turtle — Turtle graphics

Source code: Lib/turtle.py

Introduction
Turtle graphics is a popular way for introducing programming to kids. It was
part of the original
Logo programming language developed by Wally Feurzeig,
Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon
in 1967.

Imagine a robotic turtle starting at (0, 0) in the x-y plane. After an import turtle , give it the
command turtle.forward(15) , and it moves (on-screen!) 15 pixels in the
direction it is facing,
drawing a line as it moves. Give it the command
turtle.right(25) , and it rotates in-place 25 degrees
clockwise.

By combining together these and similar commands,

intricate shapes and pictures
can easily be drawn. Turtle star

The turtle module is an extended reimplementation Turtle can draw intricate shapes using
of the same-named
module from the Python standard programs that repeat simple
moves.
distribution up to version Python 2.5.

It tries to keep the merits of the old turtle module and

to be (nearly) 100%
compatible with it. This means in
the first place to enable the learning
programmer to
use all the commands, classes and methods
interactively when using
the module from within IDLE
run with the -n switch.

The turtle module provides turtle graphics primitives,

in both object-oriented
and procedure-oriented ways.
Because it uses tkinter for the underlying
graphics, it
needs a version of Python installed with Tk support.
from turtle import *

The object-oriented interface uses essentially color('red', 'yellow')

two+two classes: begin_fill()

while True:

1. The TurtleScreen class defines graphics forward(200)

windows as a playground for

the drawing left(170)

if abs(pos()) < 1:

turtles. Its constructor needs a tkinter.Canvas or

break

a
ScrolledCanvas as argument. It should be end_fill()

used when turtle is

used as part of some done()

application.
 The function Screen() returns a singleton object of a
TurtleScreen subclass. This function
should be used when
turtle is used as a standalone tool for doing graphics.
As a singleton
object, inheriting from its class is not possible.

All methods of TurtleScreen/Screen also exist as functions, i.e. as part of

the procedure-
oriented interface.
2. RawTurtle (alias: RawPen ) defines Turtle objects which draw
on a TurtleScreen . Its
constructor needs a Canvas, ScrolledCanvas
or TurtleScreen as argument, so the RawTurtle
objects know where to draw.

Derived from RawTurtle is the subclass Turtle (alias: Pen ),

which draws on “the” Screen
instance which is automatically
created, if not already present.

All methods of RawTurtle/Turtle also exist as functions, i.e. part of the

procedure-oriented
interface.

The procedural interface provides functions which are derived from the methods
of the classes
Screen and Turtle . They have the same names as
the corresponding methods. A screen object is
automatically created whenever a
function derived from a Screen method is called. An
(unnamed) turtle object is
automatically created whenever any of the functions derived from a
Turtle method
is called.

To use multiple turtles on a screen one has to use the object-oriented interface.

Note:
In the following documentation the argument list for functions is given.
Methods, of
course, have the additional first argument self which is
omitted here.

Overview of available Turtle and Screen methods

Turtle methods
Turtle motion

Move and draw

forward() | fd()
backward() | bk() | back()
right() | rt()
left() | lt()
goto() | setpos() | setposition()
setx()
sety()
setheading() | seth()
home()
circle()
dot()
stamp()
 clearstamp()
clearstamps()
undo()
speed()

Tell Turtle’s state

position() | pos()
towards()
xcor()
ycor()
heading()
distance()

Setting and measurement

degrees()
radians()

Pen control

Drawing state

pendown() | pd() | down()

penup() | pu() | up()
pensize() | width()
pen()
isdown()

Color control

color()
pencolor()
fillcolor()

Filling

filling()
begin_fill()
end_fill()

More drawing control

reset()
clear()
write()

Turtle state

Visibility

showturtle() | st()
 hideturtle() | ht()
isvisible()

Appearance

shape()
resizemode()
shapesize() | turtlesize()
shearfactor()
settiltangle()
tiltangle()
tilt()
shapetransform()
get_shapepoly()

Using events

onclick()
onrelease()
ondrag()

Special Turtle methods

begin_poly()
end_poly()
get_poly()
clone()
getturtle() | getpen()
getscreen()
setundobuffer()
undobufferentries()

