pygame.event

pygame module for interacting with events and queues

pygame.event.pump	—	internally process pygame event handlers
pygame.event.get	—	get events from the queue
pygame.event.poll	—	get a single event from the queue
pygame.event.wait	—	wait for a single event from the queue
pygame.event.peek	—	test if event types are waiting on the queue
pygame.event.clear	—	remove all events from the queue
pygame.event.event_name	—	get the string name from an event id
pygame.event.set_blocked	—	control which events are allowed on the queue
pygame.event.set_allowed	—	control which events are allowed on the queue
pygame.event.get_blocked	—	test if a type of event is blocked from the queue
pygame.event.set_grab	—	control the sharing of input devices with other applications
pygame.event.get_grab	—	test if the program is sharing input devices
pygame.event.post	—	place a new event on the queue
pygame.event.custom_type	—	make custom user event type
pygame.event.Event	—	pygame object for representing events

Pygame handles all its event messaging through an event queue. The routines in this module help you manage that event queue. The input queue is heavily dependent on the pygame.displaypygame module to control the display window and screen module. If the display has not been initialized and a video mode not set, the event queue may not work properly.

The event queue has an upper limit on the number of events it can hold. When the queue becomes full new events are quietly dropped. To prevent lost events, especially input events which signal a quit command, your program must handle events every frame (with pygame.event.get(), pygame.event.pump(), pygame.event.wait(), pygame.event.peek() or pygame.event.clear()) and process them. Not handling events may cause your system to decide your program has locked up. To speed up queue processing use pygame.event.set_blocked()control which events are allowed on the queue to limit which events get queued.

To get the state of various input devices, you can forego the event queue and access the input devices directly with their appropriate modules: pygame.mousepygame module to work with the mouse, pygame.keypygame module to work with the keyboard, and pygame.joystickPygame module for interacting with joysticks, gamepads, and trackballs.. If you use this method, remember that pygame requires some form of communication with the system window manager and other parts of the platform. To keep pygame in sync with the system, you will need to call pygame.event.pump()internally process pygame event handlers to keep everything current. Usually, this should be called once per game loop. Note: Joysticks will not send any events until the device has been initialized.

The event queue contains pygame.event.Eventpygame object for representing events event objects. There are a variety of ways to access the queued events, from simply checking for the existence of events, to grabbing them directly off the stack. The event queue also offers some simple filtering which can slightly help performance by blocking certain event types from the queue. Use pygame.event.set_allowed()control which events are allowed on the queue and pygame.event.set_blocked()control which events are allowed on the queue to change this filtering. By default, all event types can be placed on the queue.

All pygame.event.Eventpygame object for representing events instances contain an event type identifier and attributes specific to that event type. The event type identifier is accessible as the pygame.event.Event.typeevent type identifier. property. Any of the event specific attributes can be accessed through the pygame.event.Event.__dict__event attribute dictionary attribute or directly as an attribute of the event object (as member lookups are passed through to the object's dictionary values). The event object has no method functions. Users can create their own new events with the pygame.event.Event()pygame object for representing events function.

The event type identifier is in between the values of NOEVENT and NUMEVENTS. User defined events should have a value in the inclusive range of USEREVENT to NUMEVENTS - 1. User defined events can get a custom event number with pygame.event.custom_type()make custom user event type. It is recommended all user events follow this system.

Events support equality and inequality comparisons. Two events are equal if they are the same type and have identical attribute values.

While debugging and experimenting, you can print an event object for a quick display of its type and members. The function pygame.event.event_name()get the string name from an event id can be used to get a string representing the name of the event type.

Events that come from the system will have a guaranteed set of member attributes based on the type. The following is a list event types with their specific attributes.

