release,
)

And it will print:

'a' pressed
'a' released

When A key is pressed. ESC key ends the listening by default.

edited Feb 15, 2022 at 7:19

Victor

9,0795 gold badges19 silver badges37 bronze badges

answered Oct 28, 2021 at 8:14

ilon

1891 silver badge6 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Detect keyboard input with support of Unicode in python

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related