Methods of TurtleScreen/Screen
Window control

bgcolor()
bgpic()
clearscreen()
resetscreen()
screensize()
setworldcoordinates()

Animation control

delay()
tracer()
update()

Using screen events

 listen()
onkey() | onkeyrelease()
onkeypress()
onclick() | onscreenclick()
ontimer()
mainloop() | done()

Settings and special methods

mode()
colormode()
getcanvas()
getshapes()
register_shape() | addshape()
turtles()
window_height()
window_width()

Input methods

textinput()
numinput()

Methods specific to Screen

bye()
exitonclick()
setup()
title()

Methods of RawTurtle/Turtle and corresponding functions

Most of the examples in this section refer to a Turtle instance called
turtle .

Turtle motion

turtle. forward(distance)
turtle. fd(distance)

Parameters: distance – a number (integer or float)

Move the turtle forward by the specified distance, in the direction the
turtle is headed.

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,0.00)

>>> turtle.forward(25)

>>> turtle.position()

(25.00,0.00)

 >>> turtle.forward(-75)

>>> turtle.position()

(-50.00,0.00)

turtle. back(distance)
turtle. bk(distance)
turtle. backward(distance)

Parameters: distance – a number

Move the turtle backward by distance, opposite to the direction the

turtle is headed. Do not
change the turtle’s heading.

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,0.00)

>>> turtle.backward(30)

>>> turtle.position()

(-30.00,0.00)

turtle. right(angle)
turtle. rt(angle)

Parameters: angle – a number (integer or float)

Turn turtle right by angle units. (Units are by default degrees, but
can be set via the degrees()
and radians() functions.) Angle
orientation depends on the turtle mode, see mode() .

>>> turtle.heading()

22.0

>>> turtle.right(45)

>>> turtle.heading()

337.0

turtle. left(angle)
turtle. lt(angle)

Parameters: angle – a number (integer or float)

Turn turtle left by angle units. (Units are by default degrees, but
can be set via the degrees()
and radians() functions.) Angle
orientation depends on the turtle mode, see mode() .

>>> turtle.heading()

22.0

>>> turtle.left(45)

>>> turtle.heading()

67.0

turtle. goto(x, y=None)

turtle. setpos(x, y=None)
turtle. setposition(x, y=None)

Parameters: x – a number or a pair/vector of numbers

y – a number or None

If y is None , x must be a pair of coordinates or a Vec2D

(e.g. as returned by pos() ).

Move turtle to an absolute position. If the pen is down, draw line. Do

not change the turtle’s
orientation.

>>> tp = turtle.pos()

>>> tp

(0.00,0.00)

>>> turtle.setpos(60,30)

>>> turtle.pos()

(60.00,30.00)

>>> turtle.setpos((20,80))

>>> turtle.pos()

(20.00,80.00)

>>> turtle.setpos(tp)

>>> turtle.pos()

(0.00,0.00)

turtle. setx(x)

Parameters: x – a number (integer or float)

Set the turtle’s first coordinate to x, leave second coordinate

unchanged.

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,240.00)

>>> turtle.setx(10)

>>> turtle.position()

(10.00,240.00)

turtle. sety(y)

Parameters: y – a number (integer or float)

Set the turtle’s second coordinate to y, leave first coordinate unchanged.

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,40.00)

>>> turtle.sety(-10)

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,-10.00)

turtle. setheading(to_angle)
turtle. seth(to_angle)

Parameters: to_angle – a number (integer or float)

Set the orientation of the turtle to to_angle. Here are some common
directions in degrees:

standard mode logo mode

0 - east 0 - north
90 - north 90 - east
180 - west 180 - south
270 - south 270 - west

>>> turtle.setheading(90)

>>> turtle.heading()

90.0

turtle. home()
Move turtle to the origin – coordinates (0,0) – and set its heading to
its start-orientation
(which depends on the mode, see mode() ).

>>> turtle.heading()

90.0

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,-10.00)

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,0.00)

>>> turtle.heading()

0.0

turtle. circle(radius, extent=None, steps=None)

Parameters: radius – a number

extent – a number (or None )
steps – an integer (or None )

Draw a circle with given radius. The center is radius units left of
the turtle; extent – an angle –
determines which part of the circle
is drawn. If extent is not given, draw the entire circle. If
extent
is not a full circle, one endpoint of the arc is the current pen
position. Draw the arc in
counterclockwise direction if radius is
positive, otherwise in clockwise direction. Finally the
direction of the
turtle is changed by the amount of extent.

