tkinter — Python interface to Tcl/Tk

Source code: Lib/tkinter/__init__.py


The tkinter package (“Tk interface”) is the standard Python interface to the Tcl/Tk GUI toolkit. Both Tk and tkinter are available on most Unix platforms, including macOS, as well as on Windows systems.

Running python -m tkinter from the command line should open a window demonstrating a simple Tk interface, letting you know that tkinter is properly installed on your system, and also showing what version of Tcl/Tk is installed, so you can read the Tcl/Tk documentation specific to that version.

Tkinter supports a range of Tcl/Tk versions, built either with or without thread support. Tcl/Tk 8.5.12 is the minimum supported version; the official Python binary release bundles Tcl/Tk 9.0. See the source code for the _tkinter module for more information about supported versions.

Changed in version 3.11: Support for Tcl/Tk versions older than 8.5.12 was removed.

Tkinter is not a thin wrapper, but adds a fair amount of its own logic to make the experience more pythonic. This documentation will concentrate on these additions and changes, and refer to the official Tcl/Tk documentation for details that are unchanged.

Note

Tcl/Tk 8.5 (2007) introduced a modern set of themed user interface components along with a new API to use them. Both old and new APIs are still available. Most documentation you will find online still uses the old API and can be woefully outdated.

This is an optional module. If it is missing from your copy of CPython, look for documentation from your distributor (that is, whoever provided Python to you). If you are the distributor, see Requirements for optional modules.

See also

  • TkDocs

    Extensive tutorial on creating user interfaces with Tkinter. Explains key concepts, and illustrates recommended approaches using the modern API.

  • Tkinter 8.5 reference: a GUI for Python

    Reference documentation for Tkinter 8.5 detailing available classes, methods, and options.

Tcl/Tk Resources:

  • Tk commands

    Comprehensive reference to each of the underlying Tcl/Tk commands used by Tkinter.

  • Tcl/Tk Home Page

    Additional documentation, and links to Tcl/Tk core development.

Books:

Architecture

Tcl/Tk is not a single library but rather consists of a few distinct modules, each with separate functionality and its own official documentation. Python’s binary releases also ship an add-on module together with it.

Tcl

Tcl is a dynamic interpreted programming language, just like Python. Though it can be used on its own as a general-purpose programming language, it is most commonly embedded into C applications as a scripting engine or an interface to the Tk toolkit. The Tcl library has a C interface to create and manage one or more instances of a Tcl interpreter, run Tcl commands and scripts in those instances, and add custom commands implemented in either Tcl or C. Each interpreter has an event queue, and there are facilities to send events to it and process them. Unlike Python, Tcl’s execution model is designed around cooperative multitasking, and Tkinter bridges this difference (see Threading model for details).

Tk

Tk is a Tcl package implemented in C that adds custom commands to create and manipulate GUI widgets. Each Tk object embeds its own Tcl interpreter instance with Tk loaded into it. Tk’s widgets are very customizable, though at the cost of a dated appearance. Tk uses Tcl’s event queue to generate and process GUI events.

Ttk

Themed Tk (Ttk) is a newer family of Tk widgets that provide a much better appearance on different platforms than many of the classic Tk widgets. Ttk is distributed as part of Tk, starting with Tk version 8.5. Python bindings are provided in a separate module, tkinter.ttk.

Internally, Tk and Ttk use facilities of the underlying operating system, i.e., Xlib on Unix/X11, Cocoa on macOS, GDI on Windows.

When your Python application uses a class in Tkinter, e.g., to create a widget, the tkinter module first assembles a Tcl/Tk command string. It passes that Tcl command string to an internal _tkinter binary module, which then calls the Tcl interpreter to evaluate it. The Tcl interpreter will then call into the Tk and/or Ttk packages, which will in turn make calls to Xlib, Cocoa, or GDI.

Tkinter Modules

Support for Tkinter is spread across several modules. Most applications will need the main tkinter module, as well as the tkinter.ttk module, which provides the modern themed widget set and API:

from tkinter import *
from tkinter import ttk
class tkinter.Tk(screenName=None, baseName=None, className='Tk', useTk=True, sync=False, use=None)

Construct a toplevel Tk widget, which is usually the main window of an application, and initialize a Tcl interpreter for this widget. Each instance has its own associated Tcl interpreter.

The Tk class is typically instantiated using all default values. However, the following keyword arguments are currently recognized:

screenName

When given (as a string), sets the DISPLAY environment variable. (X11 only)

baseName

Name of the profile file. By default, baseName is derived from the program name (sys.argv[0]).

className

Name of the widget class. Used as a profile file and also as the name with which Tcl is invoked (argv0 in interp).

useTk

If True, initialize the Tk subsystem. The tkinter.Tcl() function sets this to False.

sync

If True, execute all X server commands synchronously, so that errors are reported immediately. Can be used for debugging. (X11 only)

use

Specifies the id of the window in which to embed the application, instead of it being created as an independent toplevel window. id must be specified in the same way as the value for the -use option for toplevel widgets (that is, it has a form like that returned by winfo_id()).

Note that on some platforms this will only work correctly if id refers to a Tk frame or toplevel that has its -container option enabled.

Tk reads and interprets profile files, named .className.tcl and .baseName.tcl, into the Tcl interpreter and calls exec() on the contents of .className.py and .baseName.py. The path for the profile files is the HOME environment variable or, if that isn’t defined, then os.curdir.

tk

The Tk application object created by instantiating Tk. This provides access to the Tcl interpreter. Each widget that is attached the same instance of Tk has the same value for its tk attribute.

master

The widget object that contains this widget. For Tk, the master is None because it is the main window. The terms master and parent are similar and sometimes used interchangeably as argument names; however, calling winfo_parent() returns a string of the widget name whereas master returns the object. parent/child reflects the tree-like relationship while master (or container)/content reflects the container structure.

children

The immediate descendants of this widget as a dict with the child widget names as the keys and the child instance objects as the values.

destroy()

Destroy this and all descendant widgets and, for the main window, end the connection to the underlying Tcl interpreter.

loadtk()

Finish loading and initializing the Tk subsystem. This is needed only when the interpreter was created without Tk (for example through Tcl()); it is called automatically when useTk is true.

readprofile(baseName, className)

Read and source the user’s profile files .className.tcl and .baseName.tcl into the Tcl interpreter, and execute the corresponding .className.py and .baseName.py files. This is called during initialization; see the description of the constructor above.

report_callback_exception(exc, val, tb)

Report a callback exception. This is called when an exception propagates out of a Tkinter callback; exc, val and tb are the exception type, value and traceback as returned by sys.exc_info(). The default implementation prints a traceback to sys.stderr. It can be overridden to customize error handling, for example to display the traceback in a dialog.

tkinter.Tcl(screenName=None, baseName=None, className='Tk', useTk=False)

The Tcl() function is a factory function which creates an object much like that created by the Tk class, except that it does not initialize the Tk subsystem. This is most often useful when driving the Tcl interpreter in an environment where one doesn’t want to create extraneous toplevel windows, or where one cannot (such as Unix/Linux systems without an X server). An object created by the Tcl() object can have a Toplevel window created (and the Tk subsystem initialized) by calling its loadtk() method.

The modules that provide Tk support include:

tkinter

Main Tkinter module.

tkinter.colorchooser

Dialog to let the user choose a color.

tkinter.commondialog

Base class for the dialogs defined in the other modules listed here.

tkinter.filedialog

Common dialogs to allow the user to specify a file to open or save.

tkinter.font

Utilities to help work with fonts.

tkinter.messagebox

Access to standard Tk dialog boxes.

tkinter.scrolledtext

Text widget with a vertical scroll bar built in.

tkinter.simpledialog

Basic dialogs and convenience functions.

tkinter.ttk

Themed widget set introduced in Tk 8.5, providing modern alternatives for many of the classic widgets in the main tkinter module.

Additional modules:

_tkinter

A binary module that contains the low-level interface to Tcl/Tk. It is automatically imported by the main tkinter module, and should never be used directly by application programmers. It is usually a shared library (or DLL), but might in some cases be statically linked with the Python interpreter.

idlelib

Python’s Integrated Development and Learning Environment (IDLE). Based on tkinter.

tkinter.constants

Symbolic constants that can be used in place of strings when passing various parameters to Tkinter calls. Automatically imported by the main tkinter module.

tkinter.dnd

(experimental) Drag-and-drop support for tkinter. This will become deprecated when it is replaced with the Tk DND.

turtle

Turtle graphics in a Tk window.

Tkinter Life Preserver

This section is not designed to be an exhaustive tutorial on either Tk or Tkinter. For that, refer to one of the external resources noted earlier. Instead, this section provides a very quick orientation to what a Tkinter application looks like, identifies foundational Tk concepts, and explains how the Tkinter wrapper is structured.

The remainder of this section will help you to identify the classes, methods, and options you’ll need in your Tkinter application, and where to find more detailed documentation on them, including in the official Tcl/Tk reference manual.

A Hello World Program

We’ll start by walking through a “Hello World” application in Tkinter. This isn’t the smallest one we could write, but has enough to illustrate some key concepts you’ll need to know.

from tkinter import *
from tkinter import ttk
root = Tk()
frm = ttk.Frame(root, padding=10)
frm.grid()
ttk.Label(frm, text="Hello World!").grid(column=0, row=0)
ttk.Button(frm, text="Quit", command=root.destroy).grid(column=1, row=0)
root.mainloop()

After the imports, the next line creates an instance of the Tk class, which initializes Tk and creates its associated Tcl interpreter. It also creates a toplevel window, known as the root window, which serves as the main window of the application.

The following line creates a frame widget, which in this case will contain a label and a button we’ll create next. The frame is fit inside the root window.

The next line creates a label widget holding a static text string. The grid() method is used to specify the relative layout (position) of the label within its containing frame widget, similar to how tables in HTML work.

A button widget is then created, and placed to the right of the label. When pressed, it will call the destroy() method of the root window.

Finally, the mainloop() method puts everything on the display, and responds to user input until the program terminates.

Important Tk Concepts

Even this simple program illustrates the following key Tk concepts:

widgets

A Tkinter user interface is made up of individual widgets. Each widget is represented as a Python object, instantiated from classes like ttk.Frame, ttk.Label, and ttk.Button.

widget hierarchy

Widgets are arranged in a hierarchy. The label and button were contained within a frame, which in turn was contained within the root window. When creating each child widget, its parent widget is passed as the first argument to the widget constructor.

configuration options

Widgets have configuration options, which modify their appearance and behavior, such as the text to display in a label or button. Different classes of widgets will have different sets of options.

geometry management

Widgets aren’t automatically added to the user interface when they are created. A geometry manager like grid controls where in the user interface they are placed.

event loop

Tkinter reacts to user input, changes from your program, and even refreshes the display only when actively running an event loop. If your program isn’t running the event loop, your user interface won’t update.

Understanding How Tkinter Wraps Tcl/Tk

When your application uses Tkinter’s classes and methods, internally Tkinter is assembling strings representing Tcl/Tk commands, and executing those commands in the Tcl interpreter attached to your application’s Tk instance.

Whether it’s trying to navigate reference documentation, trying to find the right method or option, adapting some existing code, or debugging your Tkinter application, there are times that it will be useful to understand what those underlying Tcl/Tk commands look like.

To illustrate, here is the Tcl/Tk equivalent of the main part of the Tkinter script above.

ttk::frame .frm -padding 10
grid .frm
grid [ttk::label .frm.lbl -text "Hello World!"] -column 0 -row 0
grid [ttk::button .frm.btn -text "Quit" -command "destroy ."] -column 1 -row 0

Tcl’s syntax is similar to many shell languages, where the first word is the command to be executed, with arguments to that command following it, separated by spaces. Without getting into too many details, notice the following:

  • The commands used to create widgets (like ttk::frame) correspond to widget classes in Tkinter.

  • Tcl widget options (like -text) correspond to keyword arguments in Tkinter.

  • Widgets are referred to by a pathname in Tcl (like .frm.btn), whereas Tkinter doesn’t use names but object references.

  • A widget’s place in the widget hierarchy is encoded in its (hierarchical) pathname, which uses a . (dot) as a path separator. The pathname for the root window is just . (dot). In Tkinter, the hierarchy is defined not by pathname but by specifying the parent widget when creating each child widget.

  • Operations which are implemented as separate commands in Tcl (like grid or destroy) are represented as methods on Tkinter widget objects. As you’ll see shortly, at other times Tcl uses what appear to be method calls on widget objects, which more closely mirror what is used in Tkinter.

How do I…? What option does…?

If you’re not sure how to do something in Tkinter, and you can’t immediately find it in the tutorial or reference documentation you’re using, there are a few strategies that can be helpful.

First, remember that the details of how individual widgets work may vary across different versions of both Tkinter and Tcl/Tk. If you’re searching documentation, make sure it corresponds to the Python and Tcl/Tk versions installed on your system.

When searching for how to use an API, it helps to know the exact name of the class, option, or method that you’re using. Introspection, either in an interactive Python shell or with print(), can help you identify what you need.

To find out what configuration options are available on any widget, call its configure() method, which returns a dictionary containing a variety of information about each object, including its default and current values. Use keys() to get just the names of each option.

btn = ttk.Button(frm, ...)
print(btn.configure().keys())

As most widgets have many configuration options in common, it can be useful to find out which are specific to a particular widget class. Comparing the list of options to that of a simpler widget, like a frame, is one way to do that.

print(set(btn.configure().keys()) - set(frm.configure().keys()))

Similarly, you can find the available methods for a widget object using the standard dir() function. If you try it, you’ll see there are over 200 common widget methods, so again identifying those specific to a widget class is helpful.

print(dir(btn))
print(set(dir(btn)) - set(dir(frm)))

Threading model

Python and Tcl/Tk have very different threading models, which tkinter tries to bridge. If you use threads, you may need to be aware of this.

A Python interpreter may have many threads associated with it. In Tcl, multiple threads can be created, but each thread has a separate Tcl interpreter instance associated with it. Threads can also create more than one interpreter instance, though each interpreter instance can be used only by the one thread that created it.

Each Tk object created by tkinter contains a Tcl interpreter. It also keeps track of which thread created that interpreter. Calls to tkinter can be made from any Python thread. Internally, if a call comes from a thread other than the one that created the Tk object, an event is posted to the interpreter’s event queue, and when executed, the result is returned to the calling Python thread.

Tcl/Tk applications are normally event-driven, meaning that after initialization, the interpreter runs an event loop (i.e. Tk.mainloop()) and responds to events. Because it is single-threaded, event handlers must respond quickly, otherwise they will block other events from being processed. To avoid this, any long-running computations should not run in an event handler, but are either broken into smaller pieces using timers, or run in another thread. This is different from many GUI toolkits where the GUI runs in a completely separate thread from all application code including event handlers.

If the Tcl interpreter is not running the event loop and processing events, any tkinter calls made from threads other than the one running the Tcl interpreter will fail.

A number of special cases exist:

  • Tcl/Tk libraries built without thread support are now rare: Tcl/Tk 9.0 (the bundled version) is always thread-aware, so this case only arises with some older 8.x builds. When the library is not thread-aware, tkinter calls the library from the originating Python thread, even if this is different than the thread that created the Tcl interpreter. A global lock ensures only one call occurs at a time.

  • While tkinter allows you to create more than one instance of a Tk object (with its own interpreter), all interpreters that are part of the same thread share a common event queue, which gets ugly fast. In practice, don’t create more than one instance of Tk at a time. Otherwise, it’s best to create them in separate threads and ensure you’re running a thread-aware Tcl/Tk build.

  • Blocking event handlers are not the only way to prevent the Tcl interpreter from reentering the event loop. It is even possible to run multiple nested event loops or abandon the event loop entirely. If you’re doing anything tricky when it comes to events or threads, be aware of these possibilities.

  • There are a few select tkinter functions that presently work only when called from the thread that created the Tcl interpreter.

Handy Reference

Setting Options

Options control things like the color and border width of a widget. Options can be set in three ways:

At object creation time, using keyword arguments
fred = Button(self, fg="red", bg="blue")
After object creation, treating the option name like a dictionary index
fred["fg"] = "red"
fred["bg"] = "blue"
Use the config() method to update multiple attrs subsequent to object creation
fred.config(fg="red", bg="blue")

For a complete explanation of a given option and its behavior, see the Tk man pages for the widget in question.

Note that the man pages list “STANDARD OPTIONS” and “WIDGET SPECIFIC OPTIONS” for each widget. The former is a list of options that are common to many widgets, the latter are the options that are idiosyncratic to that particular widget. The Standard Options are documented on the options(3) man page.

No distinction between standard and widget-specific options is made in this document. Some options don’t apply to some kinds of widgets. Whether a given widget responds to a particular option depends on the class of the widget; buttons have a command option, labels do not.

The options supported by a given widget are listed in that widget’s man page, or can be queried at runtime by calling the config() method without arguments, or by calling the keys() method on that widget. The return value of these calls is a dictionary whose key is the name of the option as a string (for example, 'relief') and whose values are 5-tuples.

Some options, like bg are synonyms for common options with long names (bg is shorthand for “background”). Passing the config() method the name of a shorthand option will return a 2-tuple, not 5-tuple. The 2-tuple passed back will contain the name of the synonym and the “real” option (such as ('bg', 'background')).

Index

Meaning

Example

0

option name

'relief'

1

option name for database lookup

'relief'

2

option class for database lookup

'Relief'

3

default value

'raised'

4

current value

'groove'

Example:

>>> print(fred.config())
{'relief': ('relief', 'relief', 'Relief', 'raised', 'groove')}

Of course, the dictionary printed will include all the options available and their values. This is meant only as an example.

The Packer

The packer is one of Tk’s geometry-management mechanisms. Geometry managers are used to specify the relative positioning of widgets within their container. In contrast to the more cumbersome placer (which is used less commonly, and we do not cover here), the packer takes qualitative relationship specification - above, to the left of, filling, etc - and works everything out to determine the exact placement coordinates for you.

