micmonay / keybd_event

For simulate key press in Linux, Windows and Mac in golang

keybd_event

This library simulates the key press on a keyboard. It runs on Linux, Windows and Mac.

Important :

• The keys change in the different keyboard layouts of the target computer(s).
• I have tested this code on my system and I don't find any errors. If you have a bug, please create an issue.

Example :

package main

import (
	"runtime"
	"time"
	"github.com/micmonay/keybd_event"
)

func main() {
	kb, err := keybd_event.NewKeyBonding()
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	// For linux, it is very important to wait 2 seconds
	if runtime.GOOS == "linux" {
		time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
	}
	
	// Select keys to be pressed
	kb.SetKeys(keybd_event.VK_A, keybd_event.VK_B) 

	// Set shift to be pressed
	kb.HasSHIFT(true) 

	// Press the selected keys
	err = kb.Launching() 
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	
	// Or you can use Press and Release
	kb.Press()
	time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
	kb.Release()

	// Here, the program will generate "ABAB" as if they were pressed on the keyboard.
}

For easy access to all the keys on the virtual keyboard, I have added more special keycodes constants VK_SP*.

Below is an illustration showing the "VK_" symbols for each key on the keyboard:

Linux

On Linux this library uses uinput, which on the major distributions requires root permissions.

The easy solution is executing through root user (by using sudo). A worse way is by changing the executable's permissions by using chmod.

Secure Linux Example

sudo groupadd uinput
sudo usermod -a -G uinput my_username
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
echo "SUBSYSTEM==\"misc\", KERNEL==\"uinput\", GROUP=\"uinput\", MODE=\"0660\"" | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/uinput.rules
echo uinput | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/uinput.conf

Another subtlety on Linux: it is important after creating the keybd_event to wait 2 seconds before running first keyboard actions.

Darwin (MacOS)

This library depends on Apple's frameworks, and I did not find a solution to cross-compile from another OS to MacOS.