As the circle is approximated by an inscribed regular polygon, steps

determines the number
of steps to use. If not given, it will be
calculated automatically. May be used to draw regular
polygons.
 >>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,0.00)

>>> turtle.heading()

0.0

>>> turtle.circle(50)

>>> turtle.position()

(-0.00,0.00)

>>> turtle.heading()

0.0

>>> turtle.circle(120, 180) # draw a semicircle

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,240.00)

>>> turtle.heading()

180.0

turtle. dot(size=None, *color)

Parameters: size – an integer >= 1 (if given)

color – a colorstring or a numeric color tuple

Draw a circular dot with diameter size, using color. If size is

not given, the maximum of
pensize+4 and 2*pensize is used.

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.dot()

>>> turtle.fd(50); turtle.dot(20, "blue"); turtle.fd(50)

>>> turtle.position()

(100.00,-0.00)

>>> turtle.heading()

0.0

turtle. stamp()
Stamp a copy of the turtle shape onto the canvas at the current turtle
position. Return a
stamp_id for that stamp, which can be used to delete
it by calling clearstamp(stamp_id) .

>>> turtle.color("blue")

>>> turtle.stamp()

11

>>> turtle.fd(50)

turtle. clearstamp(stampid)

Parameters: stampid – an integer, must be return value of previous

stamp() call

Delete stamp with given stampid.

 >>> turtle.position()

(150.00,-0.00)

>>> turtle.color("blue")

>>> astamp = turtle.stamp()

>>> turtle.fd(50)

>>> turtle.position()

(200.00,-0.00)

>>> turtle.clearstamp(astamp)

>>> turtle.position()

(200.00,-0.00)

turtle. clearstamps(n=None)

Parameters: n – an integer (or None )

Delete all or first/last n of turtle’s stamps. If n is None , delete

all stamps, if n > 0 delete first n
stamps, else if n < 0 delete
last n stamps.

>>> for i in range(8):

... turtle.stamp(); turtle.fd(30)

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

>>> turtle.clearstamps(2)

>>> turtle.clearstamps(-2)

>>> turtle.clearstamps()

turtle. undo()
Undo (repeatedly) the last turtle action(s). Number of available
undo actions is determined
by the size of the undobuffer.

>>> for i in range(4):

... turtle.fd(50); turtle.lt(80)

...

>>> for i in range(8):

... turtle.undo()

turtle. speed(speed=None)

Parameters: speed – an integer in the range 0..10 or a speedstring (see below)

Set the turtle’s speed to an integer value in the range 0..10. If no

argument is given, return
current speed.
 If input is a number greater than 10 or smaller than 0.5, speed is set
to 0. Speedstrings are
mapped to speedvalues as follows:

“fastest”: 0
“fast”: 10
“normal”: 6
“slow”: 3
“slowest”: 1

Speeds from 1 to 10 enforce increasingly faster animation of line drawing

and turtle turning.

Attention: speed = 0 means that no animation takes

place. forward/back makes turtle jump
and likewise left/right make the
turtle turn instantly.

>>> turtle.speed()

>>> turtle.speed('normal')
>>> turtle.speed()

>>> turtle.speed(9)

>>> turtle.speed()

Tell Turtle’s state

turtle. position()
turtle. pos()
Return the turtle’s current location (x,y) (as a Vec2D vector).

>>> turtle.pos()

(440.00,-0.00)

turtle. towards(x, y=None)

Parameters: x – a number or a pair/vector of numbers or a turtle instance

y – a number if x is a number, else None

Return the angle between the line from turtle position to position specified
by (x,y), the vector
or the other turtle. This depends on the turtle’s start
orientation which depends on the mode -
“standard”/”world” or “logo”.

>>> turtle.goto(10, 10)

>>> turtle.towards(0,0)

225.0

turtle. xcor()
 Return the turtle’s x coordinate.

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.left(50)

>>> turtle.forward(100)

>>> turtle.pos()

(64.28,76.60)

>>> print(round(turtle.xcor(), 5))

64.27876

turtle. ycor()
Return the turtle’s y coordinate.

