pygame.joystick

pygame module for interacting with joystick devices

pygame.joystick.init	—	initialize the joystick module
pygame.joystick.quit	—	uninitialize the joystick module
pygame.joystick.get_init	—	true if the joystick module is initialized
pygame.joystick.get_count	—	number of joysticks on the system
pygame.joystick.Joystick	—	create a new Joystick object

The joystick module manages the joystick devices on a computer (there can be more than one). Joystick devices include trackballs and video-game-style gamepads, and the module allows the use of multiple buttons and “hats”.

To get initialise the joystick module and get a list of Joystick instances use the following code:

pygame.joystick.init()
joysticks = [pygame.joystick.Joystick(x) for x in range(pygame.joystick.get_count())]

The following event types will be generated by the joysticks

JOYAXISMOTION JOYBALLMOTION JOYBUTTONDOWN JOYBUTTONUP JOYHATMOTION

The event queue needs to be pumped frequently for some of the methods to work. So call one of pygame.event.get, pygame.event.wait, or pygame.event.pump regularly.

pygame.joystick.init()

initialize the joystick module

init() -> None

This function is called automatically by pygame.init().

It initializes the joystick module. This will scan the system for all joystick devices. The module must be initialized before any other functions will work.

It is safe to call this function more than once.

pygame.joystick.quit()

uninitialize the joystick module

quit() -> None

Uninitialize the joystick module. After you call this any existing joystick objects will no longer work.

It is safe to call this function more than once.

pygame.joystick.get_init()

true if the joystick module is initialized

get_init() -> bool

Test if the pygame.joystick.init() function has been called.

pygame.joystick.get_count()

number of joysticks on the system

get_count() -> count

Return the number of joystick devices on the system. The count will be 0 if there are no joysticks on the system.

When you create Joystick objects using Joystick(id), you pass an integer that must be lower than this count.

class pygame.joystick.Joystick

create a new Joystick object

Joystick(id) -> Joystick

pygame.joystick.Joystick.init	—	initialize the Joystick
pygame.joystick.Joystick.quit	—	uninitialize the Joystick
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_init	—	check if the Joystick is initialized
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_id	—	get the Joystick ID
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_name	—	get the Joystick system name
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_numaxes	—	get the number of axes on a Joystick
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_axis	—	get the current position of an axis
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_numballs	—	get the number of trackballs on a Joystick
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_ball	—	get the relative position of a trackball
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_numbuttons	—	get the number of buttons on a Joystick
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_button	—	get the current button state
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_numhats	—	get the number of hat controls on a Joystick
pygame.joystick.Joystick.get_hat	—	get the position of a joystick hat

Create a new joystick to access a physical device. The id argument must be a value from 0 to pygame.joystick.get_count()-1.

To access most of the Joystick methods, you’ll need to init() the Joystick. This is separate from making sure the joystick module is initialized. When multiple Joysticks objects are created for the same physical joystick device (i.e., they have the same ID number), the state and values for those Joystick objects will be shared.

The Joystick object allows you to get information about the types of controls on a joystick device. Once the device is initialized the Pygame event queue will start receiving events about its input.

You can call the Joystick.get_name() and Joystick.get_id() functions without initializing the Joystick object.

init()

initialize the Joystick

init() -> None

The Joystick must be initialized to get most of the information about the controls. While the Joystick is initialized the Pygame event queue will receive events from the Joystick input.

It is safe to call this more than once.

quit()

uninitialize the Joystick

quit() -> None

This will unitialize a Joystick. After this the Pygame event queue will no longer receive events from the device.

It is safe to call this more than once.

get_init()

check if the Joystick is initialized

get_init() -> bool

Returns True if the init() method has already been called on this Joystick object.

get_id()

get the Joystick ID

get_id() -> int

Returns the integer ID that represents this device. This is the same value that was passed to the Joystick() constructor. This method can safely be called while the Joystick is not initialized.

get_name()

get the Joystick system name

get_name() -> string

Returns the system name for this joystick device. It is unknown what name the system will give to the Joystick, but it should be a unique name that identifies the device. This method can safely be called while the Joystick is not initialized.

get_numaxes()

get the number of axes on a Joystick

get_numaxes() -> int

Returns the number of input axes are on a Joystick. There will usually be two for the position. Controls like rudders and throttles are treated as additional axes.

The pygame.JOYAXISMOTION events will be in the range from -1.0 to 1.0. A value of 0.0 means the axis is centered. Gamepad devices will usually be -1, 0, or 1 with no values in between. Older analog joystick axes will not always use the full -1 to 1 range, and the centered value will be some area around 0. Analog joysticks usually have a bit of noise in their axis, which will generate a lot of rapid small motion events.

get_axis()

get the current position of an axis

get_axis(axis_number) -> float

Returns the current position of a joystick axis. The value will range from -1 to 1 with a value of 0 being centered. You may want to take into account some tolerance to handle jitter, and joystick drift may keep the joystick from centering at 0 or using the full range of position values.

The axis number must be an integer from zero to get_numaxes()-1.

get_numballs()

get the number of trackballs on a Joystick

get_numballs() -> int

Returns the number of trackball devices on a Joystick. These devices work similar to a mouse but they have no absolute position; they only have relative amounts of movement.

The pygame.JOYBALLMOTION event will be sent when the trackball is rolled. It will report the amount of movement on the trackball.

get_ball()

get the relative position of a trackball

get_ball(ball_number) -> x, y

Returns the relative movement of a joystick button. The value is a x, y pair holding the relative movement since the last call to get_ball.

The ball number must be an integer from zero to get_numballs()-1.

get_numbuttons()

get the number of buttons on a Joystick

get_numbuttons() -> int

Returns the number of pushable buttons on the joystick. These buttons have a boolean (on or off) state.

Buttons generate a pygame.JOYBUTTONDOWN and pygame.JOYBUTTONUP event when they are pressed and released.

get_button()

get the current button state

get_button(button) -> bool

Returns the current state of a joystick button.

get_numhats()

get the number of hat controls on a Joystick

get_numhats() -> int

Returns the number of joystick hats on a Joystick. Hat devices are like miniature digital joysticks on a joystick. Each hat has two axes of input.

The pygame.JOYHATMOTION event is generated when the hat changes position. The position attribute for the event contains a pair of values that are either -1, 0, or 1. A position of (0, 0) means the hat is centered.

get_hat()

get the position of a joystick hat

get_hat(hat_number) -> x, y

Returns the current position of a position hat. The position is given as two values representing the X and Y position for the hat. (0, 0) means centered. A value of -1 means left/down and a value of 1 means right/up: so (-1, 0) means left; (1, 0) means right; (0, 1) means up; (1, 1) means upper-right; etc.

This value is digital, i.e., each coordinate can be -1, 0 or 1 but never in-between.

The hat number must be between 0 and get_numhats()-1.