The size of any container widget is determined by the size of the “content widgets” inside. The packer is used to control where content widgets appear inside the container into which they are packed. You can pack widgets into frames, and frames into other frames, in order to achieve the kind of layout you desire. Additionally, the arrangement is dynamically adjusted to accommodate incremental changes to the configuration, once it is packed.

Note that widgets do not appear until they have had their geometry specified with a geometry manager. It’s a common early mistake to leave out the geometry specification, and then be surprised when the widget is created but nothing appears. A widget will appear only after it has had, for example, the packer’s pack() method applied to it.

The pack() method can be called with keyword-option/value pairs that control where the widget is to appear within its container, and how it is to behave when the main application window is resized. Here are some examples:

fred.pack()                     # defaults to side = "top"
fred.pack(side="left")
fred.pack(expand=1)

Packer Options

For more extensive information on the packer and the options that it can take, see the man pages and page 183 of John Ousterhout’s book.

anchor

Anchor type. Denotes where the packer is to place each content in its parcel.

expand

Boolean, 0 or 1.

fill

Legal values: 'x', 'y', 'both', 'none'.

ipadx and ipady

A distance - designating internal padding on each side of the content.

padx and pady

A distance - designating external padding on each side of the content.

side

Legal values are: 'left', 'right', 'top', 'bottom'.

Coupling Widget Variables

The current-value setting of some widgets (like text entry widgets) can be connected directly to application variables by using special options. These options are variable, textvariable, onvalue, offvalue, and value. This connection works both ways: if the variable changes for any reason, the widget it’s connected to will be updated to reflect the new value.

Unfortunately, in the current implementation of tkinter it is not possible to hand over an arbitrary Python variable to a widget through a variable or textvariable option. The only kinds of variables for which this works are variables that are subclassed from a class called Variable, defined in tkinter.

There are many useful subclasses of Variable already defined: StringVar, IntVar, DoubleVar, and BooleanVar. To read the current value of such a variable, call the get() method on it, and to change its value you call the set() method. If you follow this protocol, the widget will always track the value of the variable, with no further intervention on your part.

For example:

import tkinter as tk

class App(tk.Frame):
    def __init__(self, master):
        super().__init__(master)
        self.pack()

        self.entrythingy = tk.Entry()
        self.entrythingy.pack()

        # Create the application variable.
        self.contents = tk.StringVar()
        # Set it to some value.
        self.contents.set("this is a variable")
        # Tell the entry widget to watch this variable.
        self.entrythingy["textvariable"] = self.contents

        # Define a callback for when the user hits return.
        # It prints the current value of the variable.
        self.entrythingy.bind('<Key-Return>',
                             self.print_contents)

    def print_contents(self, event):
        print("Hi. The current entry content is:",
              self.contents.get())

root = tk.Tk()
myapp = App(root)
myapp.mainloop()

The Window Manager

In Tk, there is a utility command, wm, for interacting with the window manager. Options to the wm command allow you to control things like titles, placement, icon bitmaps, and the like. In tkinter, these commands have been implemented as methods on the Wm class. Toplevel widgets are subclassed from the Wm class, and so can call the Wm methods directly.

To get at the toplevel window that contains a given widget, you can often just refer to the widget’s master. Of course if the widget has been packed inside of a frame, the master won’t represent a toplevel window. To get at the toplevel window that contains an arbitrary widget, you can call the winfo_toplevel() method. There is also a _root() method; it begins with an underscore to denote the fact that this function is part of the implementation, and not an interface to Tk functionality. It returns the application’s root window rather than the nearest enclosing toplevel.

Here are some examples of typical usage:

import tkinter as tk

class App(tk.Frame):
    def __init__(self, master=None):
        super().__init__(master)
        self.pack()

# create the application
myapp = App()

#
# here are method calls to the window manager class
#
myapp.master.title("My Do-Nothing Application")
myapp.master.maxsize(1000, 400)

# start the program
myapp.mainloop()

Tk Option Data Types

anchor

Legal values are points of the compass: "n", "ne", "e", "se", "s", "sw", "w", "nw", and also "center".

bitmap

There are ten built-in, named bitmaps: 'error', 'gray12', 'gray25', 'gray50', 'gray75', 'hourglass', 'info', 'questhead', 'question', 'warning'. To specify an X bitmap filename, give the full path to the file, preceded with an @, as in "@/usr/contrib/bitmap/gumby.bit".

boolean

You can pass integers 0 or 1 or the strings "yes" or "no".

callback

This is any Python function that takes no arguments. For example:

def print_it():
    print("hi there")
fred["command"] = print_it
color

Colors can be given as the names of X colors in the rgb.txt file, or as strings representing RGB values in 4 bit: "#RGB", 8 bit: "#RRGGBB", 12 bit: "#RRRGGGBBB", or 16 bit: "#RRRRGGGGBBBB" ranges, where R,G,B here represent any legal hex digit. See page 160 of Ousterhout’s book for details.

cursor

The standard X cursor names from cursorfont.h can be used, without the XC_ prefix. For example to get a hand cursor (XC_hand2), use the string "hand2". You can also specify a bitmap and mask file of your own. See page 179 of Ousterhout’s book.

distance

Screen distances can be specified in either pixels or absolute distances. Pixels are given as numbers and absolute distances as strings, with the trailing character denoting units: c for centimetres, i for inches, m for millimetres, p for printer’s points. For example, 3.5 inches is expressed as "3.5i".

font

Tk uses a font description such as {courier 10 bold}; in tkinter this is most naturally passed as a tuple of (family, size, *styles) (or as the equivalent string "Courier 10 bold"). Font sizes with positive numbers are measured in points; sizes with negative numbers are measured in pixels.

geometry

This is a string of the form widthxheight, where width and height are measured in pixels for most widgets (in characters for widgets displaying text). For example: fred["geometry"] = "200x100".

justify

Legal values are the strings: "left", "center", and "right".

region

This is a string with four space-delimited elements, each of which is a legal distance (see above). For example: "2 3 4 5" and "3i 2i 4.5i 2i" and "3c 2c 4c 10.43c" are all legal regions.

relief

Determines what the border style of a widget will be. Legal values are: "raised", "sunken", "flat", "groove", "ridge", and "solid".

scrollcommand

This is almost always the set() method of some scrollbar widget, but can be any widget method that takes a single argument.

wrap

Must be one of: "none", "char", or "word".

Bindings and Events

The bind method from the widget command allows you to watch for certain events and to have a callback function trigger when that event type occurs. The form of the bind method is:

def bind(self, sequence, func, add=''):

where:

sequence

is a string that denotes the target kind of event. Physical events use the <modifier-modifier-type-detail> form (for example "<Enter>" or "<Control-Button-1>"); application-defined virtual events use double angle brackets, as in "<<Paste>>". (See the bind(3tk) man page, and page 201 of John Ousterhout’s book, Tcl and the Tk Toolkit (2nd edition), for details).

func

is a Python function, taking one argument, to be invoked when the event occurs. An Event instance will be passed as the argument. (Functions deployed this way are commonly known as callbacks.)

add

is optional, either '' or '+'. Passing an empty string denotes that this binding is to replace any other bindings that this event is associated with. Passing a '+' means that this function is to be added to the list of functions bound to this event type.

For example:

def turn_red(self, event):
    event.widget["activeforeground"] = "red"

self.button.bind("<Enter>", self.turn_red)

Notice how the widget field of the event is being accessed in the turn_red() callback. This field contains the widget that caught the X event. The following table lists the other event fields you can access, and how they are denoted in Tk, which can be useful when referring to the Tk man pages.

Tk

Tkinter Event Field

Tk

Tkinter Event Field

%f

focus

%A

char

%h

height

%E

send_event

%k

keycode

%K

keysym

%s

state

%N

keysym_num

%t

time

%T

type

%w

width

%W

widget

%x

x

%X

x_root

%y

y

%Y

y_root

%#

serial

%b

num

%d

detail

%D

delta

The index Parameter

A number of widgets require “index” parameters to be passed. These are used to point at a specific place in a Text widget, or to particular characters in an Entry widget, or to particular menu items in a Menu widget.

Entry widget indexes (index, view index, etc.)

Entry widgets have options that refer to character positions in the text being displayed. You can use these tkinter functions to access these special points in text widgets:

Text widget indexes

The index notation for Text widgets is very rich and is best described in the Tk man pages.

Menu indexes (menu.invoke(), menu.entryconfig(), etc.)

Some options and methods for menus manipulate specific menu entries. Anytime a menu index is needed for an option or a parameter, you may pass in:

  • an integer which refers to the numeric position of the entry in the widget, counted from the top, starting with 0;

  • the string "active", which refers to the menu position that is currently under the cursor;

  • the string "last" which refers to the last menu item;

  • An integer preceded by @, as in @6, where the integer is interpreted as a y pixel coordinate in the menu’s coordinate system;

  • the string "none", which indicates no menu entry at all, most often used with menu.activate() to deactivate all entries, and finally,

  • a text string that is pattern matched against the label of the menu entry, as scanned from the top of the menu to the bottom. Note that this index type is considered after all the others, which means that matches for menu items labelled last, active, or none may be interpreted as the above literals, instead.

Images

Images of different formats can be created through the corresponding subclass of tkinter.Image:

  • BitmapImage for images in XBM format.

  • PhotoImage for images in PGM, PPM, GIF and PNG formats. The latter is supported starting with Tk 8.6.

Either type of image is created through either the file or the data option (other options are available as well).

Changed in version 3.13: Added the PhotoImage method copy_replace() to copy a region from one image to other image, possibly with pixel zooming and/or subsampling. Add from_coords parameter to PhotoImage methods copy(), zoom() and subsample(). Add zoom and subsample parameters to PhotoImage method copy().

The image object can then be used wherever an image option is supported by some widget (e.g. labels, buttons, menus). In these cases, Tk will not keep a reference to the image. When the last Python reference to the image object is deleted, the image data is deleted as well, and Tk will display an empty box wherever the image was used.

See also

The Pillow package adds support for formats such as BMP, JPEG, TIFF, and WebP, among others.

File Handlers

Tk allows you to register and unregister a callback function which will be called from the Tk mainloop when I/O is possible on a file descriptor. Only one handler may be registered per file descriptor. Example code:

import tkinter
widget = tkinter.Tk()
mask = tkinter.READABLE | tkinter.WRITABLE
widget.tk.createfilehandler(file, mask, callback)
...
widget.tk.deletefilehandler(file)

This feature is not available on Windows.

Since you don’t know how many bytes are available for reading, you may not want to use the BufferedIOBase or TextIOBase read() or readline() methods, since these will insist on reading a predefined number of bytes. For sockets, the recv() or recvfrom() methods will work fine; for other files, use raw reads or os.read(file.fileno(), maxbytecount).

Widget.tk.createfilehandler(file, mask, func)

Registers the file handler callback function func. The file argument may either be an object with a fileno() method (such as a file or socket object), or an integer file descriptor. The mask argument is an ORed combination of any of the three constants below. The callback is called as follows:

callback(file, mask)
Widget.tk.deletefilehandler(file)

Unregisters a file handler.

_tkinter.READABLE
_tkinter.WRITABLE
_tkinter.EXCEPTION

Constants used in the mask arguments.

Reference

This section documents the classes, methods, functions and constants of the tkinter module. Most of them wrap Tcl/Tk commands; consult the official Tcl/Tk manual pages for the full list of widget options and further details.

Base and mixin classes

class tkinter.Misc

The Misc class is a mix-in inherited by Tk and, through BaseWidget, by every widget. It provides the large set of methods common to all Tk objects: querying window information, managing event bindings and the event loop, controlling the keyboard focus and pointer grabs, accessing the selection, clipboard and option database, and assorted utility and introspection services. Because they are inherited, these methods are available on every widget and on the Tk application object, and are documented here once rather than repeated for each widget.

cget(key)

Return the current value of the configuration option named key for this widget, as a string. The expression widget[key] is equivalent and may be used instead.

configure(cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. With no arguments, return a dictionary mapping every available option name to a tuple describing it (its name, X resource name, X resource class, default value and current value). If a single option name is given as a string, return the tuple for just that option. If one or more keyword arguments are given, or a dictionary is passed as cnf, set each named option to the corresponding value; the expression widget[key] = value sets a single option in the same way.

config() is an alias of configure().

keys()

Return a list of the names of all configuration options of this widget.

getboolean(s)

Interpret the string s as a Tcl boolean and return the corresponding bool. Tcl accepts values such as '1', '0', 'yes', 'no', 'true' and 'false'. Raise ValueError if s is not a valid boolean.

getdouble(s)

Interpret the string s as a Tcl floating-point number and return it as a float. Raise ValueError if s is not a valid number.

Added in version 3.5.

getint(s)

Interpret the string s as a Tcl integer and return it as an int. Raise ValueError if s is not a valid integer.

getvar(name='PY_VAR')

Return the value of the Tcl global variable named name.

setvar(name='PY_VAR', value='1')

Set the Tcl global variable named name to value.

The getvar() and setvar() methods give direct access to Tcl variables. In most code you will instead use a Variable subclass such as StringVar or IntVar, which wraps a Tcl variable and converts its value to and from a Python type.

register(func, subst=None, needcleanup=1)

Register the Python callable func as a Tcl command and return the name of the new command as a string. Whenever Tcl invokes that command, func is called; if subst is given, it is applied to the command’s arguments first. This is the mechanism used internally to turn Python callbacks into the command names passed to Tk options such as command. Unless needcleanup is false, the command is deleted automatically when the widget is destroyed.

Changed in version 3.13: The arguments passed to func are no longer converted to strings.

deletecommand(name)

Delete the Tcl command named name, such as one previously returned by register().

nametowidget(name)

Return the widget instance corresponding to the Tk pathname name.

send(interp, cmd, *args)

Send the Tcl command cmd, with the given args, to the Tcl interpreter registered under the name interp, and return its result. This is not available on all platforms.

destroy()

Destroy this widget and all of its descendant widgets, and delete the Tcl commands associated with them.

tkraise(aboveThis=None)

Raise this widget in the stacking order so that it is drawn on top of its siblings. If aboveThis is given, the widget is moved to be just above it in the stacking order instead.

lift() is an alias of tkraise().

lower(belowThis=None)

Lower this widget in the stacking order so that it is drawn beneath its siblings. If belowThis is given, the widget is moved to be just below it in the stacking order instead.

image_names()

Return the names of all images that currently exist in the Tcl interpreter.

image_types()

Return the available image types, such as 'photo' and 'bitmap'.

grid_anchor(anchor=None)

Set the anchor that controls where the grid is placed inside this container when the container is larger than the grid and no row or column has a non-zero weight. anchor is one of the usual anchor strings, such as 'nw' (the default) or 'center'. Called with no argument, this method has no effect.

anchor() is an alias of grid_anchor().

Added in version 3.3.

grid_bbox(column=None, row=None, col2=None, row2=None)

Return the bounding box, in pixels, of a region of the grid laid out in this container, as a 4-tuple (xoffset, yoffset, width, height). With no arguments the bounding box of the whole grid is returned. If column and row are given, the box spans from the cell at row and column 0 to that cell; if col2 and row2 are also given, it spans from the cell (column, row) to the cell (col2, row2).

bbox() is an alias of grid_bbox().

grid_columnconfigure(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Query or set the properties of the column (or columns) index of the grid managed by this container. The valid options are minsize (the column’s minimum size in pixels), weight (how much of any extra space is given to the column), uniform (a group name; columns sharing a group are kept the same width in proportion to their weights) and pad (extra space added to the column). With a single option name, return that option’s value; with no options, return a dictionary of all of them.

columnconfigure() is an alias of grid_columnconfigure().

grid_rowconfigure(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Query or set the properties of the row (or rows) index of the grid managed by this container. The valid options are the same as for grid_columnconfigure(), applied to a row instead of a column.

rowconfigure() is an alias of grid_rowconfigure().

grid_location(x, y)

Return the (column, row) of the grid cell that contains the pixel at position (x, y), given in pixels relative to this container. For locations above or to the left of the grid, -1 is returned for the corresponding coordinate.

grid_propagate()
grid_propagate(flag)

Enable or disable geometry propagation for this container when it manages its children with the grid geometry manager. When flag is true, the container resizes itself to fit the requested sizes of its children; when it is false, its size is left under your control. Called with no argument, return the current setting as a boolean.

grid_size()

Return the size of the grid managed by this container as a (columns, rows) tuple.

size() is an alias of grid_size().

grid_slaves(row=None, column=None)

Return a list of the child widgets managed in this container’s grid, most recently managed first. If row or column is given, only the children in that row or column are returned.

grid_content(row=None, column=None)

Same as grid_slaves(): return the child widgets managed in this container’s grid, optionally restricted to a given row or column.

Added in version 3.15.

pack_propagate()
pack_propagate(flag)

Enable or disable geometry propagation for this container when it manages its children with the pack geometry manager. When flag is true, the container resizes itself to fit the requested sizes of its children; when it is false, its size is left under your control. Called with no argument, return the current setting as a boolean.

propagate() is an alias of pack_propagate().

pack_slaves()

Return a list of the child widgets managed by this container with the pack geometry manager, in packing order.

slaves() is an alias of pack_slaves().

pack_content()

Same as pack_slaves(): return the child widgets managed by this container with the pack geometry manager, in packing order.

content() is an alias of pack_content().

Added in version 3.15.

place_slaves()

Return a list of the child widgets managed by this container with the place geometry manager.

place_content()

Same as place_slaves(): return the child widgets managed by this container with the place geometry manager.

Added in version 3.15.

bind(sequence=None, func=None, add=None)

Bind the event pattern sequence on this widget to the callable func.

sequence is an event pattern, such as '<Button-1>' (a mouse click) or '<KeyPress-a>', optionally a concatenation of several such patterns that must occur shortly after one another. When the event occurs, func is called with an Event instance describing it as its only argument; if func returns the string 'break', no further bindings for the event are invoked.

If add is true, func is added to any functions already bound to sequence; otherwise it replaces them. The binding applies only to this widget.

bind() returns a string identifier (a funcid) that can later be passed to unbind() to remove the binding without leaking the associated Tcl command.