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.left(60)

>>> turtle.forward(100)

>>> print(turtle.pos())

(50.00,86.60)

>>> print(round(turtle.ycor(), 5))

86.60254

turtle. heading()
Return the turtle’s current heading (value depends on the turtle mode, see
mode() ).

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.left(67)

>>> turtle.heading()

67.0

turtle. distance(x, y=None)

Parameters: x – a number or a pair/vector of numbers or a turtle instance

y – a number if x is a number, else None

Return the distance from the turtle to (x,y), the given vector, or the given
other turtle, in turtle
step units.

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.distance(30,40)

50.0

>>> turtle.distance((30,40))

50.0

>>> joe = Turtle()

>>> joe.forward(77)

>>> turtle.distance(joe)

77.0

Settings for measurement

turtle. degrees(fullcircle=360.0)

Parameters: fullcircle – a number

Set angle measurement units, i.e. set number of “degrees” for a full circle.
Default value is
360 degrees.

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.left(90)

>>> turtle.heading()

90.0

Change angle measurement unit to grad (also known as gon,

grade, or gradian and equals 1/100-th of the right angle.)

>>> turtle.degrees(400.0)

>>> turtle.heading()

100.0

>>> turtle.degrees(360)

>>> turtle.heading()

90.0

turtle. radians()
Set the angle measurement units to radians. Equivalent to
degrees(2*math.pi) .

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.left(90)

>>> turtle.heading()

90.0

>>> turtle.radians()

>>> turtle.heading()

1.5707963267948966

Pen control
Drawing state

turtle. pendown()
turtle. pd()
turtle. down()
Pull the pen down – drawing when moving.

turtle. penup()
turtle. pu()
turtle. up()
 Pull the pen up – no drawing when moving.

turtle. pensize(width=None)
turtle. width(width=None)

Parameters: width – a positive number

Set the line thickness to width or return it. If resizemode is set to

“auto” and turtleshape is a
polygon, that polygon is drawn with the same line
thickness. If no argument is given, the
current pensize is returned.

>>> turtle.pensize()

>>> turtle.pensize(10) # from here on lines of width 10 are drawn

turtle. pen(pen=None, **pendict)

Parameters: pen – a dictionary with some or all of the below listed keys
pendict – one or more keyword-arguments with the below listed keys as
keywords

Return or set the pen’s attributes in a “pen-dictionary” with the following

key/value pairs:

“shown”: True/False
“pendown”: True/False
“pencolor”: color-string or color-tuple
“fillcolor”: color-string or color-tuple
“pensize”: positive number
“speed”: number in range 0..10
“resizemode”: “auto” or “user” or “noresize”
“stretchfactor”: (positive number, positive number)
“outline”: positive number
“tilt”: number

This dictionary can be used as argument for a subsequent call to pen()

to restore the former
pen-state. Moreover one or more of these attributes
can be provided as keyword-arguments.
This can be used to set several pen
attributes in one statement.

>>> turtle.pen(fillcolor="black", pencolor="red", pensize=10)

>>> sorted(turtle.pen().items())

[('fillcolor', 'black'), ('outline', 1), ('pencolor', 'red'),

('pendown', True), ('pensize', 10), ('resizemode', 'noresize'),

('shearfactor', 0.0), ('shown', True), ('speed', 9),

('stretchfactor', (1.0, 1.0)), ('tilt', 0.0)]

>>> penstate=turtle.pen()

>>> turtle.color("yellow", "")

>>> turtle.penup()

>>> sorted(turtle.pen().items())[:3]

 [('fillcolor', ''), ('outline', 1), ('pencolor', 'yellow')]

>>> turtle.pen(penstate, fillcolor="green")

>>> sorted(turtle.pen().items())[:3]

[('fillcolor', 'green'), ('outline', 1), ('pencolor', 'red')]

turtle. isdown()
Return True if pen is down, False if it’s up.

>>> turtle.penup()

>>> turtle.isdown()

False

>>> turtle.pendown()

>>> turtle.isdown()

True

Color control

turtle. pencolor(*args)
Return or set the pencolor.

