Mouse Control - autokey/autokey GitHub Wiki

The computer's mouse can be used in scripts in a variety of ways. You can perform clicks by sending them relative to the screen, relative to the active window, or relative to the mouse's current position.

Table of Contents

Before you begin

Get the current mouse coordinates

This script, from Sam Sebastian, displays the current mouse coordinates in a pop-up dialog:

from Xlib import X, display # import the necessary classes from the specified module
d = display.Display().screen().root.query_pointer() # get pointer location
x = str(d.root_x) # get x coord and convert to string
y = str(d.root_y) # get y coord and convert to string
dialog.info_dialog("(X, Y)", x+", "+y) # create an info dialog to display the coordinates

Sending mouse clicks

Send a mouse click relative to the active window

mouse.click_relative(x, y, button)
  • The x is the x-coordinate in pixels from the left on the horizontal axis relative to the upper left corner of the active window
  • The y is the y-coordinate in pixels from the top on the vertical axis relative to the upper left corner of the active window.
  • The button is the kind of mouse button to emulate (1, 2, or 3 to represent left, middle, or right, accepting up to 9 buttons for fancy mice).

Example: Send a left-click to the active window:

mouse.click_relative(10, 20, 1)

Example: Send a middle-click to the active window:

mouse.click_relative(10, 20, 2)

Example: Send a right-click to the active window:

mouse.click_relative(10, 20, 3)

Send a mouse-click relative to the mouse's current position

mouse.click_relative_self(x, y, button)
  • The x is the x-coordinate in pixels from the left on the horizontal axis relative to the mouse's current position.
  • The y is the y-coordinate in pixels from the top on the vertical axis relative to the mouse's current position.
  • The button is the kind of mouse button to emulate (1, 2, or 3 to represent left, middle, or right, accepting up to 9 buttons for fancy mice).

Example: Send a left-click at the mouse's current location:

mouse.click_relative_self(0, 0, 1)

Example: Send a middle-click at the mouse's current location:

mouse.click_relative_self(0, 0, 2)

Example: Send a right-click at the mouse's current location:

mouse.click_relative_self(0, 0, 3)

Example: Send a left-click 20 pixels to the right and 100 pixels down from the mouse's current location:

mouse.click_relative_self(20, 100, 1)

Example: Send a left-click 20 pixels to the left and 100 pixels down from the mouse's current location:

mouse.click_relative_self(-20, 100, 1)

Send a mouse click relative to the screen

mouse.click_absolute(x, y, button)
  • The x is the x-coordinate in pixels from the left on the horizontal axis relative to the upper left corner of the screen.
  • The y is the y-coordinate in pixels from the top on the vertical axis relative to the upper left corner of the screen.
  • The button is the kind of mouse button to emulate (1, 2, or 3 to represent left, middle, or right, accepting up to 9 buttons for fancy mice).

Example: Send a left-click relative to the screen:

mouse.click_absolute(20, 40, 1)

Example: Send a middle-click relative to the screen:

mouse.click_absolute(20, 40, 2)

Example: Send a right-click relative to the screen:

mouse.click_absolute(20, 40, 3)

Wait for a mouse click

You can make a script wait for a mouse click, either with a timer that will perform the action after the specified delay if no mouse-click has been received or without a timer, in which case the action will only be performed once the mouse is actually clicked.

Example: Wait for left-click before printing the text:

mouse.wait_for_click(1)
keyboard.send_keys("hello world")

Example: Wait for middle-click before printing the text:

mouse.wait_for_click(2)
keyboard.send_keys("hello world")

Example: Wait for left-click before printing the text or print it when the timer runs out if no left-click occurs:

mouse.wait_for_click(1, timeOut=3.0)
keyboard.send_keys("hello world")

Press and hold a mouse button

This is not implemented in AutoKey yet, but there are some work-arounds:

import subprocess
subprocess.run(["xdotool", "mousedown", "1"])

See also