QUIT              none
ACTIVEEVENT       gain, state
KEYDOWN           key, mod, unicode, scancode
KEYUP             key, mod, unicode, scancode
MOUSEMOTION       pos, rel, buttons, touch
MOUSEBUTTONUP     pos, button, touch
MOUSEBUTTONDOWN   pos, button, touch
JOYAXISMOTION     joy (deprecated), instance_id, axis, value
JOYBALLMOTION     joy (deprecated), instance_id, ball, rel
JOYHATMOTION      joy (deprecated), instance_id, hat, value
JOYBUTTONUP       joy (deprecated), instance_id, button
JOYBUTTONDOWN     joy (deprecated), instance_id, button
VIDEORESIZE       size, w, h
VIDEOEXPOSE       none
USEREVENT         code

Changed in pygame 2.0.0: The joy attribute was deprecated, instance_id was added.

Changed in pygame 2.0.1: The unicode attribute was added to KEYUP event.

You can also find a list of constants for keyboard keys here.

When compiled with SDL2, pygame has these additional events and their attributes.

AUDIODEVICEADDED   which, iscapture (SDL backend >= 2.0.4)
AUDIODEVICEREMOVED which, iscapture (SDL backend >= 2.0.4)
FINGERMOTION       touch_id, finger_id, x, y, dx, dy
FINGERDOWN         touch_id, finger_id, x, y, dx, dy
FINGERUP           touch_id, finger_id, x, y, dx, dy
MOUSEWHEEL         which, flipped, x, y, touch, precise_x, precise_y
MULTIGESTURE       touch_id, x, y, pinched, rotated, num_fingers
TEXTEDITING        text, start, length
TEXTINPUT          text

New in pygame 1.9.5.

Changed in pygame 2.0.2: Fixed amount horizontal scroll (x, positive to the right and negative to the left).

Changed in pygame 2.0.2: The touch attribute was added to all the MOUSE events.

The touch attribute of MOUSE events indicates whether or not the events were generated by a touch input device, and not a real mouse. You might want to ignore such events, if your application already handles FINGERMOTION, FINGERDOWN and FINGERUP events.

New in pygame 2.1.3: Added precise_x and precise_y to MOUSEWHEEL events

Many new events were introduced in pygame 2.

pygame can recognize text or files dropped in its window. If a file is dropped, DROPFILE event will be sent, file will be its path. The DROPTEXT event is only supported on X11.

MIDIIN and MIDIOUT are events reserved for pygame.midipygame module for interacting with midi input and output. use.

pygame 2 also supports controller hot-plugging

Event name               Attributes and notes

DROPFILE                 file
DROPBEGIN                (SDL backend >= 2.0.5)
DROPCOMPLETE             (SDL backend >= 2.0.5)
DROPTEXT                 text (SDL backend >= 2.0.5)
MIDIIN
MIDIOUT
CONTROLLERDEVICEADDED    device_index
JOYDEVICEADDED           device_index
CONTROLLERDEVICEREMOVED  instance_id
JOYDEVICEREMOVED         instance_id
CONTROLLERDEVICEREMAPPED instance_id
KEYMAPCHANGED            (SDL backend >= 2.0.4)
CLIPBOARDUPDATE
RENDER_TARGETS_RESET     (SDL backend >= 2.0.2)
RENDER_DEVICE_RESET      (SDL backend >= 2.0.4)
LOCALECHANGED            (SDL backend >= 2.0.14)

Also in this version, instance_id attributes were added to joystick events, and the joy attribute was deprecated.

KEYMAPCHANGED is a type of an event sent when keymap changes due to a system event such as an input language or keyboard layout change.

CLIPBOARDUPDATE is an event sent when clipboard changes. This can still be considered as an experimental feature, some kinds of clipboard changes might not trigger this event.

LOCALECHANGED is an event sent when user locale changes

New in pygame 2.0.0.

New in pygame 2.1.3: KEYMAPCHANGED, CLIPBOARDUPDATE, RENDER_TARGETS_RESET, RENDER_DEVICE_RESET and LOCALECHANGED

Since pygame 2.0.1, there are a new set of events, called window events. Here is a list of all window events, along with a short description