Four input formats are allowed:

pencolor()
Return the current pencolor as color specification string or
as a tuple (see example). May
be used as input to another
color/pencolor/fillcolor call.

pencolor(colorstring)
Set pencolor to colorstring, which is a Tk color specification string,
such as "red" ,
"yellow" , or "#33cc8c" .

pencolor((r, g, b))
Set pencolor to the RGB color represented by the tuple of r, g, and
b. Each of r, g, and b
must be in the range 0..colormode, where
colormode is either 1.0 or 255 (see
colormode() ).

pencolor(r, g, b)
Set pencolor to the RGB color represented by r, g, and b. Each of
r, g, and b must be in the
range 0..colormode.

If turtleshape is a polygon, the outline of that polygon is drawn with the

newly set pencolor.

>>> colormode()

1.0

>>> turtle.pencolor()
'red'

>>> turtle.pencolor("brown")

>>> turtle.pencolor()
 'brown'

>>> tup = (0.2, 0.8, 0.55)

>>> turtle.pencolor(tup)

>>> turtle.pencolor()
(0.2, 0.8, 0.5490196078431373)

>>> colormode(255)

>>> turtle.pencolor()
(51.0, 204.0, 140.0)

>>> turtle.pencolor('#32c18f')

>>> turtle.pencolor()
(50.0, 193.0, 143.0)

turtle. fillcolor(*args)
Return or set the fillcolor.

Four input formats are allowed:

fillcolor()
Return the current fillcolor as color specification string, possibly
in tuple format (see
example). May be used as input to another
color/pencolor/fillcolor call.

fillcolor(colorstring)
Set fillcolor to colorstring, which is a Tk color specification string,
such as "red" , "yellow" ,
or "#33cc8c" .

fillcolor((r, g, b))
Set fillcolor to the RGB color represented by the tuple of r, g, and
b. Each of r, g, and b
must be in the range 0..colormode, where
colormode is either 1.0 or 255 (see
colormode() ).

fillcolor(r, g, b)
Set fillcolor to the RGB color represented by r, g, and b. Each of
r, g, and b must be in the
range 0..colormode.

If turtleshape is a polygon, the interior of that polygon is drawn

with the newly set fillcolor.

>>> turtle.fillcolor("violet")

>>> turtle.fillcolor()

'violet'

>>> turtle.pencolor()
(50.0, 193.0, 143.0)

>>> turtle.fillcolor((50, 193, 143)) # Integers, not floats

>>> turtle.fillcolor()

(50.0, 193.0, 143.0)

>>> turtle.fillcolor('#ffffff')

>>> turtle.fillcolor()

(255.0, 255.0, 255.0)

turtle. color(*args)
Return or set pencolor and fillcolor.

Several input formats are allowed. They use 0 to 3 arguments as

follows:

color()
Return the current pencolor and the current fillcolor as a pair of color
specification
strings or tuples as returned by pencolor() and
fillcolor() .

color(colorstring) , color((r,g,b)) , color(r,g,b)

Inputs as in pencolor() , set both, fillcolor and pencolor, to the
given value.

color(colorstring1, colorstring2) , color((r1,g1,b1), (r2,g2,b2))

Equivalent to pencolor(colorstring1) and fillcolor(colorstring2)
and analogously if the
other input format is used.

If turtleshape is a polygon, outline and interior of that polygon is drawn

with the newly set
colors.

>>> turtle.color("red", "green")

>>> turtle.color()

('red', 'green')

>>> color("#285078", "#a0c8f0")

>>> color()

((40.0, 80.0, 120.0), (160.0, 200.0, 240.0))

See also: Screen method colormode() .

Filling

turtle. filling()
Return fillstate ( True if filling, False else).

>>> turtle.begin_fill()

>>> if turtle.filling():

... turtle.pensize(5)

... else:

... turtle.pensize(3)

turtle. begin_fill()
To be called just before drawing a shape to be filled.

turtle. end_fill()
Fill the shape drawn after the last call to begin_fill() .

Whether or not overlap regions for self-intersecting polygons

or multiple shapes are filled
depends on the operating system graphics,
type of overlap, and number of overlaps. For
 example, the Turtle star
above may be either all yellow or have some white regions.