If func is omitted, return the binding currently associated with sequence; if sequence is also omitted, return a list of all the sequences for which bindings exist on this widget.

bind_class(className, sequence=None, func=None, add=None)

Like bind(), but bind func to the binding tag className rather than to a single widget, so that the binding applies to every widget having that tag. className is usually the name of a widget class, such as 'Button', in which case the binding affects all widgets of that class. The set of binding tags for a widget can be inspected and changed with bindtags().

The remaining arguments and the return value are as for bind().

bind_all(sequence=None, func=None, add=None)

Like bind(), but bind func to the special binding tag 'all', so that the binding applies to every widget in the application.

The remaining arguments and the return value are as for bind().

unbind(sequence, funcid=None)

Remove bindings for the event pattern sequence on this widget.

If funcid is given, only the function identified by it (a value returned from a previous call to bind()) is removed, and its associated Tcl command is deleted. Otherwise all bindings for sequence are destroyed, leaving it unbound.

Changed in version 3.13: If funcid is given, only that callback is unbound; other callbacks bound to sequence are kept.

unbind_class(className, sequence)

Remove all bindings for the event pattern sequence from the binding tag className. See bind_class().

unbind_all(sequence)

Remove all bindings for the event pattern sequence from the special binding tag 'all'. See bind_all().

bindtags(tagList=None)

If tagList is omitted, return a tuple of the binding tags associated with this widget. When an event occurs in a widget, it is applied to each of the widget’s binding tags in order, and for each tag the most specific matching binding is executed. By default a widget has four binding tags: its own pathname, its widget class, the pathname of its nearest toplevel ancestor, and 'all', in that order.

If tagList is given, it must be a sequence of strings; the widget’s binding tags are set to its elements, which determines the order in which bindings are evaluated.

event_add(virtual, *sequences)

Associate the virtual event virtual, whose name has the form '<<Paste>>', with each of the physical event patterns given by sequences, so that the virtual event triggers whenever any of them occurs. If virtual is already defined, the new sequences are added to its existing ones.

event_delete(virtual, *sequences)

Remove each of sequences from those associated with the virtual event virtual. Sequences that are not currently associated with virtual are ignored. If no sequences are given, all physical event sequences are removed, so that virtual no longer triggers.

event_generate(sequence, **kw)

Generate the event sequence on this widget and arrange for it to be processed just as if it had come from the window system. sequence must be a single event pattern, such as '<Button-1>' or '<<Paste>>', not a concatenation of several. Keyword arguments specify additional fields of the event, for example x and y for the pointer position, or when to control when the event is processed; refer to the Tk event manual page for the full list.

event_info(virtual=None)

If virtual is omitted, return a tuple of all the virtual events that are currently defined. If virtual is given, return a tuple of the physical event sequences currently associated with it, or an empty tuple if it is not defined.

after(ms, func=None, *args, **kw)

Schedule the callable func to be called after ms milliseconds, with args and kw passed to it as positional and keyword arguments. Return an identifier that can be passed to after_cancel() to cancel the call.

If func is omitted, sleep for ms milliseconds instead, processing no events during that time, and return None.

Changed in version 3.10: func can now be any callable object, not only a function.

Changed in version 3.14: Keyword arguments are now passed to func.

after_cancel(id)

Cancel a callback previously scheduled with after() or after_idle(). id must be an identifier returned by one of those methods; passing a value that is not such an identifier raises ValueError. If the callback has already run or been cancelled, this has no effect.

Changed in version 3.7: Passing None (or any false value) as id now raises ValueError.

after_idle(func, *args, **kw)

Schedule the callable func to be called, with args and kw passed to it, when the Tk main loop next becomes idle, that is, when it has no other events to process. Return an identifier that can be passed to after_cancel() to cancel the call.

Changed in version 3.14: Keyword arguments are now passed to func.

after_info(id=None)

If id is omitted, return a tuple of the identifiers of all callbacks currently scheduled with after() and after_idle() for this interpreter.

If id is given, it must identify a callback that has not yet run or been cancelled, and the return value is a tuple (script, type), where script refers to the function to be called and type is either 'idle' or 'timer'. A TclError is raised if id does not exist.

Added in version 3.13.

mainloop(n=0)

Enter the Tk event loop, which processes events until all windows are destroyed. This is normally called once, on the root window, to run the application.

quit()

Quit the Tcl interpreter, causing mainloop() to return.

update()

Enter the event loop until all pending events, including idle callbacks, have been processed. This brings the display up to date and handles any events that are already queued, then returns.

update_idletasks()

Enter the event loop until all pending idle callbacks have been called. This updates the display of windows, for example after geometry changes, but does not process events caused by the user.

wait_variable(name='PY_VAR')

Wait until the Tcl variable name is modified, continuing to process events in the meantime so that the application stays responsive. name is usually a Variable instance, such as an IntVar or StringVar.

waitvar() is an alias of wait_variable().

wait_window(window=None)

Wait until window is destroyed, continuing to process events in the meantime. If window is omitted, this widget is used. This is typically used to wait for the user to finish interacting with a dialog box.

wait_visibility(window=None)

Wait until the visibility state of window changes, for example when it first appears on the screen, continuing to process events in the meantime. If window is omitted, this widget is used. This is typically used to wait for a newly created window to become visible before acting on it.

focus()

Direct the keyboard input focus for this widget’s display to this widget. If the application does not currently have the input focus on this widget’s display, the widget is remembered as the focus window for its top level, and the focus will be redirected to it the next time the window manager gives the focus to the top level. focus() is an alias of focus_set().

focus_force()

Direct the keyboard input focus to this widget even if the application does not currently have the input focus for the widget’s display. This method should be used sparingly, if at all; normally an application should wait for the window manager to give it the focus rather than claiming it.

focus_get()

Return the widget that currently has the keyboard focus in the application, or None if no widget in the application has the focus. Use focus_displayof() to work correctly with several displays.

focus_displayof()

Return the widget that currently has the keyboard focus on the display where this widget is located, or None if no widget in the application has the focus on that display.

focus_lastfor()

Return the most recent widget to have had the keyboard focus among all the widgets in the same top level as this widget; this is the widget that will receive the focus the next time the window manager gives the focus to the top level. If no widget in that top level has ever had the focus, or if the most recent focus widget has been deleted, the top level itself is returned.

tk_focusFollowsMouse()

Reconfigure Tk to use an implicit focus model in which the focus is set to a widget whenever the mouse pointer enters it. This cannot easily be disabled once enabled.

tk_focusNext()

Return the next widget after this one in the keyboard traversal order, or None if there is none. The traversal order goes first to the next child, then recursively to the children of that child, and then to the next sibling higher in the stacking order. A widget is skipped if its takefocus option is set to 0. This method is used in the default bindings for the Tab key.

tk_focusPrev()

Return the previous widget before this one in the keyboard traversal order, or None if there is none. See tk_focusNext() for how the order is defined. This method is used in the default bindings for the Shift-Tab key.

grab_set()

Set a local grab on this widget. A grab confines pointer events to this widget and its descendants: while the pointer is outside the widget’s subtree, button presses and releases and pointer motion are reported to the grab widget, and windows outside the subtree become insensitive until the grab is released. A local grab affects only the grabbing application. Any grab previously set by this application on the widget’s display is automatically released. Setting a grab is the usual way to make a dialog modal: while the grab is in effect the user cannot interact with the other windows of the application.

grab_set_global()

Set a global grab on this widget. A global grab is like the local grab set by grab_set(), but it locks out all other applications on the screen, so that only this widget’s subtree is sensitive to pointer events, and it also grabs the keyboard. Use with caution: it is easy to render a display unusable with a global grab, since other applications stop receiving events until it is released.

grab_release()

Release the grab on this widget if there is one; otherwise do nothing.

grab_current()

Return the widget that currently holds the grab in this application for this widget’s display, or None if there is no such widget.

grab_status()

Return None if no grab is currently set on this widget, "local" if a local grab is set, or "global" if a global grab is set.

selection_clear(**kw)

Clear the X selection, so that no window owns it anymore. The selection to clear is given by the keyword argument selection, an atom name such as 'PRIMARY' or 'CLIPBOARD'; it defaults to PRIMARY. The displayof keyword argument names a widget that determines the display on which to operate, and defaults to this widget.

selection_get(**kw)

Return the contents of the current X selection. The keyword argument selection names the selection and defaults to PRIMARY. The keyword argument type specifies the form in which the data is to be returned (the desired conversion target), an atom name such as 'STRING' or 'FILE_NAME'; it defaults to STRING, except on X11, where UTF8_STRING is tried first and STRING is used as a fallback. The displayof keyword argument names a widget that determines the display from which to retrieve the selection, and defaults to this widget.

selection_handle(command, **kw)

Register command as a handler to supply the X selection owned by this widget when another application requests it. When the selection is retrieved, command is called with two arguments, the starting character offset and the maximum number of characters to return, and must return at most that many characters of the selection starting at that offset; for very long selections it is called repeatedly with increasing offsets. The keyword argument selection names the selection (default PRIMARY) and the keyword argument type gives the form of the selection that the handler supplies (such as 'STRING' or 'FILE_NAME', default STRING).

selection_own(**kw)

Make this widget the owner of the X selection on its display. The previous owner, if any, is notified that it has lost the selection. The keyword argument selection names the selection and defaults to PRIMARY.

selection_own_get(**kw)

Return the widget in this application that owns the X selection on the display containing this widget, or None if no widget in this application owns the selection. The keyword argument selection names the selection and defaults to PRIMARY. The displayof keyword argument names a widget that determines the display to query, and defaults to this widget.

clipboard_append(string, **kw)

Append string to the Tk clipboard and claim ownership of the clipboard on this widget’s display. Before appending, the clipboard should be emptied with clipboard_clear(); all appends should be completed before returning to the event loop so that the clipboard is updated atomically. The keyword argument type specifies the form of the data, an atom name such as 'STRING' or 'FILE_NAME' (default STRING), and the keyword argument format specifies the representation used to transmit it (default STRING). The displayof keyword argument names a widget that determines the target display, and defaults to this widget. The contents can be retrieved with clipboard_get() or selection_get().

clipboard_clear(**kw)

Claim ownership of the clipboard on this widget’s display and remove any previous contents. The displayof keyword argument names a widget that determines the target display, and defaults to this widget.

clipboard_get(**kw)

Retrieve data from the clipboard on this widget’s display. The keyword argument type specifies the form in which the data is to be returned, an atom name such as 'STRING' or 'FILE_NAME'; it defaults to STRING, except on X11, where UTF8_STRING is tried first and STRING is used as a fallback. The displayof keyword argument names a widget that determines the display, and defaults to the root window of the application. This is equivalent to selection_get(selection= 'CLIPBOARD').

option_add(pattern, value, priority=None)

Add an option to the Tk option database that associates value with pattern. pattern consists of names and/or classes separated by asterisks or dots, in the usual X format. priority is an integer between 0 and 100, or one of the symbolic names 'widgetDefault' (20), 'startupFile' (40), 'userDefault' (60), or 'interactive' (80); it defaults to interactive.

option_clear()

Clear the Tk option database. Default options from the RESOURCE_MANAGER property or the .Xdefaults file are reloaded automatically the next time an option is added to or removed from the database.

option_get(name, className)

Return the value of the option matching this widget under name and className from the Tk option database, or an empty string if there is no matching entry. When several entries match, the one with the highest priority is returned, and among entries of equal priority the most recently added one.

option_readfile(fileName, priority=None)

Read the file named fileName, which should have the standard format for an X resource database such as .Xdefaults, and add all the options it specifies to the Tk option database. priority is interpreted as for option_add() and defaults to interactive.

bell(displayof=0)

Ring the bell on the display for this widget, using the display’s current bell-related settings, and reset the screen saver for the screen. If displayof is given as a widget, the bell is rung on that widget’s display instead.

tk_setPalette(background, /)
tk_setPalette(*args, **kw)

Set a new color scheme for all Tk widget elements. Existing widgets are updated and the option database is changed so that future widgets use the new colors. A single color argument is taken as the normal background color, from which a complete palette is computed. Alternatively, the arguments may be given as keyword name/value pairs naming individual options in the option database. The recognized option names are activeBackground, activeForeground, background, disabledForeground, foreground, highlightBackground, highlightColor, insertBackground, selectColor, selectBackground, selectForeground, and troughColor; reasonable defaults are computed for any that are not specified.

tk_bisque()

Restore the application’s colors to the light brown (bisque) color scheme used in Tk 3.6 and earlier versions. Provided for backward compatibility.

tk_strictMotif(boolean=None)

Query or set whether Tk’s look and feel should strictly adhere to Motif. A true boolean value enables strict Motif compliance (for example, no color change when the mouse passes over a slider). Return the resulting setting.

tk_busy_hold(**kw)

Make this widget appear busy. A transparent window is placed in front of the widget, so that it and all of its descendants in the widget hierarchy are blocked from pointer events and display a busy cursor. Normally update() should be called immediately afterwards to ensure that the hold operation is in effect before the application starts its processing.

The only supported configuration option is cursor, the cursor to be displayed while the widget is busy; it may have any of the values accepted by configure().

busy_hold(), busy() and tk_busy() are aliases of tk_busy_hold().

Added in version 3.13.

tk_busy_configure(cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the busy window. The widget must have been previously made busy by tk_busy_hold(). With no arguments, return a dictionary describing all of the available options; if cnf is the name of an option, return a tuple describing that one option. Otherwise set the given option(s) to the given value(s). Options may have any of the values accepted by tk_busy_hold().

The option database is referenced through the widget name or class. For example, if a Frame widget named frame is to be made busy, the busy cursor can be specified for it by either of the calls:

w.option_add('*frame.busyCursor', 'gumby')
w.option_add('*Frame.BusyCursor', 'gumby')

busy_configure(), busy_config() and tk_busy_config() are aliases of tk_busy_configure().

Added in version 3.13.

tk_busy_cget(option)

Return the current value of the busy configuration option. The widget must have been previously made busy by tk_busy_hold(), and option may have any of the values accepted by that method.

busy_cget() is an alias of tk_busy_cget().

Added in version 3.13.

tk_busy_forget()

Make this widget no longer busy, releasing the resources (including the transparent window) allocated when it was made busy. User events will again be received by the widget. These resources are also released when the widget is destroyed.

busy_forget() is an alias of tk_busy_forget().

Added in version 3.13.

tk_busy_status()

Return True if the widget is currently busy, False otherwise.

busy_status() is an alias of tk_busy_status().

Added in version 3.13.

tk_busy_current(pattern=None)

Return a list of widgets that are currently busy. If pattern is given, only busy widgets whose path names match the pattern are returned.

busy_current() is an alias of tk_busy_current().

Added in version 3.13.

winfo_atom(name, displayof=0)

Return the integer identifier for the atom whose name is name, creating a new atom if none exists. If displayof is given, the atom is looked up on the display of that window; otherwise it is looked up on the display of the application’s main window.

winfo_atomname(id, displayof=0)

Return the textual name for the atom whose integer identifier is id. This is the inverse of winfo_atom(). If displayof is given, the identifier is looked up on the display of that window; otherwise it is looked up on the display of the application’s main window.

winfo_cells()

Return the number of cells in the colormap for the widget.

winfo_children()

Return a list containing the widgets that are children of the widget, in stacking order from lowest to highest. Toplevel windows are returned as children of their logical parents.

winfo_class()

Return the class name of the widget.

winfo_colormapfull()

Return True if the colormap for the widget is known to be full, False otherwise.

winfo_containing(rootX, rootY, displayof=0)

Return the widget containing the point given by rootX and rootY, or None if no window in this application contains the point. The coordinates are in screen units in the coordinate system of the root window. If displayof is given, the coordinates refer to the screen containing that window; otherwise they refer to the screen of the application’s main window.

winfo_depth()

Return the depth of the widget, that is, the number of bits per pixel.

winfo_exists()

Return 1 if the widget exists, 0 otherwise.

winfo_fpixels(number)

Return a floating-point value giving the number of pixels in the widget corresponding to the screen distance number (e.g. "2.0c" or "1i"). The result may be fractional; for a rounded integer value use winfo_pixels().

winfo_geometry()

Return the geometry of the widget, in the form widthxheight+x+y. All dimensions are in pixels.

winfo_height()

Return the height of the widget in pixels. When a window is first created its height is 1 pixel; it is eventually changed by a geometry manager. See also winfo_reqheight().

winfo_id()

Return a low-level platform-specific identifier for the widget. On Unix this is the X window identifier, and on Windows it is the window handle.

winfo_interps(displayof=0)

Return a tuple of the names of all Tcl interpreters currently registered for a particular display. If displayof is given, the return value refers to the display of that window; otherwise it refers to the display of the application’s main window.

winfo_ismapped()

Return 1 if the widget is currently mapped, 0 otherwise.

winfo_manager()

Return the name of the geometry manager currently responsible for the widget, or an empty string if it is not managed by any geometry manager.

winfo_name()

Return the widget’s name within its parent, as opposed to its full path name.

winfo_parent()

Return the path name of the widget’s parent, or an empty string if the widget is the main window of the application.

winfo_pathname(id, displayof=0)

Return the path name of the window whose identifier is id. If displayof is given, the identifier is looked up on the display of that window; otherwise it is looked up on the display of the application’s main window.

winfo_pixels(number)

Return the number of pixels in the widget corresponding to the screen distance number (e.g. "2.0c" or "1i"). The result is rounded to the nearest integer; for a fractional result use winfo_fpixels().

winfo_pointerx()

Return the pointer’s x coordinate, in pixels, relative to the screen’s root window (or virtual root, if one is in use). Return -1 if the pointer is not on the same screen as the widget.

winfo_pointerxy()

Return the pointer’s coordinates as an (x, y) tuple, in pixels, relative to the screen’s root window (or virtual root, if one is in use). Both coordinates are -1 if the pointer is not on the same screen as the widget.

winfo_pointery()

Return the pointer’s y coordinate, in pixels, relative to the screen’s root window (or virtual root, if one is in use). Return -1 if the pointer is not on the same screen as the widget.

