How can I paste some string to the active window in Python?

Question

Can someone make me an example or explain to me how can I paste something to the active window with Python?

Answer 1

It is easiest if you use the SendKeys package. You can find a Windows installer for various Python versions here.

The simplest use case, sending plain text, is very simple:

import SendKeys
SendKeys.SendKeys("Hello world")

You can do all sorts of nifty things using key-codes to represent for unprintable characters:

import SendKeys
SendKeys.SendKeys("""
    {LWIN}
    {PAUSE .25}
    r
    Notepad.exe{ENTER}
    {PAUSE 1}
    Hello{SPACE}World!
    {PAUSE 1}
    %{F4}
    n
""")

Read the documentation for full details.

If for whatever reason you don't want to introduce a dependency on a non-standard library package, you can do the same thing using COM:

import win32api
import win32com.client

shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shell.Run("calc")
win32api.Sleep(100)
shell.AppActivate("Calculator")
win32api.Sleep(100)
shell.SendKeys("1{+}")
win32api.Sleep(500)
shell.SendKeys("2")
win32api.Sleep(500)
shell.SendKeys("~") # ~ is the same as {ENTER}
win32api.Sleep(500)
shell.SendKeys("*3")
win32api.Sleep(500)
shell.SendKeys("~")
win32api.Sleep(2500)