>>> turtle.color("black", "red")

>>> turtle.begin_fill()

>>> turtle.circle(80)

>>> turtle.end_fill()

More drawing control

turtle. reset()
Delete the turtle’s drawings from the screen, re-center the turtle and set
variables to the
default values.

>>> turtle.goto(0,-22)

>>> turtle.left(100)

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,-22.00)

>>> turtle.heading()

100.0

>>> turtle.reset()

>>> turtle.position()

(0.00,0.00)

>>> turtle.heading()

0.0

turtle. clear()
Delete the turtle’s drawings from the screen. Do not move turtle. State and
position of the
turtle as well as drawings of other turtles are not affected.

turtle. write(arg, move=False, align="left", font=("Arial", 8, "normal"))

Parameters: arg – object to be written to the TurtleScreen

move – True/False
align – one of the strings “left”, “center” or right”
font – a triple (fontname, fontsize, fonttype)

Write text - the string representation of arg - at the current turtle

position according to align
(“left”, “center” or “right”) and with the given
font. If move is true, the pen is moved to the
bottom-right corner of the
text. By default, move is False .

>>> turtle.write("Home = ", True, align="center")

>>>
>>> turtle.write((0,0), True)

Turtle state
Visibility
turtle. hideturtle()
turtle. ht()
Make the turtle invisible. It’s a good idea to do this while you’re in the
middle of doing some
complex drawing, because hiding the turtle speeds up the
drawing observably.

>>> turtle.hideturtle()

turtle. showturtle()
turtle. st()
Make the turtle visible.

>>> turtle.showturtle()

turtle. isvisible()
Return True if the Turtle is shown, False if it’s hidden.

>>> turtle.hideturtle()
>>>
>>> turtle.isvisible()

False

>>> turtle.showturtle()

>>> turtle.isvisible()

True

Appearance

turtle. shape(name=None)

Parameters: name – a string which is a valid shapename

Set turtle shape to shape with given name or, if name is not given, return
name of current
shape. Shape with name must exist in the TurtleScreen’s
shape dictionary. Initially there are
the following polygon shapes: “arrow”,
“turtle”, “circle”, “square”, “triangle”, “classic”. To learn
about how to
deal with shapes see Screen method register_shape() .

>>> turtle.shape()

'classic'

>>> turtle.shape("turtle")

>>> turtle.shape()

'turtle'

turtle. resizemode(rmode=None)

Parameters: rmode – one of the strings “auto”, “user”, “noresize”

Set resizemode to one of the values: “auto”, “user”, “noresize”. If rmode

is not given, return
current resizemode. Different resizemodes have the
following effects:
 “auto”: adapts the appearance of the turtle corresponding to the value of pensize.
“user”: adapts the appearance of the turtle according to the values of
stretchfactor and
outlinewidth (outline), which are set by
shapesize() .
“noresize”: no adaption of the turtle’s appearance takes place.

resizemode("user") is called by shapesize() when used with arguments.

>>> turtle.resizemode()

'noresize'

>>> turtle.resizemode("auto")

>>> turtle.resizemode()

'auto'

turtle. shapesize(stretch_wid=None, stretch_len=None, outline=None)

turtle. turtlesize(stretch_wid=None, stretch_len=None, outline=None)

Parameters: stretch_wid – positive number

stretch_len – positive number
outline – positive number

Return or set the pen’s attributes x/y-stretchfactors and/or outline. Set

resizemode to “user”.
If and only if resizemode is set to “user”, the turtle
will be displayed stretched according to its
stretchfactors: stretch_wid is
stretchfactor perpendicular to its orientation, stretch_len is
stretchfactor in direction of its orientation, outline determines the width
of the shapes’s
outline.

>>> turtle.shapesize()

(1.0, 1.0, 1)

>>> turtle.resizemode("user")

>>> turtle.shapesize(5, 5, 12)

>>> turtle.shapesize()

(5, 5, 12)

>>> turtle.shapesize(outline=8)

>>> turtle.shapesize()

(5, 5, 8)

turtle. shearfactor(shear=None)

Parameters: shear – number (optional)

Set or return the current shearfactor. Shear the turtleshape according to

the given
shearfactor shear, which is the tangent of the shear angle.
Do not change the turtle’s heading
(direction of movement).
If shear is not given: return the current shearfactor, i. e. the
tangent
of the shear angle, by which lines parallel to the
heading of the turtle are sheared.