winfo_reqheight()

Return the widget’s requested height in pixels. This is the value used by the widget’s geometry manager to compute its geometry.

winfo_reqwidth()

Return the widget’s requested width in pixels. This is the value used by the widget’s geometry manager to compute its geometry.

winfo_rgb(color)

Return an (r, g, b) tuple of the red, green, and blue intensities, in the range 0 to 65535, that correspond to color in the widget. color may be specified in any of the forms acceptable for a color option.

winfo_rootx()

Return the x coordinate, in the root window of the screen, of the upper-left corner of the widget’s border (or of the widget itself if it has no border).

winfo_rooty()

Return the y coordinate, in the root window of the screen, of the upper-left corner of the widget’s border (or of the widget itself if it has no border).

winfo_screen()

Return the name of the screen associated with the widget, in the form displayName.screenIndex.

winfo_screencells()

Return the number of cells in the default colormap for the widget’s screen.

winfo_screendepth()

Return the depth of the root window of the widget’s screen, that is, the number of bits per pixel.

winfo_screenheight()

Return the height of the widget’s screen in pixels.

winfo_screenmmheight()

Return the height of the widget’s screen in millimeters.

winfo_screenmmwidth()

Return the width of the widget’s screen in millimeters.

winfo_screenvisual()

Return the default visual class for the widget’s screen, one of "directcolor", "grayscale", "pseudocolor", "staticcolor", "staticgray", or "truecolor".

winfo_screenwidth()

Return the width of the widget’s screen in pixels.

winfo_server()

Return a string containing information about the server for the widget’s display. The exact format of this string may vary from platform to platform.

winfo_toplevel()

Return the top-of-hierarchy window containing the widget. In standard Tk this is always a Toplevel widget.

winfo_viewable()

Return 1 if the widget and all of its ancestors up through the nearest toplevel window are mapped, 0 otherwise.

winfo_visual()

Return the visual class for the widget, one of "directcolor", "grayscale", "pseudocolor", "staticcolor", "staticgray", or "truecolor".

winfo_visualid()

Return the X identifier for the visual for the widget.

winfo_visualsavailable(includeids=False)

Return a list describing the visuals available for the widget’s screen. Each item consists of a visual class (see winfo_visual()) followed by an integer depth. If includeids is true, the X identifier for the visual is also included.

winfo_vrootheight()

Return the height of the virtual root window associated with the widget if there is one; otherwise return the height of the widget’s screen.

winfo_vrootwidth()

Return the width of the virtual root window associated with the widget if there is one; otherwise return the width of the widget’s screen.

winfo_vrootx()

Return the x offset of the virtual root window associated with the widget, relative to the root window of its screen. This is normally zero or negative, and is 0 if there is no virtual root window.

winfo_vrooty()

Return the y offset of the virtual root window associated with the widget, relative to the root window of its screen. This is normally zero or negative, and is 0 if there is no virtual root window.

winfo_width()

Return the width of the widget in pixels. When a window is first created its width is 1 pixel; it is eventually changed by a geometry manager. See also winfo_reqwidth().

winfo_x()

Return the x coordinate, in the widget’s parent, of the upper-left corner of the widget’s border (or of the widget itself if it has no border).

winfo_y()

Return the y coordinate, in the widget’s parent, of the upper-left corner of the widget’s border (or of the widget itself if it has no border).

info_patchlevel()

Return the Tcl/Tk patch level as a string, for example '9.1.0'.

Added in version 3.11.

class tkinter.Wm

The Wm mixin provides access to the window manager, allowing an application to control such things as the title, geometry and icon of a top-level window, the way it is resized, and how it responds to window manager protocols. It is mixed into Tk and Toplevel, so its methods are available on every top-level window. Each method has two equivalent spellings: a short name and a wm_-prefixed name (for example, title() and wm_title()).

aspect(minNumer=None, minDenom=None, maxNumer=None, maxDenom=None)

Constrain the aspect ratio (the ratio of width to height) of the window. If all four arguments are given, the window manager keeps the ratio between minNumer/minDenom and maxNumer/maxDenom; passing empty strings removes any existing restriction. With no arguments, return a tuple of the four current values, or an empty string if no aspect restriction is in effect. wm_aspect() is an alias of aspect().

attributes(*args, return_python_dict=False, **kwargs)

Query or set platform-specific attributes of the window. With no arguments, return the platform-specific flags and their values; pass return_python_dict as true to get them as a dictionary. A single option name such as '-alpha' returns the value of that option, and options may be set either positionally ('-alpha', 0.5) or as keyword arguments (alpha=0.5). The available attributes differ by platform; all platforms support -alpha (transparency from 0.0 to 1.0), -fullscreen and -topmost, while Windows, macOS and X11 each add further options. On X11 changes are applied asynchronously, so a queried value may not yet reflect the most recent request. wm_attributes() is an alias of attributes().

Changed in version 3.13: A single attribute may now be queried by name without the leading -, attributes may be set using keyword arguments, and the return_python_dict parameter was added.

client(name=None)

Store name, which should be the name of the host on which the application is running, in the window’s WM_CLIENT_MACHINE property for use by the window or session manager. An empty string deletes the property. With no argument, return the last name set, or an empty string. wm_client() is an alias of client().

colormapwindows(*wlist)

Manipulate the WM_COLORMAP_WINDOWS property, which tells the window manager about windows that have private colormaps. If wlist is given, overwrite the property with those windows (their order is a priority order for installing colormaps). With no arguments, return the list of windows currently named in the property. wm_colormapwindows() is an alias of colormapwindows().

command(value=None)

Store value in the window’s WM_COMMAND property for use by the window or session manager; it should be a list giving the words of the command used to invoke the application. An empty string deletes the property. With no argument, return the last value set, or an empty string. wm_command() is an alias of command().

deiconify()

Display the window in normal (non-iconified) form by mapping it. If the window has never been mapped, this ensures it appears de-iconified when it is first mapped. On Windows the window is also raised and given the focus. wm_deiconify() is an alias of deiconify().

focusmodel(model=None)

Set or query the focus model for the window. model is either 'active' (the window claims the input focus for itself or its descendants, even when the focus is in another application) or 'passive' (the window relies on the window manager to give it the focus). With no argument, return the current model. The default is 'passive', which is what the focus() command assumes. wm_focusmodel() is an alias of focusmodel().

forget(window)

Unmap window from the screen so that it is no longer managed by the window manager. A Toplevel is then treated like a Frame, although its -menu configuration is remembered and the menu reappears if the widget is managed again. wm_forget() is an alias of forget().

Added in version 3.3.

frame()

Return the platform-specific window identifier for the outermost decorative frame containing the window, if the window manager has reparented it into such a frame; otherwise return the identifier of the window itself. wm_frame() is an alias of frame().

geometry(newGeometry=None)

Set or query the geometry of the window. newGeometry has the form =widthxheight+x+y, where any of =, widthxheight and the +x+y position may be omitted. width and height are in pixels (or grid units for a gridded window); a position preceded by + is measured from the left or top edge of the screen and one preceded by - from the right or bottom edge. An empty string cancels any user-specified geometry, letting the window revert to its natural size. With no argument, return the current geometry as a string of the form '200x200+10+10'. wm_geometry() is an alias of geometry().

grid(baseWidth=None, baseHeight=None, widthInc=None, heightInc=None)

Manage the window as a gridded window and define the relationship between grid units and pixels. baseWidth and baseHeight are the numbers of grid units for the window’s internally requested size, and widthInc and heightInc are the pixel sizes of a horizontal and vertical grid unit. Empty strings turn off gridded management. With no arguments, return a tuple of the four current values, or an empty string if the window is not gridded. wm_grid() is an alias of grid().

group(pathName=None)

Set or query the leader of a group of related windows. pathName gives the path name of the group leader; the window manager may, for example, unmap all windows in the group when the leader is iconified. An empty string removes the window from any group. With no argument, return the path name of the current group leader, or an empty string. wm_group() is an alias of group().

iconbitmap(bitmap=None, default=None)

Set or query the bitmap used by the window manager for the window’s icon. bitmap names a bitmap in one of the standard forms accepted by Tk; an empty string cancels the current icon bitmap. With no argument, return the name of the current icon bitmap, or an empty string. On Windows the default argument names an icon (for example an .ico file) applied to all top-level windows that have no icon of their own. wm_iconbitmap() is an alias of iconbitmap().

iconify()

Iconify the window. If the window has not yet been mapped for the first time, arrange for it to appear in the iconified state when it is eventually mapped. wm_iconify() is an alias of iconify().

iconmask(bitmap=None)

Set or query the bitmap used as a mask for the icon (see iconbitmap()). Where the mask is zero no icon is displayed; where it is one, the corresponding bits of the icon bitmap are shown. An empty string cancels the current mask. With no argument, return the name of the current icon mask, or an empty string. wm_iconmask() is an alias of iconmask().

iconname(newName=None)

Set or query the name displayed by the window manager inside the window’s icon. With no argument, return the current icon name, or an empty string if none has been set (in which case the window manager normally displays the window’s title). wm_iconname() is an alias of iconname().

iconphoto(default=False, *images)

Set the titlebar icon for the window from one or more PhotoImage objects given in images. Several images of different sizes (for example 16x16 and 32x32) may be supplied so that the window manager can choose an appropriate one. The image data is taken as a snapshot at the time of the call; later changes to the images are not reflected. If default is true, the icon is also applied to all top-level windows created in the future. On macOS only the first image is used. wm_iconphoto() is an alias of iconphoto().

Added in version 3.3.

iconposition(x=None, y=None)

Set or query a hint to the window manager about where the window’s icon should be positioned. Empty strings cancel an existing hint. With no arguments, return a tuple of the two current values, or an empty string if no hint is in effect. wm_iconposition() is an alias of iconposition().

iconwindow(pathName=None)

Set or query the window used as the icon for the window. When the window is iconified, pathName is mapped to serve as its icon and unmapped again when it is de-iconified. An empty string cancels the association. With no argument, return the path name of the current icon window, or an empty string. Not all window managers support icon windows, and the concept is meaningless on non-X11 platforms. wm_iconwindow() is an alias of iconwindow().

manage(widget)

Make widget a stand-alone top-level window, decorated by the window manager with a title bar and so on. Only Frame, LabelFrame and Toplevel widgets may be used; passing any other widget type raises an error. wm_manage() is an alias of manage().

Added in version 3.3.

maxsize(width=None, height=None)

Set or query the maximum permissible dimensions of the window, in pixels (or grid units for a gridded window). The window manager restricts the window to be no larger than width and height. With no arguments, return a tuple of the current maximum width and height. The maximum size defaults to the size of the screen. wm_maxsize() is an alias of maxsize().

minsize(width=None, height=None)

Set or query the minimum permissible dimensions of the window, in pixels (or grid units for a gridded window). The window manager restricts the window to be no smaller than width and height. With no arguments, return a tuple of the current minimum width and height. The minimum size defaults to one pixel in each dimension. wm_minsize() is an alias of minsize().

overrideredirect(boolean=None)

Set or query the override-redirect flag for the window. When this flag is set, the window is ignored by the window manager: it is not reparented into a decorative frame and the user cannot manipulate it through the usual window manager controls. With no argument, return a boolean indicating whether the flag is set. The flag is reliably honored only when the window is first mapped or remapped from the withdrawn state. wm_overrideredirect() is an alias of overrideredirect().

positionfrom(who=None)

Set or query the source of the window’s current position. who is either 'program' or 'user' and indicates whether the position was requested by the program or by the user; an empty string cancels the current source. With no argument, return the current source, or an empty string if none has been set. Tk automatically sets the source to 'user' when geometry() is called, unless it has been set explicitly to 'program'. wm_positionfrom() is an alias of positionfrom().

protocol(name=None, func=None)

Register func as the handler for the window manager protocol name, an atom such as 'WM_DELETE_WINDOW', 'WM_SAVE_YOURSELF' or 'WM_TAKE_FOCUS'; func is then called whenever the window manager sends a message of that protocol. Tk installs a default WM_DELETE_WINDOW handler that destroys the window, which this method can replace. If func is an empty string, the handler is removed. With only name, return the name of its registered handler command, or an empty string if none is set (the default WM_DELETE_WINDOW handler is not reported); with no arguments, return a tuple of the protocols that currently have handlers. wm_protocol() is an alias of protocol().

resizable(width=None, height=None)

Control whether the user may interactively resize the window. width and height are boolean values that determine whether the window’s width and height may be changed. With no arguments, return a tuple of two 0/1 values indicating whether each dimension is currently resizable. By default a window is resizable in both dimensions. wm_resizable() is an alias of resizable().

sizefrom(who=None)

Set or query the source of the window’s current size. who is either 'program' or 'user' and indicates whether the size was requested by the program or by the user; an empty string cancels the current source. With no argument, return the current source, or an empty string if none has been set. wm_sizefrom() is an alias of sizefrom().

state(newstate=None)

Set or query the state of the window. With no argument, return the current state: one of 'normal', 'iconic', 'withdrawn', 'icon' or, on Windows and macOS only, 'zoomed'. 'iconic' refers to a window that has been iconified, while 'icon' refers to a window serving as the icon for another window (see iconwindow()); the 'icon' state cannot be set. wm_state() is an alias of state().

title(string=None)

Set or query the title for the window, which the window manager should display in the window’s title bar. With no argument, return the current title. The title defaults to the window’s name. wm_title() is an alias of title().

transient(master=None)

Mark the window as a transient window (such as a pull-down menu or dialog) working on behalf of master, the path name of another top-level window. An empty string clears the transient status. With no argument, return the path name of the current master, or an empty string. A transient window mirrors state changes in its master and may be decorated differently by the window manager; it is an error to make a window a transient of itself. wm_transient() is an alias of transient().

withdraw()

Withdraw the window from the screen, unmapping it and causing the window manager to forget about it. If the window has never been mapped, it is instead mapped in the withdrawn state. It is sometimes necessary to withdraw a window and then re-map it (for example with deiconify()) to make some window managers notice changes to window attributes. wm_withdraw() is an alias of withdraw().

class tkinter.Pack

Geometry manager that arranges widgets by packing them against the sides of their container. The Pack mix-in is inherited by all widgets (through Widget) and provides the methods for managing a widget with the pack geometry manager. See also The Packer.

pack_configure(cnf={}, **kw)
pack(cnf={}, **kw)

Pack the widget inside its container, positioning it relative to the siblings already packed there. Options such as side ('top', 'bottom', 'left' or 'right'), fill ('x', 'y', 'both' or 'none'), expand, anchor, padx/pady, ipadx/ipady and in_ control the placement; see the Tk pack manual page for the full list. pack(), configure() and config() are aliases of pack_configure().

pack_forget()

Unmap the widget and remove it from the packing order, forgetting its packing options. It can be packed again later with pack_configure(). forget() is an alias of pack_forget().

pack_info()

Return a dictionary of the widget’s current packing options. info() is an alias of pack_info().

pack_propagate()
pack_propagate(flag)

Same as Misc.pack_propagate(), treating this widget as a container: enable or disable geometry propagation. propagate() is an alias of pack_propagate().

pack_slaves()

Same as Misc.pack_slaves(): return the list of widgets packed in this widget. slaves() is an alias of pack_slaves().

pack_content()

Same as Misc.pack_content(). content() is an alias of pack_content().

class tkinter.Place

Geometry manager that places widgets at explicit positions and sizes within their container. The Place mix-in is inherited by all widgets (through Widget).

place_configure(cnf={}, **kw)
place(cnf={}, **kw)

Place the widget inside its container at an absolute or relative position. Options include x/y and relx/rely (absolute and fractional position), width/height and relwidth/relheight (absolute and fractional size), anchor, bordermode and in_; see the Tk place manual page. place(), configure() and config() are aliases of place_configure().

place_forget()

Unmap the widget and remove it from the placement, forgetting its place options. forget() is an alias of place_forget().

place_info()

Return a dictionary of the widget’s current place options. info() is an alias of place_info().

place_slaves()

Same as Misc.place_slaves(): return the list of widgets placed in this widget. slaves() is an alias of place_slaves().

place_content()

Same as Misc.place_content(). content() is an alias of place_content().

class tkinter.Grid

Geometry manager that arranges widgets in a two-dimensional grid of rows and columns within their container. The Grid mix-in is inherited by all widgets (through Widget).

grid_configure(cnf={}, **kw)
grid(cnf={}, **kw)

Position the widget in a cell of its container’s grid. Options include row/column, rowspan/columnspan, sticky, padx/pady, ipadx/ipady and in_; see the Tk grid manual page. grid(), configure() and config() are aliases of grid_configure().

grid_forget()

Unmap the widget and remove it from the grid, forgetting its grid options. forget() is an alias of grid_forget().

grid_remove()

Unmap the widget and remove it from the grid, but remember its grid options so that it is restored to the same cell if it is gridded again.

grid_info()

Return a dictionary of the widget’s current grid options. info() is an alias of grid_info().

grid_anchor(anchor=None)

Same as Misc.grid_anchor(). anchor() is an alias of grid_anchor().

grid_bbox(column=None, row=None, col2=None, row2=None)

Same as Misc.grid_bbox(). bbox() is an alias of grid_bbox().

grid_columnconfigure(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Same as Misc.grid_columnconfigure(): query or set the options (such as weight, minsize, pad and uniform) of a grid column. columnconfigure() is an alias of grid_columnconfigure().

grid_rowconfigure(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Same as Misc.grid_rowconfigure(): query or set the options of a grid row. rowconfigure() is an alias of grid_rowconfigure().

grid_location(x, y)

Same as Misc.grid_location(): return the (column, row) of the cell that covers the pixel at x, y. location() is an alias of grid_location().

grid_size()

Same as Misc.grid_size(): return a (columns, rows) tuple giving the size of the grid. size() is an alias of grid_size().

grid_propagate()
grid_propagate(flag)

Same as Misc.grid_propagate(). propagate() is an alias of grid_propagate().

grid_slaves(row=None, column=None)

