pythonpyautogui

pyautogui.write() not automatically using shift to type characters on non-english keyboard

I'm trying to automate the uploading of a file to a website. Using selenium to navigate the website, I got to the point where I get the prompt box to input the filename:

Upload prompt box

To enter the filename, I thought of using pyautogui (but if there is a better way, I'll take it, because at the moment, I'm testing with a headful navigator, but I'm not sure using pyautogui will work when I try to use a headless navigator.), like such:

import pyautogui 
path = r"C:\path\to_my_file.pdf"
pyautogui.write(path)
pyautogui.hotkey('enter')

My problem is that instead of typing the content of path, pyautogui types the keyboard keys that correspond to each character. Therefore, I get C/\path\to8my8file.pdf, because I have a french keyboard (where numbers are uppercase and special characters like _ and : are lowercase).

Of course, I could make sure that when pyautogui types : and _, it does what's needed to do shift + / and shift + 8, but that would be painstaking, and it would have to be done to each specific usecase. I'm sure there is a better, generic way, to type precisely the content of path.

Sidenote:

An old SO question had the answers pyautogui.write('C:\path\to_my_file.pdf', interval=0.1) or pyautogui.typewrite("C:\path\to_my_file.pdf", interval=0.1). They do not work.

Solution

  • Use pynput, if typing words automatically is what you want to do. It has the best support in auto-typing among many packages.

    capital letters ✓　non-english characters ✓

    Install: pip install pynput

    Example:

    from pynput.keyboard import Controller
import time
keyboard = Controller()

txt = r'''Non-English: 哈あµø∫

Overview of Owls
Owls belong to the order Strigiformes, which comprises over 200 species divided into two main families:
Tytonidae (barn owls) and Strigidae (true owls).
They are found on every continent except Antarctica, thriving in diverse habitats, from dense forests to open grasslands and urban areas.

        .-"""""""-.    .'""."".""`.
       /   \ * /   \  /  ^ \   /^  \
      { ((@)\*/((@) }.{ ~Q '\ / Q ~}}
     ( `.~~ .V. ~~.'}.`._.'  V`._.'  )
     ( ( `-')  `-'  }   ~~     ~~    )
     (  (   ) ^ ^   0 "  " "   (  (   )
     (      )  ^^  00   "      (      .)
     ( (   )     ^ 00     "    ( (   ) )
      {   )  ^^   .0'0  "   "   (     }
       { }  ^   ))    0          (   }
        `--叩w叩--'       "--叩m叩------ "

'''

print("Focus on the text area in 6 seconds!")
time.sleep(6) # 6 seconds for you to ready!

# start typing
for s in txt:
    keyboard.type(s)
    time.sleep(0.0015) # delay for visual enjoyment

time.sleep(3) # <-- rmb to maintain the main thread in case you run keyboard.type(my_str_paragraph)

    Text Area:

    <!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><meta charset="UTF-8"><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"><title>Simple Text Editor</title><style>body{font-family:Arial,sans-serif;display:flex;justify-content:center;align-items:center;height:100vh;margin:0;background-color:#000;}textarea{width:90%;height:85%;font-family:'Courier New',monospace;font-size:16px;padding:10px;border:1px solid #ccc;border-radius:5px;resize:none;box-shadow:0 2px 5px rgba(255,255,255,0.1);background-color:#222;color:#fff;}@media (max-width:600px){textarea{width:95%;height:70%;}}</style></head><body><textarea placeholder="Type your text here..."></textarea></body></html>
    Open Text Area 👆 Here