>>> turtle.shape("circle")

>>> turtle.shapesize(5,2)

>>> turtle.shearfactor(0.5)

 >>> turtle.shearfactor()

0.5

turtle. tilt(angle)

Parameters: angle – a number

Rotate the turtleshape by angle from its current tilt-angle, but do not
change the turtle’s
heading (direction of movement).

>>> turtle.reset()

>>> turtle.shape("circle")

>>> turtle.shapesize(5,2)

>>> turtle.tilt(30)

>>> turtle.fd(50)

>>> turtle.tilt(30)

>>> turtle.fd(50)

turtle. settiltangle(angle)

Parameters: angle – a number

Rotate the turtleshape to point in the direction specified by angle,

regardless of its current tilt-
angle. Do not change the turtle’s heading
(direction of movement).

>>> turtle.reset()

>>> turtle.shape("circle")

>>> turtle.shapesize(5,2)

>>> turtle.settiltangle(45)

>>> turtle.fd(50)

>>> turtle.settiltangle(-45)

>>> turtle.fd(50)

Deprecated since version 3.1.

turtle. tiltangle(angle=None)

Parameters: angle – a number (optional)

Set or return the current tilt-angle. If angle is given, rotate the

turtleshape to point in the
direction specified by angle,
regardless of its current tilt-angle. Do not change the turtle’s
heading (direction of movement).
If angle is not given: return the current tilt-angle, i. e. the
angle
between the orientation of the turtleshape and the heading of the
turtle (its direction of
movement).

>>> turtle.reset()

>>> turtle.shape("circle")

>>> turtle.shapesize(5,2)

>>> turtle.tilt(45)

 >>> turtle.tiltangle()

45.0

turtle. shapetransform(t11=None, t12=None, t21=None, t22=None)

Parameters: t11 – a number (optional)

t12 – a number (optional)
t21 – a number (optional)
t12 – a number (optional)

Set or return the current transformation matrix of the turtle shape.

If none of the matrix elements are given, return the transformation

matrix as a tuple of 4
elements.
Otherwise set the given elements and transform the turtleshape
according to the
matrix consisting of first row t11, t12 and
second row t21, t22. The determinant t11 * t22 -
t12 * t21 must not be
zero, otherwise an error is raised.
Modify stretchfactor, shearfactor and
tiltangle according to the
given matrix.

>>> turtle = Turtle()

>>> turtle.shape("square")

>>> turtle.shapesize(4,2)

>>> turtle.shearfactor(-0.5)

>>> turtle.shapetransform()

(4.0, -1.0, -0.0, 2.0)

turtle. get_shapepoly()
Return the current shape polygon as tuple of coordinate pairs. This
can be used to define a
new shape or components of a compound shape.

>>> turtle.shape("square")

>>> turtle.shapetransform(4, -1, 0, 2)

>>> turtle.get_shapepoly()

((50, -20), (30, 20), (-50, 20), (-30, -20))

Using events

turtle. onclick(fun, btn=1, add=None)

Parameters: fun – a function with two arguments which will be called with the
coordinates of the clicked point on the canvas
btn – number of the mouse-button, defaults to 1 (left mouse button)
add – True or False – if True , a new binding will be
added, otherwise it will
replace a former binding

Bind fun to mouse-click events on this turtle. If fun is None ,

existing bindings are removed.
Example for the anonymous turtle, i.e. the
procedural way:
 >>> def turn(x, y):

... left(180)

...

>>> onclick(turn) # Now clicking into the turtle will turn it.

>>> onclick(None) # event-binding will be removed

turtle. onrelease(fun, btn=1, add=None)

Parameters: fun – a function with two arguments which will be called with the
coordinates of the clicked point on the canvas
btn – number of the mouse-button, defaults to 1 (left mouse button)
add – True or False – if True , a new binding will be
added, otherwise it will
replace a former binding

Bind fun to mouse-button-release events on this turtle. If fun is

None , existing bindings are
removed.

>>> class MyTurtle(Turtle):

... def glow(self,x,y):

... self.fillcolor("red")

... def unglow(self,x,y):

... self.fillcolor("")

...