Same as Misc.grid_slaves(): return the widgets managed in the grid, optionally restricted to a row and/or column. slaves() is an alias of grid_slaves().

grid_content(row=None, column=None)

Same as Misc.grid_content(). content() is an alias of grid_content().

class tkinter.XView

Mix-in providing the horizontal-scrolling interface shared by widgets such as Entry, Canvas, Listbox, Text and Spinbox. A widget’s xview() method is registered as the command of a horizontal Scrollbar.

xview(*args)

Query or change the horizontal position of the view. With no arguments, return a tuple (first, last) of two fractions between 0 and 1 giving the portion of the document that is currently visible. Otherwise the arguments are passed to the Tk xview widget command and are usually generated by a scrollbar; xview_moveto() and xview_scroll() provide a more convenient interface.

xview_moveto(fraction)

Adjust the view so that fraction of the total width of the document is off-screen to the left. fraction is a number between 0 and 1.

xview_scroll(number, what)

Shift the view left or right by number units. what is either 'units' or 'pages'; a negative number scrolls left and a positive one scrolls right.

class tkinter.YView

Mix-in providing the vertical-scrolling interface shared by widgets such as Canvas, Listbox and Text. A widget’s yview() method is registered as the command of a vertical Scrollbar.

yview(*args)

Query or change the vertical position of the view. With no arguments, return a tuple (first, last) of two fractions between 0 and 1 giving the portion of the document that is currently visible. Otherwise the arguments are passed to the Tk yview widget command, usually generated by a scrollbar; yview_moveto() and yview_scroll() provide a more convenient interface.

yview_moveto(fraction)

Adjust the view so that fraction of the total height of the document is off-screen above the top. fraction is a number between 0 and 1.

yview_scroll(number, what)

Shift the view up or down by number units. what is either 'units' or 'pages'; a negative number scrolls up and a positive one scrolls down.

class tkinter.BaseWidget(master, widgetName, cnf={}, kw={}, extra=())

Internal base class for all widgets. It inherits from Misc and adds the machinery that creates the underlying Tk widget; application code normally uses Widget or a concrete widget class rather than instantiating BaseWidget directly.

destroy()

Destroy this widget and all of its children, removing the corresponding Tk widgets and deleting the associated Tcl commands.

class tkinter.Widget(master, widgetName, cnf={}, kw={}, extra=())

Internal base class for the standard widgets. It combines BaseWidget with the geometry-manager mix-ins Pack, Place and Grid, so that every widget can be managed by any of the three geometry managers. The concrete widget classes (Button, Label, and so on) derive from Widget.

class tkinter.Toplevel(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Toplevel widget is a top-level window, similar to a Frame except that its X parent is the root window of a screen rather than its logical parent. Its primary purpose is to serve as a container for dialog boxes and other collections of widgets; its only visible features are its background and an optional 3-D border. Notable options include menu, which installs a Menu as the window’s menubar. Inherits from BaseWidget and Wm, so a toplevel is managed by the window manager. Refer to the Tk toplevel manual page for the full list of options.

Widget classes

class tkinter.Button(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Button widget displays a textual string, bitmap or image and invokes a command when the user presses it (by clicking mouse button 1 over the button or, when the button has focus, by pressing the space key). Inherits from Widget. In addition to the standard widget options, a button accepts the options documented in the Tk button manual page, such as command (the callback invoked when the button is pressed), textvariable, state and default.

invoke()

Invoke the command associated with the button, if there is one, and return its result, or an empty string if no command is associated with the button. This is ignored if the button’s state is disabled.

flash()

Flash the button by redisplaying it several times, alternating between the active and normal colors. At the end of the flash the button is left in the same normal or active state as when the method was called. This is ignored if the button’s state is disabled.

class tkinter.Canvas(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Canvas widget implements structured graphics. It displays any number of items, such as arcs, lines, ovals, polygons, rectangles, text, bitmaps, images and embedded windows, which may be drawn, moved, re-colored and bound to events. Inherits from Widget, XView and YView, so the view can be scrolled horizontally and vertically with xview() and yview(). Refer to the Tk canvas manual page for the full list of widget and item options.

Each item has a unique integer id, assigned when it is created, and zero or more string tags. A tag is an arbitrary string that does not have the form of an integer; the same tag may be shared by many items, which makes tags convenient for grouping items. The special tag 'all' matches every item in the canvas, and 'current' matches the topmost item under the mouse pointer. Most methods take a tagOrId argument that may be an integer id naming a single item, or a tag naming zero or more items; as described in the Tk canvas manual page, a tag may also be a logical expression of tags combined with the operators &&, ||, ^, ! and parentheses. When a method that operates on a single item is given a tagOrId matching several items, it normally uses the lowest matching item in the display list.

The items are kept in a display list that determines drawing order: items later in the list are drawn on top of earlier ones. A newly created item is placed at the top of the list; the order can be changed with tag_raise() and tag_lower().

create_arc(*args, **kw)
create_bitmap(*args, **kw)
create_image(*args, **kw)
create_line(*args, **kw)
create_oval(*args, **kw)
create_polygon(*args, **kw)
create_rectangle(*args, **kw)
create_text(*args, **kw)
create_window(*args, **kw)

Create a new item of the corresponding type and return its integer id. Each method is called as create_TYPE(coord..., **options): the leading positional arguments give the coordinates that define the item (as separate numbers, as a single sequence of numbers, or as coordinate pairs), and the keyword arguments set item-specific options. Coordinates and screen distances may be given as numbers (interpreted as pixels) or as strings with a unit suffix ('m', 'c', 'i' or 'p' for millimetres, centimetres, inches or printer’s points), but are always stored and returned in pixels.

The item types are: arc (an arc-shaped region that is a section of an oval, defined by two diagonally opposite corners x1, y1, x2, y2 of the enclosing rectangle); bitmap (a two-color bitmap positioned at a point x, y); image (a Tk image positioned at a point x, y); line (a line or curve through the points x1, y1, ..., xn, yn); oval (a circle or ellipse inscribed in the rectangle x1, y1, x2, y2); polygon (a closed polygon through the points x1, y1, ..., xn, yn); rectangle (a rectangle with corners x1, y1, x2, y2); text (a string of text positioned at a point x, y); and window (a child widget embedded in the canvas at a point x, y, specified with the window option).

coords(tagOrId)
coords(tagOrId, coordList, /)
coords(tagOrId, /, *coordList)

Query or modify the coordinates of an item. With only tagOrId, return a list of the floating-point coordinates of the item given by tagOrId (the first matching item if it matches several). Given new coordinates, replace the coordinates of that item with them; like the create_* methods, the coordinates may be given as separate numbers, as a single sequence, or as coordinate pairs. The returned coordinates are always in pixels, regardless of the units used to specify them; for rectangles, ovals and arcs they are ordered left, top, right, bottom.

Changed in version 3.12: The arguments are now flattened: the coordinates may be given as separate arguments, as a single sequence, or grouped in pairs, like the create_* methods.

move(tagOrId, xAmount, yAmount, /)

Move each of the items given by tagOrId in the canvas coordinate space by adding xAmount to every x-coordinate and yAmount to every y-coordinate of the item.

moveto(tagOrId, x='', y='')

Move the items given by tagOrId so that the first coordinate pair (the upper-left corner of the bounding box) of the lowest matching item is at position (x, y). x or y may be an empty string, in which case the corresponding coordinate is unchanged. All matching items keep their positions relative to each other.

Added in version 3.8.

scale(tagOrId, xOrigin, yOrigin, xScale, yScale, /)

Rescale the coordinates of all items given by tagOrId in canvas coordinate space. Each x-coordinate is adjusted so that its distance from xOrigin changes by a factor of xScale, and each y-coordinate so that its distance from yOrigin changes by a factor of yScale (a factor of 1.0 leaves the coordinate unchanged).

delete(*tagOrIds)

Delete each of the items given by the tagOrIds arguments.

dchars(tagOrId, first, /)
dchars(tagOrId, first, last, /)

Delete from each of the items given by tagOrId the characters (for text items) or coordinates (for line and polygon items) in the range from first to last inclusive; last defaults to first. Items that do not support indexing ignore this operation.

insert(tagOrId, beforeThis, string, /)

Insert string into each of the items given by tagOrId just before the character or coordinate whose index is beforeThis. For line and polygon items string must be a valid sequence of coordinates.

itemcget(tagOrId, option)

Return the current value of the configuration option option for the item given by tagOrId (the lowest matching item if it matches several). This is like cget() but applies to an individual item.

itemconfigure(tagOrId, cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the items given by tagOrId. This mirrors configure(), except that it applies to individual items rather than to the canvas as a whole. With no options, it returns a dictionary describing the current options of the first matching item; otherwise it sets the given options on every matching item. The legal options are those accepted by the corresponding create_* method. itemconfig() is an alias of itemconfigure().

type(tagOrId)

Return the type of the item given by tagOrId (the first matching item if it matches several), such as 'rectangle' or 'text', or None if tagOrId does not match any item.

gettags(tagOrId, /)

Return a tuple of the tags associated with the item given by tagOrId (the first matching item in display-list order if it matches several). Return an empty tuple if no item matches or the item has no tags.

dtag(tagOrId, /)
dtag(tagOrId, tagToDelete, /)

Remove the tag tagToDelete (which defaults to tagOrId) from each of the items given by tagOrId. Items that do not have that tag are unaffected.

addtag(newtag, searchSpec, /, *args)

Add the tag newtag to each item selected by the search specification searchSpec (and any further args). searchSpec is one of 'above', 'all', 'below', 'closest', 'enclosed', 'overlapping' or 'withtag'; the addtag_* methods below are convenient wrappers that supply each of these forms.

addtag_above(newtag, tagOrId)

Add the tag newtag to the item just above (after) tagOrId in the display list.

addtag_all(newtag)

Add the tag newtag to all items in the canvas.

addtag_below(newtag, tagOrId)

Add the tag newtag to the item just below (before) tagOrId in the display list.

addtag_closest(newtag, x, y, halo=None, start=None)

Add the tag newtag to the item closest to the point (x, y). If halo is given, any item within that distance of the point is treated as overlapping it. If start is given (a tag or id), select the topmost closest item that lies below start in the display list, which can be used to step through all the closest items.

addtag_enclosed(newtag, x1, y1, x2, y2)

Add the tag newtag to every item completely enclosed within the rectangle (x1, y1, x2, y2), where x1 <= x2 and y1 <= y2.

addtag_overlapping(newtag, x1, y1, x2, y2)

Add the tag newtag to every item that overlaps or is enclosed within the rectangle (x1, y1, x2, y2), where x1 <= x2 and y1 <= y2.

addtag_withtag(newtag, tagOrId)

Add the tag newtag to every item given by tagOrId.

find(searchSpec, /, *args)

Return a tuple of the ids of all items selected by the search specification searchSpec (and any further args), in stacking order with the lowest item first. The search specification has any of the forms accepted by addtag(). The find_* methods below are more convenient wrappers around it.

find_above(tagOrId)

Return a tuple containing the id of the item just above tagOrId in the display list.

find_all()

Return a tuple of the ids of all items in the canvas, in stacking order.

find_below(tagOrId)

Return a tuple containing the id of the item just below tagOrId in the display list.

find_closest(x, y, halo=None, start=None)

Return a tuple containing the id of the item closest to the point (x, y). halo and start are interpreted as for addtag_closest().

find_enclosed(x1, y1, x2, y2)

Return a tuple of the ids of all items completely enclosed within the rectangle (x1, y1, x2, y2).

find_overlapping(x1, y1, x2, y2)

Return a tuple of the ids of all items that overlap or are enclosed within the rectangle (x1, y1, x2, y2).

find_withtag(tagOrId)

Return a tuple of the ids of all items given by tagOrId.

tag_raise(tagOrId, aboveThis=None, /)

Move all items given by tagOrId to a new position in the display list just above the item given by aboveThis, or to the top of the display list if aboveThis is omitted. When several items are moved their relative order is preserved. This has no effect on embedded window items, whose stacking order is controlled by Misc.tkraise() and Misc.lower() instead. lift() and tkraise() are aliases of tag_raise().

tag_lower(tagOrId, belowThis=None, /)

Move all items given by tagOrId to a new position in the display list just below the item given by belowThis, or to the bottom of the display list if belowThis is omitted. When several items are moved their relative order is preserved. This has no effect on embedded window items. lower() is an alias of tag_lower().

tag_bind(tagOrId, sequence=None, func=None, add=None)

Bind the callback func to the event sequence for all items given by tagOrId, so that func is invoked whenever that event occurs for one of the items. This is like Widget.bind() but operates on canvas items rather than on whole widgets; only mouse, keyboard and virtual events may be bound. Mouse events are directed to the current item and keyboard events to the focus item (see focus()). If add is true the new binding is added to any existing bindings for the same sequence, rather than replacing them. Return the identifier of the bound function, which can be passed to tag_unbind().

tag_unbind(tagOrId, sequence, funcid=None)

Remove for all items given by tagOrId the binding for the event sequence. If funcid is given, only that callback (as returned by tag_bind()) is unbound and deregistered.

Changed in version 3.13: If funcid is given, only that callback is unbound.

bbox(tagOrId, /, *tagOrIds)

Return a 4-tuple (x1, y1, x2, y2) giving an approximate bounding box, in pixels, that encloses all the items given by tagOrId and any further tagOrIds. The result may overestimate the true bounding box by a few pixels. Return None if no item matches or the matching items have nothing to display.

canvasx(screenx, gridspacing=None)

Given a window x-coordinate screenx, return the canvas x-coordinate displayed at that location. If gridspacing is given, the result is rounded to the nearest multiple of gridspacing units.

canvasy(screeny, gridspacing=None)

Given a window y-coordinate screeny, return the canvas y-coordinate displayed at that location. If gridspacing is given, the result is rounded to the nearest multiple of gridspacing units.

focus()
focus(tagOrId, /)

With tagOrId, set the keyboard focus for the canvas to the first item given by tagOrId that supports the insertion cursor; the focus is left unchanged if no such item exists. If tagOrId is an empty string, reset the focus so that no item has it. With no argument, return the id of the item that currently has the focus, or an empty string if none does. An item only displays the insertion cursor when both it is the focus item and its canvas has the input focus.

icursor(tagOrId, index, /)

Set the insertion cursor of the items given by tagOrId to just before the character given by index. Items that do not support an insertion cursor are unaffected. The cursor is only displayed when the item has the focus, but its position may be set at any time.

index(tagOrId, index, /)

Return as an integer the numerical index within tagOrId corresponding to index, which is a textual description of a position (for text items an index into the characters, for line and polygon items an index into the coordinates). If tagOrId matches several items, the first one that supports indexing is used.

select_adjust(tagOrId, index)

Adjust the end of the selection in tagOrId nearest to index so that it is at index, and make the other end the anchor point for future select_to() calls. If the selection is not currently in tagOrId, this behaves like select_to().

select_clear()

Clear the selection if it is in this canvas; otherwise do nothing.

select_from(tagOrId, index)

Set the selection anchor point to just before the character given by index in the item given by tagOrId. This does not change the selection itself; it sets the fixed end for future select_to() calls.

select_item()

Return the id of the item that holds the selection, or None if the selection is not in this canvas. Unlike find() and the find_* methods, this returns the id as a string rather than an integer.

select_to(tagOrId, index)

Set the selection to the characters of tagOrId between the selection anchor point and index, inclusive of index. The anchor point is the one set by the most recent select_adjust() or select_from() call.

scan_mark(x, y)

Record x, y and the current view, for use with later scan_dragto() calls. This is typically bound to a mouse button press in the widget.

scan_dragto(x, y, gain=10)

Scroll the canvas by gain times the difference between x, y and the coordinates passed to the last scan_mark() call. This is typically bound to mouse motion events in the widget, producing the effect of dragging the canvas at high speed through its window.

postscript(cnf={}, **kw)

Generate a PostScript (Encapsulated PostScript, version 3.0) representation of part or all of the canvas. If the file or channel option is given, the PostScript is written there and an empty string is returned; otherwise it is returned as a string. By default only the area currently visible in the window is generated, so it is usually necessary either to call update() first or to use the width and height options. Supported options include colormap, colormode, file, fontmap, height, pageanchor, pageheight, pagewidth, pagex, pagey, rotate, width, x and y.

class tkinter.Checkbutton(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Checkbutton widget displays a textual string, bitmap or image together with a square indicator, and toggles a boolean selection when pressed. It has all the behavior of a simple button and, in addition, can be selected: when selected the indicator is drawn with a check mark and the associated variable is set to the onvalue, and when deselected the indicator is drawn empty and the variable is set to the offvalue. Inherits from Widget. In addition to the standard widget options, a checkbutton accepts the options documented in the Tk checkbutton manual page, such as variable, onvalue, offvalue and command.

invoke()

Do just what would happen if the user pressed the checkbutton with the mouse: toggle the selection state of the button and invoke the associated command, if there is one. Return the result of the command, or an empty string if no command is associated with the checkbutton. This is ignored if the checkbutton’s state is disabled.

select()

Select the checkbutton and set the associated variable to its onvalue.

deselect()

Deselect the checkbutton and set the associated variable to its offvalue.

toggle()

Toggle the selection state of the button, redisplaying it and modifying its associated variable to reflect the new state.

flash()

Flash the checkbutton by redisplaying it several times, alternating between the active and normal colors. At the end of the flash the checkbutton is left in the same normal or active state as when the method was called. This is ignored if the checkbutton’s state is disabled.

class tkinter.Entry(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

An Entry widget displays a single line of text and lets the user edit it. Inherits from Widget and XView; since entries can hold strings too long to fit in the window, they support horizontal scrolling through xview().

In addition to the standard widget options, an entry accepts the options documented in the Tk entry manual page. Notable ones are textvariable (the name of a variable kept in sync with the entry’s contents), show (if set, each character is displayed as the given character rather than its true value, useful for password entry), validate and validatecommand (which together let a callback accept or reject edits), and state (one of 'normal', 'disabled' or 'readonly').