Event type                Short description

WINDOWSHOWN            Window became shown
WINDOWHIDDEN           Window became hidden
WINDOWEXPOSED          Window got updated by some external event
WINDOWMOVED            Window got moved
WINDOWRESIZED          Window got resized
WINDOWSIZECHANGED      Window changed its size
WINDOWMINIMIZED        Window was minimized
WINDOWMAXIMIZED        Window was maximized
WINDOWRESTORED         Window was restored
WINDOWENTER            Mouse entered the window
WINDOWLEAVE            Mouse left the window
WINDOWFOCUSGAINED      Window gained focus
WINDOWFOCUSLOST        Window lost focus
WINDOWCLOSE            Window was closed
WINDOWTAKEFOCUS        Window was offered focus (SDL backend >= 2.0.5)
WINDOWHITTEST          Window has a special hit test (SDL backend >= 2.0.5)
WINDOWICCPROFCHANGED   Window ICC profile changed (SDL backend >= 2.0.18)
WINDOWDISPLAYCHANGED   Window moved on a new display (SDL backend >= 2.0.18)

WINDOWMOVED, WINDOWRESIZED and WINDOWSIZECHANGED have x and y attributes, WINDOWDISPLAYCHANGED has a display_index attribute. All windowevents have a window attribute.

New in pygame 2.0.1.

New in pygame 2.1.3: WINDOWICCPROFCHANGED and WINDOWDISPLAYCHANGED

On Android, the following events can be generated

Event type                 Short description

APP_TERMINATING           OS is terminating the application
APP_LOWMEMORY             OS is low on memory, try to free memory if possible
APP_WILLENTERBACKGROUND   Application is entering background
APP_DIDENTERBACKGROUND    Application entered background
APP_WILLENTERFOREGROUND   Application is entering foreground
APP_DIDENTERFOREGROUND    Application entered foreground

New in pygame 2.1.3.

pygame.event.pump()

internally process pygame event handlers

pump() -> None

For each frame of your game, you will need to make some sort of call to the event queue. This ensures your program can internally interact with the rest of the operating system. If you are not using other event functions in your game, you should call pygame.event.pump() to allow pygame to handle internal actions.

This function is not necessary if your program is consistently processing events on the queue through the other pygame.eventpygame module for interacting with events and queues functions.

There are important things that must be dealt with internally in the event queue. The main window may need to be repainted or respond to the system. If you fail to make a call to the event queue for too long, the system may decide your program has locked up.

Caution

This function should only be called in the thread that initialized pygame.displaypygame module to control the display window and screen.

pygame.event.get()

get events from the queue

get(eventtype=None) -> Eventlist

get(eventtype=None, pump=True) -> Eventlist

get(eventtype=None, pump=True, exclude=None) -> Eventlist

This will get all the messages and remove them from the queue. If a type or sequence of types is given only those messages will be removed from the queue and returned.

If a type or sequence of types is passed in the exclude argument instead, then all only other messages will be removed from the queue. If an exclude parameter is passed, the eventtype parameter must be None.

If you are only taking specific events from the queue, be aware that the queue could eventually fill up with the events you are not interested.

If pump is True (the default), then pygame.event.pump()internally process pygame event handlers will be called.

Changed in pygame 1.9.5: Added pump argument

Changed in pygame 2.0.2: Added exclude argument

pygame.event.poll()

get a single event from the queue

poll() -> Event instance

Returns a single event from the queue. If the event queue is empty an event of type pygame.NOEVENT will be returned immediately. The returned event is removed from the queue.

Caution

This function should only be called in the thread that initialized pygame.displaypygame module to control the display window and screen.

pygame.event.wait()

wait for a single event from the queue

wait() -> Event instance

wait(timeout) -> Event instance

Returns a single event from the queue. If the queue is empty this function will wait until one is created. From pygame 2.0.0, if a timeout argument is given, the function will return an event of type pygame.NOEVENT if no events enter the queue in timeout milliseconds. The event is removed from the queue once it has been returned. While the program is waiting it will sleep in an idle state. This is important for programs that want to share the system with other applications.

Changed in pygame 2.0.0.dev13: Added timeout argument

Caution

This function should only be called in the thread that initialized pygame.displaypygame module to control the display window and screen.

pygame.event.peek()

test if event types are waiting on the queue

peek(eventtype=None) -> bool

peek(eventtype=None, pump=True) -> bool

Returns True if there are any events of the given type waiting on the queue. If a sequence of event types is passed, this will return True if any of those events are on the queue.

