getchlib - library for reading key presses

Overview

getchlib is library for reading key presses and assigning hotkeys. Warning: update 2.0.0 introduced breaking changes. Please update your code or revert to an earlier version if problems arise.

Features

Full Unicode support (Linux only)
Blocking and non-blocking key press reading
Cross-platform support
Support for modifier keys: CTRL, ALT, SHIFT, META.
Support for special and function keys.
Non-interruptable key press reading support ( cannot be interrupted by CTRL-C, returns the key instead)
Fully typed

Installation

pip install getchlib

Usage

Key Presses

Blocking

import getchlib
key=getchlib.getkey()

Waits until user presses a key.

Non-Blocking

import getchlib
key=getchlib.getkey(blocking=False)

Returns the currently pressed key. On Linux, you can also specify a timeout for the key using the tout argument.

Non-interruptable

import getchlib
key=getchlib.getkey(catch=True)

Buffering

If multiple key presses are registered at the same time, they are stored into an internal buffer. Subsequent calls to getkey() read from this buffer. In case this behaviour is not desired, you can force getkey() to read a new key using the buffer=False argument.

KeyboardEvent

getkey() returns a KeyboardEvent object. For backwards compatibility, it subclasses str - this means that you likely won't have to change your code, if it relied on the old API. It has the following attributes:

code: str: the raw key code outputted by the terminal
key: getchlib.Key | str: a member of the getchlib.Key enum if it's a special key, a string otherwise.
modifiers: set[getchlib.KeyboardModifier]: a set of one of getchlib.KeyboardModifier.SHIFT, getchlib.KeyboardModifier.CTRL, getchlib.KeyboardModifier.ALT, getchlib.KeyboardModifier.META

Windows Disclaimer

The Windows version of this package has only been tested on Wine. Bugs are possible.

License

getchlib is licensed under the GPL License

Metadata

Release files for getchlib 2.0.1

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for getchlib 2.0.1
File	Size	Uploaded
getchlib-2.0.1.tar.gz	14.7 kB	Aug 12, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for getchlib 2.0.1
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
getchlib-2.0.1-py3-none-any.whl 15.4 kB Aug 12, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 30.1 kB

Release files / getchlib-2.0.1.tar.gz

Download URL	getchlib-2.0.1.tar.gz
Size	14.7 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`64b7a884dd0c656a902b6bdbe8b65a32dbfc62a4e29d480b15590406afe3a5a5`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`5251e908dffa3d5eecba500d2e17d4679ce5517b283c12a783404f4d9959e18e`
Upload date	Aug 12, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.14.6`

Release files / getchlib-2.0.1-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	getchlib-2.0.1-py3-none-any.whl
Size	15.4 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`0374b76ca2d0d6f87ea31cdaccd51870e137208f3e0bb15e5e77e84b5f57b947`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`58f2a07245f57f2379549734b5788bbdd41df9268769de922801a9ba3ef5c1dc`
Upload date	Aug 12, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.14.6`