Many of the methods below take an index argument that selects a character in the entry’s string. As described in the Tk entry manual page, index may be a number (counting from 0), 'insert' (the character just after the insertion cursor), 'end' (just after the last character), 'anchor' (the selection anchor point), 'sel.first' and 'sel.last' (the ends of the selection), or @x (the character covering pixel x-coordinate x in the window). Out-of-range indices are rounded to the nearest legal value.

delete(first, last=None)

Delete the characters from index first up to but not including index last. If last is omitted, only the single character at first is deleted.

get()

Return the entry’s current string.

insert(index, string)

Insert string just before the character given by index.

icursor(index)

Arrange for the insertion cursor to be displayed just before the character given by index.

index(index)

Return the numerical index corresponding to index.

selection_adjust(index)

Locate the end of the selection nearest to the character given by index, and adjust that end to be at index (including but not going beyond it); the other end becomes the anchor point for future selection_to() calls. If there is no selection in the entry, a new one is created between index and the most recent anchor point, inclusive. select_adjust() is an alias of selection_adjust().

selection_clear()

Clear the selection if it is currently in this widget. If the selection is not in this widget the method has no effect. select_clear() is an alias of selection_clear().

selection_from(index)

Set the selection anchor point to just before the character given by index, without changing the selection. select_from() is an alias of selection_from().

selection_present()

Return True if there are characters selected in the entry, False otherwise. select_present() is an alias of selection_present().

selection_range(start, end)

Set the selection to include the characters starting with the one indexed by start and ending with the one just before end. If end refers to the same character as start or an earlier one, the selection is cleared. select_range() is an alias of selection_range().

selection_to(index)

Set the selection between the anchor point and index: if index is before the anchor point, the selection runs from index up to but not including the anchor; if index is after it, from the anchor up to but not including index; if they coincide, nothing happens. The anchor point is the one set by the most recent selection_from() or selection_adjust() call. If there is no selection in the entry, a new one is created using the most recent anchor point. select_to() is an alias of selection_to().

scan_mark(x)

Record x and the current view in the entry window, for use with later scan_dragto() calls. Typically associated with a mouse button press in the widget.

scan_dragto(x)

Compute the difference between x and the x given to the last scan_mark() call, and adjust the view left or right by 10 times that difference. Typically associated with mouse motion events, to produce the effect of dragging the entry at high speed through the window.

class tkinter.Frame(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Frame widget is a simple container. Its primary purpose is to act as a spacer or container for complex window layouts; its only features are its background and an optional 3-D border to make the frame appear raised or sunken. Inherits from Widget. Refer to the Tk frame manual page for the full list of options.

class tkinter.Label(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Label widget displays a non-interactive textual string, bitmap or image. The displayed text is set with the text option or linked to a variable through textvariable, and an image can be shown using the image option. Text must all be in a single font but may occupy multiple lines, and one character may be underlined with the underline option. Inherits from Widget. Refer to the Tk label manual page for the full list of options.

class tkinter.LabelFrame(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A LabelFrame widget is a container that has the features of a Frame plus the ability to display a label. The label text is set with the text option and positioned with labelanchor, or an arbitrary widget may be used as the label by giving it as the labelwidget option. Inherits from Widget. Refer to the Tk labelframe manual page for the full list of options.

class tkinter.Listbox(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Listbox widget displays a list of single-line text items, one per line, of which the user can select one or more. The way the selection behaves is governed by the selectmode option, which is one of browse (the default; at most one item, which may be dragged with the mouse), single (at most one item), multiple (any number of items, toggled individually), or extended (any number of items, including discontiguous ranges, selected by clicking and dragging). Inherits from Widget, XView and YView, so the view can be scrolled horizontally and vertically with xview() and yview(). Refer to the Tk listbox manual page for the full list of options.

Many of the methods take an index argument identifying a particular item. As described in the Tk listbox manual page, index may be a numeric index (counting from 0 at the top), 'active' (the item with the location cursor, set with activate()), 'anchor' (the selection anchor, set with selection_anchor()), 'end' (the last item, or for index() and insert() the position just after it), or @x,y (the item covering pixel coordinates x, y in the listbox window). Arguments named first and last are indices of the same forms.

insert(index, *elements)

Insert the given elements as new items just before the item given by index. If index is 'end', the new items are appended to the end of the list.

delete(first, last=None)

Delete the items in the range from first to last inclusive. If last is omitted, it defaults to first, so that a single item is deleted.

get(first, last=None)

If last is omitted, return the contents of the item given by first, or an empty string if first refers to a non-existent item. If last is given, return a tuple of all the items in the range from first to last inclusive.

size()

Return the total number of items in the listbox.

index(index)

Return the integer index value corresponding to index, or None if index is out of range. If index is 'end', the result is a count of the number of items in the listbox (not the index of the last item).

bbox(index)

Return a tuple (x, y, width, height) describing the bounding box, in pixels relative to the widget, of the text of the item given by index. Return None if no part of that item is visible on the screen, or if index refers to a non-existent item; if the item is only partly visible, the result still gives the full area of the item, including the parts that are not visible.

nearest(y)

Given a y-coordinate within the listbox window, return the index of the visible item nearest to that y-coordinate.

see(index)

Adjust the view so that the item given by index is visible. If the item is already visible the method has no effect; if it is near an edge of the window the listbox scrolls just enough to bring it into view at that edge, otherwise the listbox scrolls to center the item.

activate(index)

Set the active item to the one given by index. If index is outside the range of items, the closest item is activated instead. The active item is drawn as specified by the activestyle option when the widget has the input focus, and its index may be retrieved with the 'active' index.

curselection()

Return a tuple containing the numerical indices of all of the items that are currently selected, or an empty tuple if no items are selected.

selection_anchor(index)

Set the selection anchor to the item given by index. If index refers to a non-existent item, the closest item is used. The selection anchor is the end of the selection that is fixed while dragging out a selection with the mouse, and may afterwards be referred to with the 'anchor' index. select_anchor() is an alias of selection_anchor().

selection_clear(first, last=None)

Deselect any of the items in the range from first to last inclusive that are selected. The selection state of items outside this range is not changed. select_clear() is an alias of selection_clear().

selection_includes(index)

Return True if the item given by index is currently selected, False otherwise. select_includes() is an alias of selection_includes().

selection_set(first, last=None)

Select all of the items in the range from first to last inclusive, without affecting the selection state of items outside that range. select_set() is an alias of selection_set().

itemcget(index, option)

Return the current value of the configuration option option for the item given by index.

itemconfigure(index, cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the item given by index. This mirrors configure(), except that it applies to an individual item rather than to the listbox as a whole. With no options, it returns a dictionary describing the current options of the item; otherwise it sets the given options. The supported item options are background, foreground, selectbackground and selectforeground. itemconfig() is an alias of itemconfigure().

scan_mark(x, y)

Record x, y and the current view, for use with later scan_dragto() calls. This is typically bound to a mouse button press in the widget.

scan_dragto(x, y)

Scroll the listbox by 10 times the difference between x, y and the coordinates passed to the last scan_mark() call. This is typically bound to mouse motion events in the widget, producing the effect of dragging the list at high speed through the window.

class tkinter.Menu(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Menu widget displays a column of entries, each of which may be a command, a checkbutton, a radiobutton, a cascade (which posts an associated submenu) or a separator. Menus are used as the menubar of a toplevel window, as pulldown menus posted from a cascade entry or menubutton, and as popup menus. Inherits from Widget.

Many of the entry methods take an index argument that selects which entry to operate on. As described in the Tk menu manual page, index may be a numeric index (counting from 0 at the top), 'active' (the currently active entry), 'end' or 'last' (the bottommost entry), 'none' (no entry at all, written {} in Tcl), @y (the entry covering pixel y-coordinate y in the menu window), or a pattern matched against the labels of the entries from the top down.

add(itemType, cnf={}, **kw)

Add a new entry to the bottom of the menu. itemType is one of 'command', 'cascade', 'checkbutton', 'radiobutton' or 'separator' and determines the type of the new entry; the remaining options configure it. The add_command(), add_cascade(), add_checkbutton(), add_radiobutton() and add_separator() convenience methods call this method with the corresponding itemType.

add_cascade(cnf={}, **kw)

Add a new cascade entry to the bottom of the menu. A cascade entry has an associated submenu, given by its menu option, which must be a child of this menu; posting the entry posts the submenu next to it.

add_checkbutton(cnf={}, **kw)

Add a new checkbutton entry to the bottom of the menu. When invoked, a checkbutton entry toggles between its onvalue and offvalue, storing the result in its associated variable, and displays an indicator showing whether it is selected.

add_command(cnf={}, **kw)

Add a new command entry to the bottom of the menu. A command entry behaves much like a button: when it is invoked, the callback given by its command option is called.

add_radiobutton(cnf={}, **kw)

Add a new radiobutton entry to the bottom of the menu. Radiobutton entries sharing the same variable form a group of which only one may be selected at a time; selecting an entry stores its value in the variable.

add_separator(cnf={}, **kw)

Add a separator to the bottom of the menu. A separator is displayed as a horizontal dividing line and cannot be activated or invoked.

insert(index, itemType, cnf={}, **kw)

Same as add(), except that the new entry is inserted just before the entry given by index instead of being appended to the end of the menu. itemType is one of 'command', 'cascade', 'checkbutton', 'radiobutton' or 'separator'. The insert_command(), insert_cascade(), insert_checkbutton(), insert_radiobutton() and insert_separator() convenience methods call this method with the corresponding itemType.

insert_cascade(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Insert a new cascade entry before the entry given by index (see add_cascade()).

insert_checkbutton(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Insert a new checkbutton entry before the entry given by index (see add_checkbutton()).

insert_command(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Insert a new command entry before the entry given by index (see add_command()).

insert_radiobutton(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Insert a new radiobutton entry before the entry given by index (see add_radiobutton()).

insert_separator(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Insert a separator before the entry given by index (see add_separator()).

delete(index1, index2=None)

Delete all of the menu entries between index1 and index2 inclusive. If index2 is omitted, it defaults to index1, so that a single entry is deleted. Attempts to delete a tear-off entry are ignored; remove it by changing the tearoff option instead.

entrycget(index, option)

Return the current value of the configuration option option for the entry given by index.

entryconfigure(index, cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the entry given by index. This mirrors configure(), except that it applies to an individual entry rather than to the menu as a whole. With no options, it returns a dictionary describing the current options of the entry; otherwise it sets the given options. entryconfig() is an alias of entryconfigure().

index(index)

Return the numerical index corresponding to index, or None if index selects no entry.

type(index)

Return the type of the entry given by index: one of 'command', 'cascade', 'checkbutton', 'radiobutton', 'separator' or 'tearoff' (for the tear-off entry).

activate(index)

Make the entry given by index the active entry, redisplaying it with its active colors, and deactivate any previously active entry. If index selects no entry, or the selected entry is disabled, the menu ends up with no active entry.

invoke(index)

Invoke the action of the entry given by index, as if it had been clicked. Nothing happens if the entry is disabled. If the entry has a command associated with it, the result of that command is returned; otherwise the result is an empty string.

post(x, y)

Display the menu on the screen at the root-window coordinates x and y, adjusting them if necessary so that the whole menu is visible. If the postcommand option has been specified, it is evaluated before the menu is posted.

tk_popup(x, y, entry='')

Post the menu as a popup at the root-window coordinates x and y. If entry is given, the menu is positioned so that this entry is displayed under the pointer.

unpost()

Unmap the menu so that it is no longer displayed, also unposting any posted lower-level cascaded submenu. This has no effect on Windows and macOS, which manage the unposting of menus themselves.

xposition(index)

Return the x-coordinate, within the menu window, of the leftmost pixel of the entry given by index.

Added in version 3.3.

yposition(index)

Return the y-coordinate, within the menu window, of the topmost pixel of the entry given by index.

class tkinter.Menubutton(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Menubutton widget displays a textual string, bitmap or image and posts an associated Menu, given by its menu option, when the user presses it. Like a Label it can show text, a textvariable, or an image, and the direction option controls where the menu appears relative to the button. Inherits from Widget. Refer to the Tk menubutton manual page for the full list of options.

class tkinter.Message(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Message widget displays a non-interactive textual string, given by the text option or linked to a variable through textvariable. Unlike a Label, it breaks the string into multiple lines in order to produce a given aspect ratio, choosing line breaks at word boundaries, and it can justify the text left, centered or right. Inherits from Widget. Refer to the Tk message manual page for the full list of options.

class tkinter.OptionMenu(master, variable, value, *values, **kwargs)

A helper subclass of Menubutton that displays a pop-up menu of mutually exclusive choices. variable is a Variable kept in sync with the selection, value is the initial choice, and values are the remaining menu entries. The keyword argument command may be given a callback that is invoked with the selected value, and the keyword argument name sets the Tk widget name.

destroy()

Destroy the widget, also cleaning up the associated pop-up menu.

Changed in version 3.14: Added support for the name keyword argument.

class tkinter.PanedWindow(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A PanedWindow is a geometry-manager widget that arranges any number of child panes in a row (when orient is 'horizontal') or a column (when orient is 'vertical'). Each pane holds one widget, and each pair of adjacent panes is separated by a movable sash that the user can drag with the mouse to resize the widgets on either side of it. Inherits from Widget.

The orient option selects the layout direction, sashwidth sets the width of each sash and sashrelief its relief. When showhandle is true a small handle is drawn on each sash that the user can grab to drag it. Refer to the Tk panedwindow manual page for the full list of options.

add(child, **kw)

Add child to the panedwindow as a new pane, placed after any existing panes. The keyword arguments specify per-pane management options for child; they may be any of the options accepted by paneconfigure().

remove(child)

Remove the pane containing child from the panedwindow. All geometry management options for child are forgotten. forget() is an alias of remove().

panes()

Return a tuple of the widgets managed by the panedwindow, one per pane, in order.

panecget(child, option)

Return the current value of the management option option for the pane containing child. option may be any value allowed by paneconfigure().

paneconfigure(tagOrId, cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the management options of the pane containing the widget tagOrId. With no options, it returns a dictionary describing all of the available options for the pane; given a single option name as a string, it returns a description of that one option; otherwise it sets the given options. The supported options include after and before (insert the pane after or before another managed window), height and width (the outer dimensions of the window, including any border), minsize (the minimum size in the paned dimension), padx and pady (extra space to leave on each side of the window), sticky (position or stretch the window within an oversized pane, using a string of the characters n, s, e and w), hide (hide the pane while keeping it in the list of panes) and stretch (how extra space is allocated to the pane: one of 'always', 'first', 'last', 'middle' or 'never'). paneconfig() is an alias of paneconfigure().

identify(x, y)

Identify the panedwindow component underneath the point given by x and y, in window coordinates. If the point is over a sash or a sash handle, the result is a two-element tuple containing the index of the sash or handle and a word indicating whether it is over a sash or a handle, such as (0, 'sash') or (2, 'handle'). If the point is over any other part of the panedwindow, the result is an empty string.

sash(*args)

Query or change the position of the sashes in the panedwindow. This is a thin wrapper around the Tk sash subcommand; the convenience methods sash_coord(), sash_mark() and sash_place() should normally be used instead.

sash_coord(index)

Return the current x and y coordinate pair for the sash given by index, which must be an integer between 0 and one less than the number of panes in the panedwindow. The coordinates returned are those of the top left corner of the region containing the sash.

sash_mark(index)

Record the current mouse position for the sash given by index, for use together with later sash-drag operations to move the sash.

sash_place(index, x, y)

Place the sash given by index at the coordinates x and y.

proxy(*args)

Query or change the position of the sash proxy, the “ghost” sash shown while a sash is being dragged with non-opaque resizing. This is a thin wrapper around the Tk proxy subcommand; the convenience methods proxy_coord(), proxy_forget() and proxy_place() should normally be used instead.

proxy_coord()

Return a tuple containing the x and y coordinates of the most recent proxy location.

proxy_forget()

Remove the proxy from the display.

proxy_place(x, y)

Place the proxy at the coordinates x and y.

class tkinter.Radiobutton(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Radiobutton widget displays a textual string, bitmap or image together with a diamond or circular indicator, and selects one choice out of several. It has all the behavior of a simple button and, in addition, can be selected: typically several radiobuttons share a single variable, and selecting one sets that variable to the radiobutton’s value; each radiobutton also monitors the variable and automatically selects or deselects itself when the variable changes. Inherits from Widget. In addition to the standard widget options, a radiobutton accepts the options documented in the Tk radiobutton manual page, such as variable, value and command.

invoke()

Do just what would happen if the user pressed the radiobutton with the mouse: select the button and invoke the associated command, if there is one. Return the result of the command, or an empty string if no command is associated with the radiobutton. This is ignored if the radiobutton’s state is disabled.

select()

Select the radiobutton and set the associated variable to the value corresponding to this widget.

deselect()

Deselect the radiobutton and set the associated variable to an empty string. If this radiobutton was not currently selected, this has no effect.

flash()

Flash the radiobutton by redisplaying it several times, alternating between the active and normal colors. At the end of the flash the radiobutton is left in the same normal or active state as when the method was called. This is ignored if the radiobutton’s state is disabled.

class tkinter.Scale(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Scale widget lets the user select a numerical value by moving a slider along a trough. It can be oriented vertically or horizontally and can optionally display a label and the current value. Inherits from Widget.