If pump is True (the default), then pygame.event.pump()internally process pygame event handlers will be called.

Changed in pygame 1.9.5: Added pump argument

pygame.event.clear()

remove all events from the queue

clear(eventtype=None) -> None

clear(eventtype=None, pump=True) -> None

Removes all events from the queue. If eventtype is given, removes the given event or sequence of events. This has the same effect as pygame.event.get()get events from the queue except None is returned. It can be slightly more efficient when clearing a full event queue.

If pump is True (the default), then pygame.event.pump()internally process pygame event handlers will be called.

Changed in pygame 1.9.5: Added pump argument

pygame.event.event_name()

get the string name from an event id

event_name(type) -> string

Returns a string representing the name (in CapWords style) of the given event type.

"UserEvent" is returned for all values in the user event id range. "Unknown" is returned when the event type does not exist.

pygame.event.set_blocked()

control which events are allowed on the queue

set_blocked(type) -> None

set_blocked(typelist) -> None

set_blocked(None) -> None

The given event types are not allowed to appear on the event queue. By default all events can be placed on the queue. It is safe to disable an event type multiple times.

If None is passed as the argument, ALL of the event types are blocked from being placed on the queue.

pygame.event.set_allowed()

control which events are allowed on the queue

set_allowed(type) -> None

set_allowed(typelist) -> None

set_allowed(None) -> None

The given event types are allowed to appear on the event queue. By default, all event types can be placed on the queue. It is safe to enable an event type multiple times.

If None is passed as the argument, ALL of the event types are allowed to be placed on the queue.

pygame.event.get_blocked()

test if a type of event is blocked from the queue

get_blocked(type) -> bool

get_blocked(typelist) -> bool

Returns True if the given event type is blocked from the queue. If a sequence of event types is passed, this will return True if any of those event types are blocked.

pygame.event.set_grab()

control the sharing of input devices with other applications

set_grab(bool) -> None

When your program runs in a windowed environment, it will share the mouse and keyboard devices with other applications that have focus. If your program sets the event grab to True, it will lock all input into your program.

It is best to not always grab the input, since it prevents the user from doing other things on their system.

pygame.event.get_grab()

test if the program is sharing input devices

get_grab() -> bool

Returns True when the input events are grabbed for this application.

pygame.event.post()

place a new event on the queue

post(Event) -> bool

Places the given event at the end of the event queue.

This is usually used for placing custom events on the event queue. Any type of event can be posted, and the events posted can have any attributes.

This returns a boolean on whether the event was posted or not. Blocked events cannot be posted, and this function returns False if you try to post them.

Changed in pygame 2.0.1: returns a boolean, previously returned None

pygame.event.custom_type()

make custom user event type

custom_type() -> int

Reserves a pygame.USEREVENT for a custom use.

If too many events are made a pygame.errorstandard pygame exception is raised.

New in pygame 2.0.0.dev3.

pygame.event.Event

pygame object for representing events

Event(type, dict) -> Event

Event(type, **attributes) -> Event

pygame.event.Event.type	—	event type identifier.
pygame.event.Event.__dict__	—	event attribute dictionary

A pygame object used for representing an event. Event instances support attribute assignment and deletion.

When creating the object, the attributes may come from a dictionary argument with string keys or from keyword arguments.

Note

From version 2.1.3 EventType is an alias for Event. Beforehand, Event was a function that returned EventType instances. Use of Event is preferred over EventType wherever it is possible, as the latter could be deprecated in a future version.

type

event type identifier.

type -> int

Read-only. The event type identifier. For user created event objects, this is the type argument passed to pygame.event.Event()pygame object for representing events.

For example, some predefined event identifiers are QUIT and MOUSEMOTION.

__dict__

event attribute dictionary

__dict__ -> dict

Read-only. The event type specific attributes of an event. The dict attribute is a synonym for backward compatibility.

For example, the attributes of a KEYDOWN event would be unicode, key, and mod

New in pygame 1.9.2: Mutable attributes.

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