How to get keyboard input in pygame?

You should use clock.tick(10) as stated in the docs.

Try this:

keys=pygame.key.get_pressed()
if keys[K_LEFT]:
    if count == 10:
        location-=1
        count=0
    else:
        count +=1
    if location==-1:
        location=0
if keys[K_RIGHT]:
    if count == 10:
        location+=1
        count=0
    else:
        count +=1
    if location==5:
        location=4

This will mean you only move 1/10 of the time. If it still moves to fast you could try increasing the value you set “count” too.

import pygame
pygame.init()
pygame.display.set_mode()
while True:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            pygame.quit(); #sys.exit() if sys is imported
        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            if event.key == pygame.K_0:
                print("Hey, you pressed the key, '0'!")
            if event.key == pygame.K_1:
                print("Doing whatever")

In note that K_0 and K_1 aren’t the only keys, to see all of them, see pygame documentation, otherwise, hit tab after typing in

pygame.

(note the . after pygame) into an idle program. Note that the K must be capital. Also note that if you don’t give pygame a display size (pass no args), then it will auto-use the size of the computer screen/monitor. Happy coding!

all of the answers above are too complexicated i would just change the variables by 0.1 instead of 1
this makes the ship 10 times slower
if that is still too fast change the variables by 0.01
this makes the ship 100 times slower
try this

keys=pygame.key.get_pressed()
if keys[K_LEFT]:
    location -= 0.1 #or 0.01
    if location==-1:
    location=0
if keys[K_RIGHT]:
    location += 0.1 #or 0.01
    if location==5:
        location=4

Just fyi, if you’re trying to ensure the ship doesn’t go off of the screen with

location-=1
if location==-1:
    location=0

you can probably better use

location -= 1
location = max(0, location)

This way if it skips -1 your program doesn’t break

To slow down your game, use pygame.clock.tick(10)

I think you can use:

pygame.time.delay(delayTime)

in which delayTime is in milliseconds.

Put it before events.

The reason behind this is that the pygame window operates at 60 fps (frames per second) and when you press the key for just like 1 sec it updates 60 frames as per the loop of the event block.

clock = pygame.time.Clock()
flag = true
while flag :
    clock.tick(60)

Note that if you have animation in your project then the number of images will define the number of values in tick(). Let’s say you have a character and it requires 20 sets images for walking and jumping then you have to make tick(20) to move the character the right way.

pygame.key.get_pressed() returns a list with the state of each key. If a key is held down, the state for the key is 1, otherwise 0. Use pygame.key.get_pressed() to evaluate the current state of a button and get continuous movement:

while True:

    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
    if keys[pygame.K_LEFT]:
        x -= speed
    if keys[pygame.K_RIGHT]:
        x += speed
    if keys[pygame.K_UP]:
        y -= speed
    if keys[pygame.K_DOWN]:
        y += speed

This code can be simplified by subtracting "left" from "right" and "up" from "down":

while True:

    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
    x += (keys[pygame.K_RIGHT] - keys[pygame.K_LEFT]) * speed
    y += (keys[pygame.K_DOWN] - keys[pygame.K_UP]) * speed

The keyboard events (see pygame.event module) occur only once when the state of a key changes. The KEYDOWN event occurs once every time a key is pressed. KEYUP occurs once every time a key is released. Use the keyboard events for a single action or movement:

while True:

    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            if event.key == pygame.K_LEFT:
                x -= speed
            if event.key == pygame.K_RIGHT:
                x += speed
            if event.key == pygame.K_UP:
                y -= speed
            if event.key == pygame.K_DOWN:
                y += speed

See also Key and Keyboard event

Minimal example of continuous movement: replit.com/@Rabbid76/PyGame-ContinuousMovement

import pygame

pygame.init()
window = pygame.display.set_mode((300, 300))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()

rect = pygame.Rect(0, 0, 20, 20)
rect.center = window.get_rect().center
vel = 5

run = True
while run:
    clock.tick(60)
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            run = False
        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            print(pygame.key.name(event.key))

    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
    
    rect.x += (keys[pygame.K_RIGHT] - keys[pygame.K_LEFT]) * vel
    rect.y += (keys[pygame.K_DOWN] - keys[pygame.K_UP]) * vel
        
    rect.centerx = rect.centerx % window.get_width()
    rect.centery = rect.centery % window.get_height()

    window.fill(0)
    pygame.draw.rect(window, (255, 0, 0), rect)
    pygame.display.flip()

pygame.quit()
exit()

Minimal example for a single action: replit.com/@Rabbid76/PyGame-ShootBullet

import pygame
pygame.init()

window = pygame.display.set_mode((500, 200))
clock = pygame.time.Clock()

tank_surf = pygame.Surface((60, 40), pygame.SRCALPHA)
pygame.draw.rect(tank_surf, (0, 96, 0), (0, 00, 50, 40))
pygame.draw.rect(tank_surf, (0, 128, 0), (10, 10, 30, 20))
pygame.draw.rect(tank_surf, (32, 32, 96), (20, 16, 40, 8))
tank_rect = tank_surf.get_rect(midleft = (20, window.get_height() // 2))

bullet_surf = pygame.Surface((10, 10), pygame.SRCALPHA)
pygame.draw.circle(bullet_surf, (64, 64, 62), bullet_surf.get_rect().center, bullet_surf.get_width() // 2)
bullet_list = []

run = True
while run:
    clock.tick(60)
    current_time = pygame.time.get_ticks()
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            run = False

        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            bullet_list.insert(0, tank_rect.midright)

    for i, bullet_pos in enumerate(bullet_list):
        bullet_list[i] = bullet_pos[0] + 5, bullet_pos[1]
        if bullet_surf.get_rect(center = bullet_pos).left > window.get_width():
            del bullet_list[i:]
            break

    window.fill((224, 192, 160))
    window.blit(tank_surf, tank_rect)
    for bullet_pos in bullet_list:
        window.blit(bullet_surf, bullet_surf.get_rect(center = bullet_pos))
    pygame.display.flip()

pygame.quit()
exit()

make something like this, but based on time delay. i call my function first time immediately and then lunch timer, and while button is pressed i call it every button_press_delta seconds

from time import time
before main loop:
button_press_delta = 0.2
right_button_pressed = 0
while not done:
    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
    if keys[pygame.K_RIGHT]:
        if not right_button_pressed:
            call_my_function()
            right_button_pressed = 1
            right_button_pressed_time_start = time()
        if right_button_pressed:
            right_button_pressed_time = (
                time() - right_button_pressed_time_start)
            if right_button_pressed_time > button_press_delta:
                call_my_function()
                right_button_pressed_time_start = time()
    else:
        right_button_pressed = 0