In addition to the standard widget options, a scale accepts the options documented in the Tk scale manual page, such as from_, to, resolution, orient, tickinterval, variable and command. As elsewhere in tkinter, the leading - of the Tk option name is dropped; from is spelled from_ because from is a Python keyword.

get()

Return the current value of the scale. The result is an integer if the scale’s resolution yields whole numbers, and a float otherwise.

set(value)

Set the scale to value, moving the slider accordingly. This has no effect if the scale is disabled.

coords(value=None)

Return a tuple (x, y) giving the pixel coordinates, relative to the widget, of the point on the centerline of the trough that corresponds to value. If value is omitted, the scale’s current value is used.

identify(x, y)

Return a string describing the part of the scale at the pixel coordinates x, y: 'slider', 'trough1' (the part of the trough above or to the left of the slider), 'trough2' (below or to the right of the slider), or an empty string if the point is not over any of these elements.

class tkinter.Scrollbar(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Scrollbar widget displays a slider and two arrows that let the user scroll an associated widget, such as a Listbox, Text, Canvas or Entry. It is connected to the scrolled widget by setting that widget’s xscrollcommand or yscrollcommand option to the scrollbar’s set() method, and the scrollbar’s command option to the scrolled widget’s xview() or yview() method. Inherits from Widget.

get()

Return the current scrollbar settings as a tuple (first, last) of two fractions between 0 and 1, describing the portion of the document that is currently visible, as last passed to set().

set(first, last)

Set the scrollbar. first and last are fractions between 0 and 1 giving the positions of the start and end of the visible portion of the associated document. This method is normally registered as the scrolled widget’s xscrollcommand or yscrollcommand and called by that widget.

activate(index=None)

Mark the element index (one of 'arrow1', 'slider' or 'arrow2') as active, displaying it according to the activebackground and activerelief options. If index is omitted, return the name of the currently active element, or None if no element is active.

Changed in version 3.5: The index argument is now optional.

delta(deltax, deltay)

Return a float indicating the fractional change in the scrollbar setting that corresponds to moving the slider by deltax pixels horizontally (for horizontal scrollbars) or deltay pixels vertically (for vertical scrollbars).

fraction(x, y)

Return a float between 0 and 1 indicating where the point at pixel coordinates x, y lies in the trough: 0 corresponds to the top or left of the trough and 1 to the bottom or right.

identify(x, y)

Return the name of the element under the pixel coordinates x, y (such as 'arrow1'), or an empty string if the point does not lie in any element of the scrollbar.

class tkinter.Spinbox(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Spinbox widget is an Entry-like widget with a pair of up/down arrow buttons that let the user step through a range of values in addition to editing the value directly. The set of values may be a numeric range given by the from_, to and increment options, or an explicit list of strings given by the values option (which takes precedence over the range). Each time an arrow is invoked the command callback, if any, is called; the wrap option controls whether stepping past either end of the range wraps around to the other end; the format option specifies how numeric values are formatted; and the validate option enables validation of the entered text. Inherits from Widget and XView.

Many of the methods take an index argument identifying a character in the spinbox’s string. As described in the Tk spinbox manual page, index may be a numeric index (counting from 0), 'anchor' (the selection anchor point), 'end' (just after the last character), 'insert' (the character just after the insertion cursor), 'sel.first' or 'sel.last' (the ends of the selection), or @x (the character covering pixel x-coordinate x in the window).

get()

Return the spinbox’s string.

insert(index, s)

Insert the characters of the string s just before the character given by index.

delete(first, last=None)

Delete one or more characters of the spinbox. first is the index of the first character to delete, and last is the index of the character just after the last one to delete. If last is omitted, a single character at first is deleted.

icursor(index)

Arrange for the insertion cursor to be displayed just before the character given by index.

index(index)

Return the numerical index corresponding to index, as a string.

bbox(index)

Return a tuple of four integers (x, y, width, height) describing the bounding box of the character given by index. x and y are the pixel coordinates of the upper-left corner of the character relative to the widget, and width and height are its size in pixels. The bounding box may refer to a region outside the visible area of the window.

identify(x, y)

Return the name of the window element at the pixel coordinates x, y: one of 'buttondown', 'buttonup', 'entry' or 'none'.

invoke(element)

Invoke the spin button given by element, either 'buttonup' or 'buttondown', triggering the action associated with it.

scan(*args)

A thin wrapper around the Tk scan widget subcommand, used to implement fast dragging of the view: scan('mark', x) records x and the current view, and scan('dragto', x) adjusts the view relative to that mark. The scan_mark() and scan_dragto() methods wrap the two forms.

scan_mark(x)

Record x and the current view in the spinbox window, for use with a later scan_dragto() call. This is typically associated with a mouse button press in the widget.

scan_dragto(x)

Adjust the view by 10 times the difference between x and the x passed to the last scan_mark() call. This is typically associated with mouse motion events, producing the effect of dragging the spinbox at high speed through the window.

selection(*args)

A thin wrapper around the Tk selection widget subcommand, used to adjust the selection within the spinbox. It has several forms depending on the first argument, such as selection('adjust', index), selection('clear'), selection('element', ?elem?), selection('from', index), selection('present'), selection('range', start, end) and selection('to', index). The selection_adjust(), selection_clear(), selection_element(), selection_from(), selection_present(), selection_range() and selection_to() methods wrap these forms.

selection_adjust(index)

Locate the end of the selection nearest to the character given by index and adjust that end of the selection to be at index (including but not going beyond index). The other end becomes the anchor point for future selection_to() calls. If the selection is not currently in the spinbox, a new selection is created to include the characters between index and the most recent anchor point, inclusive.

selection_clear()

Clear the selection if it is currently in this widget. If the selection is not in this widget, the method has no effect.

selection_element(element=None)

Set or get the currently selected element. If element (one of 'buttonup', 'buttondown' or 'none') is given, that spin button is selected and displayed depressed; otherwise the name of the currently selected element is returned.

selection_from(index)

Set the selection anchor point to just before the character given by index, without changing the selection itself.

Added in version 3.8.

selection_present()

Return True if there are characters selected in the spinbox, False otherwise.

Added in version 3.8.

selection_range(start, end)

Set the selection to include the characters starting with the one indexed by start and ending with the one just before end. If end refers to the same character as start or an earlier one, the selection is cleared.

Added in version 3.8.

selection_to(index)

Set the selection between index and the anchor point. If index is before the anchor point, the selection runs from index up to but not including the anchor point; if it is after, the selection runs from the anchor point up to but not including index; if it is the same, nothing happens. The anchor point is the one set by the most recent selection_from() or selection_adjust() call. If the selection is not in this widget, a new selection is created using the most recent anchor point.

Added in version 3.8.

class tkinter.Text(master=None, cnf={}, **kw)

A Text widget displays and edits multi-line text. Portions of the text may be styled with tags, particular positions may be annotated with floating marks, and arbitrary images and other widgets may be embedded in the text. The widget also provides an unlimited undo/redo mechanism and supports peer widgets that share the same underlying data. Inherits from Widget, XView and YView, so the view can be scrolled horizontally and vertically with xview() and yview(). Refer to the Tk text manual page for the full list of options.

Most of the methods take one or more index arguments that identify a position within the text. As described in the Tk text manual page, an index is a string consisting of a base, optionally followed by one or more modifiers. The base may be 'line.char' (line line, character char, where lines are counted from 1 and characters within a line from 0; 'line.end' refers to the newline ending the line), 'end' (the position just after the last newline), the name of a mark, 'tag.first' or 'tag.last' (the first character tagged with tag, or the position just after the last such character), the name of an embedded image or window, or @x,y (the character covering pixel coordinates x, y in the widget). A modifier such as '+5 chars', '-3 lines', 'linestart', 'lineend', 'wordstart' or 'wordend' adjusts the index relative to its base; several modifiers may be combined and are applied from left to right, for example 'insert wordstart - 1 c'.

insert(index, chars, *args)

Insert the string chars just before the character at index (if index is 'end', just before the final newline). By default the new text inherits any tags present on both sides of the insertion point. If args is given, it consists of alternating tagList, chars values: the preceding chars receives exactly the tags listed (a tag list may be a single tag name or a sequence of names), overriding the surrounding tags.

delete(index1, index2=None)

Delete the range of characters from index1 up to but not including index2. If index2 is omitted, the single character at index1 is deleted. The widget always keeps a newline as its last character, so a deletion that would remove it is adjusted accordingly.

replace(index1, index2, chars, *args)

Replace the range of characters from index1 up to but not including index2 with chars. This is equivalent to a delete() followed by an insert() at index1; args is interpreted as for insert().

Added in version 3.3.

get(index1, index2=None)

Return the text from index1 up to but not including index2 as a string. If index2 is omitted, return the single character at index1. Embedded images and windows are omitted from the result.

index(index)

Return the position corresponding to index in the canonical 'line.char' form.

compare(index1, op, index2)

Compare the positions of index1 and index2 using the relational operator op, which must be one of '<', '<=', '==', '>=', '>' or '!=', and return the boolean result.

count(index1, index2, *options, return_ints=False)

Count the number of items of the requested kinds between index1 and index2; the count is negative if index1 is after index2. Each of options names a kind of item to count: 'chars', 'displaychars', 'displayindices', 'displaylines', 'indices', 'lines', 'xpixels' or 'ypixels' (the default, used when no option is given, is 'indices'). The pseudo-option 'update' forces any out-of-date layout information to be recalculated before the following options are evaluated. When return_ints is true and a single counting option is given, return a plain integer; otherwise return a tuple with one integer per counting option (or None if the result is empty).

Added in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.13: Added the return_ints parameter.

see(index)

Adjust the view so that the character given by index is visible. If it is already visible the method has no effect; if it is a short distance out of view the widget scrolls just enough to bring it to the nearest edge, otherwise it scrolls to center index in the window.

bbox(index)

Return a tuple (x, y, width, height) giving the bounding box, in pixels, of the visible part of the character at index, or None if that character is not visible on the screen.

dlineinfo(index)

Return a tuple (x, y, width, height, baseline) describing the display line that contains index: the first four values give the bounding box of the line in pixels and baseline gives the offset of the baseline measured down from the top of the area. Return None if that display line is not visible on the screen.

mark_set(markName, index)

Set the mark named markName to the position just before the character at index, creating the mark if it does not already exist. A mark created this way has right gravity by default.

mark_unset(*markNames)

Remove each of the marks named in markNames. The special insert and current marks may not be removed.

mark_names()

Return a tuple of the names of all marks currently set in the widget.

mark_gravity(markName, direction=None)

If direction is omitted, return the gravity of mark markName, either 'left' or 'right'. Otherwise set its gravity to direction. The gravity determines on which side of the mark text inserted at the mark’s position appears: a mark with right gravity (the default) stays to the right of such text.

mark_next(index)

Return the name of the first mark at or after index, or None if there is none. When index is the name of a mark, the search starts just after that mark.

mark_previous(index)

Return the name of the last mark at or before index, or None if there is none. When index is the name of a mark, the search starts just before that mark.

tag_add(tagName, index1, *args)

Add the tag tagName to the range of characters from index1 up to but not including the next index in args. Further pairs of indices may follow in args to tag additional ranges; a trailing single index tags just the character at that index.

tag_remove(tagName, index1, index2=None)

Remove the tag tagName from the characters from index1 up to but not including index2 (or from the single character at index1 if index2 is omitted). The tag itself continues to exist even if no characters carry it.

tag_delete(*tagNames)

Delete each of the tags named in tagNames, removing them from all characters and discarding their options and bindings.

tag_configure(tagName, cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the tag tagName. This mirrors configure(), except that it applies to a tag rather than to the widget as a whole: with no options it returns a dictionary describing the current options, otherwise it sets the given options. Supported tag options control the appearance of the tagged text and include background, foreground, font, justify, underline, overstrike, relief, borderwidth, the margin and spacing options, and elide (whether the text is hidden). Defining a tag this way also gives it a priority higher than any existing tag.

tag_config() is an alias of tag_configure().

tag_cget(tagName, option)

Return the current value of the configuration option option for the tag tagName.

tag_names(index=None)

If index is omitted, return a tuple of the names of all tags defined in the widget; otherwise return only the names of the tags applied to the character at index. The names are ordered from lowest to highest priority.

tag_ranges(tagName)

Return a tuple of indices describing all ranges of text tagged with tagName. The result alternates start and end indices, so that elements 2*i and 2*i+1 bound the i-th range.

tag_nextrange(tagName, index1, index2=None)

Search forward from index1 (up to index2 if given) for the first range of characters tagged with tagName, and return a two-element tuple of its start and end indices, or an empty tuple if there is no such range.

tag_prevrange(tagName, index1, index2=None)

Search backward from index1 (down to index2 if given) for the nearest preceding range of characters tagged with tagName, and return a two-element tuple of its start and end indices, or an empty tuple if there is no such range.

tag_raise(tagName, aboveThis=None)

Raise the priority of tag tagName so that it is just above the priority of aboveThis, or to the highest priority of all tags if aboveThis is omitted. When the display options of overlapping tags conflict, the higher-priority tag wins.

tag_lower(tagName, belowThis=None)

Lower the priority of tag tagName so that it is just below the priority of belowThis, or to the lowest priority of all tags if belowThis is omitted.

tag_bind(tagName, sequence, func, add=None)

Bind the event sequence on characters tagged with tagName to the callback func, so that func is invoked when that event occurs over such a character. If add is true the binding is added alongside any existing bindings for sequence, otherwise it replaces them. Works like bind() and returns the identifier of the new binding.

tag_unbind(tagName, sequence, funcid=None)

Remove the bindings of the event sequence on characters tagged with tagName. If funcid is given, only that binding (as returned by tag_bind()) is removed and its callback is unregistered.

Changed in version 3.13: If funcid is given, only that callback is unbound.

image_create(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Embed an image at index and return the name assigned to this image instance, which may then be used as an index or passed to the other image_* methods. The options, given in cnf and kw, include image (the Tk image to display), name (a base name for the instance), align, padx and pady.

image_cget(index, option)

Return the current value of the configuration option option for the embedded image at index.

image_configure(index, cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the embedded image at index, like configure() but applied to that image.

image_names()

Return a tuple of the names of all images embedded in the widget.

window_create(index, cnf={}, **kw)

Embed a window (any widget) at index. The options, given in cnf and kw, include window (the widget to embed), create (a callback that creates the widget on demand), align, stretch, padx and pady. The embedded widget must be a descendant of the text widget’s parent.

window_cget(index, option)

Return the current value of the configuration option option for the embedded window at index.

window_configure(index, cnf=None, **kw)

Query or modify the configuration options of the embedded window at index, like configure() but applied to that window.

window_config() is an alias of window_configure().

window_names()

Return a tuple of the names of all windows embedded in the widget.

edit(*args)

Low-level wrapper around the Tk edit widget command that controls the undo/redo mechanism and the modified flag; args is the edit subcommand and its arguments. The edit_*() methods below are thin wrappers around it and are usually more convenient.

edit_modified(arg=None)

If arg is omitted, return the current state of the modified flag as 0 or 1; the flag is set automatically whenever the text is inserted or deleted. Otherwise set the flag to the boolean arg.

edit_undo()

Undo the most recent edit action, that is, all the inserts and deletes recorded on the undo stack since the previous separator, and move it to the redo stack. Raises TclError if the undo stack is empty. Has no effect unless the undo option is true. Since Tk 9.0, returns a tuple of indices delimiting the ranges of text that were changed.

edit_redo()

Reapply the most recently undone edit action, provided no further edits have been made since, and move it back to the undo stack. Raises TclError if the redo stack is empty. Has no effect unless the undo option is true. Since Tk 9.0, returns a tuple of indices delimiting the ranges of text that were changed.

edit_reset()

Clear the undo and redo stacks.

edit_separator()

Push a separator onto the undo stack, marking a boundary between edit actions for undo and redo. Has no effect unless the undo option is true. Separators are inserted automatically when the autoseparators option is true.

search(pattern, index, stopindex=None, forwards=None, backwards=None, exact=None, regexp=None, nocase=None, count=None, elide=None, *, nolinestop=None, strictlimits=None)

Search for pattern starting at index and return the index of the first character of the first match, or an empty string if there is no match. Searching stops at stopindex if given; otherwise it wraps around the ends of the text until the starting position is reached again. The following boolean keyword flags control the search: forwards or backwards select the direction (forward is the default); exact (the default) or regexp select literal or regular-expression matching; nocase makes the match case-insensitive; elide causes hidden text to be searched as well; nolinestop (regexp only) lets . and [^ match newlines; and strictlimits requires the whole match to lie within index and stopindex. If count is a Variable, the number of index positions in the match is stored in it.

Changed in version 3.15: Added the nolinestop and strictlimits parameters.

search_all(pattern, index, stopindex=None, *, forwards=None, backwards=None, exact=None, regexp=None, nocase=None, count=None, elide=None, nolinestop=None, overlap=None, strictlimits=None)

Like search(), but find every match in the searched range and return a tuple of the starting indices of all matches (empty if there are none). By default overlapping matches are not reported; passing a true overlap returns every match that is not wholly contained in another. If count is a Variable, it receives a list with one element per match.

Added in version 3.15.

scan_mark(x, y)

Record x, y and the current view, for use with later scan_dragto() calls. This is typically bound to a mouse button press in the widget.

scan_dragto(x, y)

Scroll the widget by 10 times the difference between x, y and the coordinates passed to the last scan_mark() call. This is typically bound to mouse motion events, producing the effect of dragging the text at high speed through the window.

debug(boolean=None)

If boolean is omitted, return whether internal consistency checks of the B-tree data structure are enabled. Otherwise enable or disable them. The setting is shared by all text widgets and may noticeably slow down widgets holding large amounts of text.

dump(index1, index2=None, command=None, **kw)

Return the contents of the widget from index1 up to but not including index2 (or just the segment at index1 if index2 is omitted), including text and information about marks, tags, images and windows. The result is a list of (key, value, index) triples, where key is one of 'text', 'mark', 'tagon', 'tagoff', 'image' or 'window'. By default all kinds are reported; passing any of the keyword arguments all, text, mark, tag, image or window as true restricts the dump to the selected kinds. If command is given, it is called once per triple with the three values as arguments and nothing is returned.

peer_create(newPathName, cnf={}, **kw)

Create a peer text widget with the path name newPathName that shares this widget’s underlying data (text, marks, tags, images and the undo stack). Changes made through any peer are reflected in all of them. By default the peer covers the same lines as this widget; standard text options, including startline and endline, may be given to override this.

Added in version 3.3.

peer_names()

Return a tuple of the path names of this widget’s peers, not including the widget itself.

Added in version 3.3.

yview_pickplace(*what)

Adjust the view so that the location given by what is visible. This is an obsolete equivalent of see(), which should be used instead.

Variable classes

class tkinter.Variable(master=None, value=None, name=None)

The base class for the Tk variable wrappers. A Tk variable is a value stored in the Tcl interpreter that can be linked to widgets through their variable or textvariable options (see Coupling Widget Variables), so that changes propagate both ways: updating the variable updates every widget bound to it, and a user editing such a widget updates the variable.

master is the widget whose Tcl interpreter owns the variable; if omitted, the default root window is used. value is the initial value; if omitted, a type-specific default is used. name is the name of the variable in the Tcl interpreter; if omitted, a unique name of the form 'PY_VARnum' is generated. If name matches an existing variable and value is omitted, the existing value is retained.

In most cases you should use one of the typed subclasses below – StringVar, IntVar, DoubleVar or BooleanVar – rather than Variable directly.

Changed in version 3.10: Two variables now compare equal (==) only when they have the same name, are of the same class, and belong to the same Tcl interpreter.

get()

Return the current value of the variable. For the base class the value is returned as a string; the typed subclasses convert it to the appropriate Python type.

set(value)

Set the variable to value.

Added in version 3.3: The initialize spelling.

trace_add(mode, callback)

Register callback to be called when the variable is accessed according to mode. mode is one of the strings 'array', 'read', 'write' or 'unset', or a list or tuple of such strings.

When triggered, callback is called with three arguments: the name of the Tcl variable, an index (or an empty string if the variable is not an element of an array), and the mode that triggered the call.

Return the internal name of the registered callback, which can be passed to trace_remove().

Added in version 3.6.

trace_remove(mode, cbname)

Remove a trace callback from the variable. mode must match the mode that was passed to trace_add(), and cbname is the callback name returned by trace_add().

Added in version 3.6.

trace_info()

Return a list of (modes, cbname) pairs describing all traces currently set on the variable, where modes is a tuple of mode strings and cbname is the internal callback name.

Added in version 3.6.

trace_variable(mode, callback)

Register callback to be called when the variable is accessed according to mode. mode is one of the strings 'r', 'w' or 'u', for read, write or unset. Return the internal name of the registered callback.

Deprecated since version 3.6: Use trace_add() instead. This method wraps a Tcl feature that was removed in Tcl 9.0.

trace_vdelete(mode, cbname)

Remove the trace callback named cbname registered for mode with trace_variable().

Deprecated since version 3.6: Use trace_remove() instead. This method wraps a Tcl feature that was removed in Tcl 9.0.

trace_vinfo()

Return a list of (mode, cbname) pairs for all traces set on the variable with trace_variable().

Deprecated since version 3.6: Use trace_info() instead. This method wraps a Tcl feature that was removed in Tcl 9.0.

class tkinter.StringVar(master=None, value=None, name=None)

A Variable subclass that holds a string. The default value is ''.

get()

Return the value of the variable as a str.

class tkinter.IntVar(master=None, value=None, name=None)

A Variable subclass that holds an integer. The default value is 0.

get()

Return the value of the variable as an int.

class tkinter.DoubleVar(master=None, value=None, name=None)

A Variable subclass that holds a float. The default value is 0.0.

get()

Return the value of the variable as a float.

class tkinter.BooleanVar(master=None, value=None, name=None)

A Variable subclass that holds a boolean. The default value is False.

get()

Return the value of the variable as a bool. Raise a ValueError if the value cannot be interpreted as a boolean.

set(value)

Set the variable to value, converting it to a boolean.

Added in version 3.3: The initialize spelling.

Image classes

class tkinter.Image(imgtype, name=None, cnf={}, master=None, **kw)

Base class for Tk images. imgtype is the Tk image type, one of 'photo' or 'bitmap'. An image is a named object that can be displayed by widgets through their image option; deleting all references to the Image object deletes the underlying Tk image. Usually you create a PhotoImage or BitmapImage rather than an Image directly.

The image’s configuration options are given by cnf and kw and may be queried and changed later with the mapping protocol (using image[key]) or with the configure() method.

configure(**kw)

Modify one or more configuration options of the image. The valid options depend on the image type; see PhotoImage and BitmapImage. config() is an alias of configure().

height()

Return the height of the image, in pixels.

width()

Return the width of the image, in pixels.

type()

Return the type of the image, that is the value of imgtype with which it was created (for example 'photo' or 'bitmap').

class tkinter.PhotoImage(name=None, cnf={}, master=None, **kw)

A full-color image (the Tk photo image type), stored internally with a varying degree of transparency per pixel. It can read and write GIF, PPM/PGM and (in Tk 8.6 and later) PNG files, read SVG files (in Tk 9.0 and later), and be drawn in widgets. Inherits from Image.

The configuration options include data (the image contents as a string), file (the name of a file to read the contents from), format (the name of the file format handler), width and height (the size of the image, used when building it up piece by piece), gamma and palette.

blank()

Blank the image; that is, set the entire image to have no data, so that it is displayed as transparent and the background of whatever window it is displayed in shows through.

cget(option)

Return the current value of the configuration option option.

copy(*, from_coords=None, zoom=None, subsample=None)

Return a new PhotoImage with a copy of this image.

from_coords specifies a rectangular sub-region of the source image to be copied. It must be a tuple or a list of 1 to 4 integers (x1, y1, x2, y2). (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) specify diagonally opposite corners of the rectangle. If x2 and y2 are not specified, they default to the bottom-right corner of the source image. The pixels copied include the left and top edges of the rectangle but not the bottom or right edges. If from_coords is not given, the whole source image is copied.

If zoom or subsample are specified, the image is transformed as in the zoom() or subsample() methods. The value must be a single integer or a pair of integers.

Changed in version 3.13: Added the from_coords, zoom and subsample parameters.

copy_replace(sourceImage, *, from_coords=None, to=None, shrink=False, zoom=None, subsample=None, compositingrule=None)

Copy a region from sourceImage (which must be a PhotoImage) into this image, possibly with pixel zooming and/or subsampling. If no options are specified, the whole of sourceImage is copied into this image, starting at coordinates (0, 0).

from_coords specifies a rectangular sub-region of the source image to be copied, as in the copy() method.

to specifies a rectangular sub-region of the destination image to be affected. It must be a tuple or a list of 1 to 4 integers (x1, y1, x2, y2). If x2 and y2 are not specified, they default to (x1, y1) plus the size of the source region (after subsampling and zooming, if specified). If x2 and y2 are specified, the source region is replicated if necessary to fill the destination region in a tiled fashion.

If shrink is true, the size of the destination image is reduced, if necessary, so that the region being copied into is at the bottom-right corner of the image.

If zoom or subsample are specified, the image is transformed as in the zoom() or subsample() methods. The value must be a single integer or a pair of integers.

compositingrule specifies how transparent pixels in the source image are combined with the destination image. With 'overlay' (the default), the old contents of the destination image remain visible, as if the source image were printed on a piece of transparent film and placed over the top of the destination. With 'set', the old contents of the destination image are discarded and the source image is used as-is.

Added in version 3.13.

data(format=None, *, from_coords=None, background=None, grayscale=False)

Return the image data.

format specifies the name of the image file format handler to use. If it is not given, the data is returned as a tuple (one element per row) of strings containing space-separated (one element per pixel/column) colors in #RRGGBB format.

from_coords specifies a rectangular region of the image to be returned. It must be a tuple or a list of 1 to 4 integers (x1, y1, x2, y2). If only x1 and y1 are specified, the region extends from (x1, y1) to the bottom-right corner of the image. If all four coordinates are given, they specify diagonally opposite corners of the region, including (x1, y1) and excluding (x2, y2). If from_coords is not given, the whole image is returned.

If background is specified, the data does not contain any transparency information; in all transparent pixels the color is replaced by the specified color.

If grayscale is true, the data does not contain color information; all pixel data is transformed into grayscale.

Added in version 3.13.

get(x, y)

Return the color of the pixel at coordinates (x, y) as an (r, g, b) tuple of three integers between 0 and 255, representing the red, green and blue components respectively.

put(data, to=None)

Set pixels of the image to the colors given in data, which must be a string or a nested sequence of horizontal rows of pixel colors (for example "{red green} {blue yellow}").

to specifies the coordinates of the region of the image into which the data are copied. It must be a tuple or a list of 2 or 4 integers (x1, y1) or (x1, y1, x2, y2) giving the top-left corner, and optionally the bottom-right corner, of the region. The default position is (0, 0).

read(filename, format=None, *, from_coords=None, to=None, shrink=False)

Read image data from the file named filename into the image.

format specifies the format of the image data in the file.

from_coords specifies a rectangular sub-region of the image file data to be copied to the destination image. It must be a tuple or a list of 1 to 4 integers (x1, y1, x2, y2). If only x1 and y1 are specified, the region extends from (x1, y1) to the bottom-right corner of the image in the file. If all four coordinates are given, they specify diagonally opposite corners of the region. If from_coords is not given, the whole of the image in the file is read.

to specifies the coordinates of the top-left corner of the region of the image into which the data are read. The default is (0, 0).

If shrink is true, the size of the image is reduced, if necessary, so that the region into which the file data are read is at the bottom-right corner of the image.

Added in version 3.13.

subsample(x, y='', *, from_coords=None)

Return a new PhotoImage based on this image but using only every x-th pixel in the X direction and every y-th pixel in the Y direction. If y is not given, it defaults to the same value as x.

from_coords specifies a rectangular sub-region of the source image to be copied, as in the copy() method.

Changed in version 3.13: Added the from_coords parameter.

transparency_get(x, y)

Return True if the pixel at coordinates (x, y) is fully transparent, False otherwise.

Added in version 3.8.

transparency_set(x, y, boolean)

Make the pixel at coordinates (x, y) fully transparent if boolean is true, fully opaque otherwise.

Added in version 3.8.

write(filename, format=None, from_coords=None, *, background=None, grayscale=False)

Write image data from the image to the file named filename.

format specifies the name of the image file format handler to use. If it is not given, the format is guessed from the file extension.

from_coords specifies a rectangular region of the image to be written. It must be a tuple or a list of 1 to 4 integers (x1, y1, x2, y2). If only x1 and y1 are specified, the region extends from (x1, y1) to the bottom-right corner of the image. If all four coordinates are given, they specify diagonally opposite corners of the region. If from_coords is not given, the whole image is written.

If background is specified, the data does not contain any transparency information; in all transparent pixels the color is replaced by the specified color.

If grayscale is true, the data does not contain color information; all pixel data is transformed into grayscale.

Changed in version 3.13: Added the background and grayscale parameters.

zoom(x, y='', *, from_coords=None)

Return a new PhotoImage with this image magnified by a factor of x in the X direction and y in the Y direction. If y is not given, it defaults to the same value as x.

from_coords specifies a rectangular sub-region of the source image to be copied, as in the copy() method.

Changed in version 3.13: Added the from_coords parameter.

class tkinter.BitmapImage(name=None, cnf={}, master=None, **kw)

A two-color image (the Tk bitmap image type) created from an X11 bitmap. Each pixel displays a foreground color, a background color, or nothing (producing a transparent effect). Inherits from Image.

The configuration options are data or file (the source bitmap, given as a string in X11 bitmap format or as the name of a file in that format), maskdata or maskfile (the mask bitmap, in the same forms), and foreground and background (the two colors). For pixels where the mask is zero the image displays nothing; for other pixels it displays the foreground color where the source is one and the background color where the source is zero. If background is set to an empty string, the background pixels are transparent.

BitmapImage has no methods of its own beyond those inherited from Image.

Other classes

class tkinter.Event

A container for the attributes of an event passed to a callback bound with Misc.bind(). An Event instance has the following attributes, each corresponding to a field of the underlying Tk event; depending on the event type, some attributes may be set to the string '??' to indicate that they are not meaningful. See Bindings and Events.

serial

The serial number of the event.

num

The mouse button that was pressed or released (for button events).

focus

Whether the window has the focus (for Enter and Leave events).

height
width

The new height and width of the window (for Configure and Expose events).

keycode

The keycode of the key that was pressed or released.

state

The state of the event, as a number (for most events) or a string (for Visibility events).

time

The timestamp of the event, in milliseconds.

x
y

The pointer position relative to the widget, in pixels.

x_root
y_root

The pointer position relative to the top-left corner of the screen, in pixels.

char

The character typed, as a string (for key events).

send_event

True if the event was sent by another application.

keysym

The symbolic name of the key that was pressed or released.

keysym_num

The numeric value of keysym.

type

The EventType of the event.

widget

The widget on which the event occurred.

delta

The amount the mouse wheel was rotated (for MouseWheel events).

user_data

The data string of a virtual event, as passed to the data option of Misc.event_generate(). It is '??' for non-virtual events.

Added in version 3.15.

detail

A fixed detail string for Enter, Leave, FocusIn, FocusOut and ConfigureRequest events (see the Tcl/Tk documentation). It is '??' for other events.

Added in version 3.15.

class tkinter.EventType(*values)

An enum.StrEnum enumerating the Tk event types, used as the value of Event.type. Its members include, among others, KeyPress, KeyRelease, ButtonPress, ButtonRelease, Motion, Enter, Leave, FocusIn, FocusOut, Configure, Map, Unmap, Expose, Destroy and MouseWheel.

Added in version 3.6.

class tkinter.CallWrapper(func, subst, widget)

Internal helper that wraps a Python callback so that it can be invoked from Tcl. func is the Python function, subst is an optional function that pre-processes the Tcl arguments, and widget is the widget used for error reporting. Instances are created automatically by Misc.register(); this class is not normally used directly.

Module-level functions

tkinter.NoDefaultRoot()

Inhibit the creation of an implicit default root window. Afterwards tkinter no longer creates a shared default root automatically, and operations that rely on one — such as constructing a widget without an explicit master — raise a RuntimeError. Call this early in larger applications to make the root window explicit.

tkinter.mainloop(n=0)

Run the Tk main event loop on the default root window until all windows are destroyed. Equivalent to calling Misc.mainloop() on the default root.

tkinter.getboolean(s)

Convert the Tcl boolean string s (one of '1', 'true', 'yes', 'on' and similar, or their false counterparts) to a Python bool. Raise TclError for an invalid value.

tkinter.getdouble(s)

Convert s to a floating-point number. This is the built-in float.

tkinter.getint(s)

Convert s to an integer. This is the built-in int.

tkinter.image_names()

Return the names of all existing images in the default root’s interpreter.

tkinter.image_types()

Return the available image types (such as 'photo' and 'bitmap') in the default root’s interpreter.

Constants

The following symbolic constants are available in both the tkinter and tkinter.constants namespaces.

tkinter.TRUE
tkinter.YES
tkinter.ON

Truthy values, all equal to the integer 1.

tkinter.FALSE
tkinter.NO
tkinter.OFF

Falsy values, all equal to the integer 0.

tkinter.N
tkinter.S
tkinter.E
tkinter.W
tkinter.NE
tkinter.NW
tkinter.SE
tkinter.SW
tkinter.NS
tkinter.EW
tkinter.NSEW
tkinter.CENTER

Compass directions ('n', 's', 'e', 'w' and the diagonals and edges) plus CENTER ('center'), used as values for the anchor and sticky options and by methods such as Misc.grid_anchor().

tkinter.LEFT
tkinter.RIGHT
tkinter.TOP
tkinter.BOTTOM

Sides for the side option of the packer (see Pack.pack_configure()).

tkinter.X
tkinter.Y
tkinter.BOTH
tkinter.NONE

Values for the fill option of the packer: 'x', 'y', 'both' or 'none'.

tkinter.RAISED
tkinter.SUNKEN
tkinter.FLAT
tkinter.RIDGE
tkinter.GROOVE
tkinter.SOLID

Values for the relief option, which controls a widget’s 3-D border.

tkinter.HORIZONTAL
tkinter.VERTICAL

Values for the orient option of widgets such as Scale, Scrollbar and PanedWindow.

tkinter.CHAR
tkinter.WORD

Values for the wrap option of the Text widget, selecting line wrapping on character or word boundaries.

tkinter.BASELINE

The text-alignment value 'baseline'.

tkinter.INSIDE
tkinter.OUTSIDE

Values for the bordermode option of the placer (see Place.place_configure()).

tkinter.INSERT
tkinter.CURRENT
tkinter.END
tkinter.ANCHOR
tkinter.SEL
tkinter.SEL_FIRST
tkinter.SEL_LAST

Symbolic indices used by the Text, Entry, Listbox and Canvas widgets, such as 'insert' (the insertion cursor), 'current', 'end', 'anchor' and the bounds of the selection ('sel.first' and 'sel.last').

tkinter.ALL

The special tag 'all', which matches every item of a Canvas or every character of a Text (for example canvas.delete(ALL)).

tkinter.NORMAL
tkinter.DISABLED
tkinter.ACTIVE
tkinter.HIDDEN

Values for the state option of various widgets and items.

tkinter.CASCADE
tkinter.CHECKBUTTON
tkinter.COMMAND
tkinter.RADIOBUTTON
tkinter.SEPARATOR

Menu entry types, used as the itemType argument of Menu.add() and Menu.insert().

tkinter.SINGLE
tkinter.BROWSE
tkinter.MULTIPLE
tkinter.EXTENDED

Values for the selectmode option of the Listbox widget.

tkinter.PIESLICE
tkinter.CHORD
tkinter.ARC

Values for the style option of Canvas arc items.

tkinter.BUTT
tkinter.PROJECTING
tkinter.ROUND
tkinter.BEVEL
tkinter.MITER

Values for the capstyle ('butt', 'projecting', 'round') and joinstyle ('round', 'bevel', 'miter') options of Canvas line items.

tkinter.FIRST
tkinter.LAST

Values for the arrow option of Canvas line items, indicating which ends have arrowheads.

tkinter.MOVETO
tkinter.SCROLL

The first argument passed by a Scrollbar to the XView.xview() or YView.yview() method of the scrolled widget.

tkinter.UNITS
tkinter.PAGES

Values for the what argument of XView.xview_scroll() and YView.yview_scroll().

tkinter.UNDERLINE
tkinter.NUMERIC
tkinter.DOTBOX

Other option values: 'underline', 'numeric' and 'dotbox'.