>>> turtle = MyTurtle()

>>> turtle.onclick(turtle.glow) # clicking on turtle turns fillcolor red,

>>> turtle.onrelease(turtle.unglow) # releasing turns it to transparent.

turtle. ondrag(fun, btn=1, add=None)

Parameters: fun – a function with two arguments which will be called with the
coordinates of the clicked point on the canvas
btn – number of the mouse-button, defaults to 1 (left mouse button)
add – True or False – if True , a new binding will be
added, otherwise it will
replace a former binding

Bind fun to mouse-move events on this turtle. If fun is None ,

existing bindings are removed.

Remark: Every sequence of mouse-move-events on a turtle is preceded by a

mouse-click
event on that turtle.

>>> turtle.ondrag(turtle.goto)

Subsequently, clicking and dragging the Turtle will move it across

the screen thereby
producing handdrawings (if pen is down).

Special Turtle methods

turtle. begin_poly()
Start recording the vertices of a polygon. Current turtle position is first
vertex of polygon.

turtle. end_poly()
Stop recording the vertices of a polygon. Current turtle position is last
vertex of polygon. This
will be connected with the first vertex.

turtle. get_poly()
Return the last recorded polygon.

>>> turtle.home()

>>> turtle.begin_poly()

>>> turtle.fd(100)

>>> turtle.left(20)

>>> turtle.fd(30)

>>> turtle.left(60)

>>> turtle.fd(50)

>>> turtle.end_poly()

>>> p = turtle.get_poly()
>>> register_shape("myFavouriteShape", p)

turtle. clone()
Create and return a clone of the turtle with same position, heading and
turtle properties.

>>> mick = Turtle()

>>> joe = mick.clone()

turtle. getturtle()
turtle. getpen()
Return the Turtle object itself. Only reasonable use: as a function to
return the “anonymous
turtle”:

>>> pet = getturtle()

>>> pet.fd(50)

>>> pet

<turtle.Turtle object at 0x...>

turtle. getscreen()
Return the TurtleScreen object the turtle is drawing on.
TurtleScreen methods can then be
called for that object.

>>> ts = turtle.getscreen()

>>> ts

<turtle._Screen object at 0x...>

>>> ts.bgcolor("pink")

turtle. setundobuffer(size)

Parameters: size – an integer or None

Set or disable undobuffer. If size is an integer, an empty undobuffer of

given size is installed.
size gives the maximum number of turtle actions
that can be undone by the undo()
method/function. If size is
None , the undobuffer is disabled.

>>> turtle.setundobuffer(42)

turtle. undobufferentries()
Return number of entries in the undobuffer.

>>> while undobufferentries():

... undo()

Compound shapes
To use compound turtle shapes, which consist of several polygons of different
color, you must
use the helper class Shape explicitly as described
below:

1. Create an empty Shape object of type “compound”.

2. Add as many components to this object as desired, using the
addcomponent() method.

For example:

>>> s = Shape("compound")

>>> poly1 = ((0,0),(10,-5),(0,10),(-10,-5))

>>> s.addcomponent(poly1, "red", "blue")

>>> poly2 = ((0,0),(10,-5),(-10,-5))

>>> s.addcomponent(poly2, "blue", "red")

3. Now add the Shape to the Screen’s shapelist and use it:

>>> register_shape("myshape", s)

>>> shape("myshape")

Note:
The Shape class is used internally by the register_shape()
method in different ways. The
application programmer has to deal with the
Shape class only when using compound shapes
like shown above!

Methods of TurtleScreen/Screen and corresponding

functions
Most of the examples in this section refer to a TurtleScreen instance called
screen .
Window control

turtle. bgcolor(*args)

Parameters: args – a color string or three numbers in the range 0..colormode or a

3-tuple
of such numbers

Set or return background color of the TurtleScreen.

>>> screen.bgcolor("orange")

>>> screen.bgcolor()

'orange'

>>> screen.bgcolor("#800080")

>>> screen.bgcolor()

(128.0, 0.0, 128.0)

turtle. bgpic(picname=None)

Parameters: picname – a string, name of a gif-file or "nopic" , or None

Set background image or return name of current backgroundimage. If picname

is a filename,
set the corresponding image as background. If picname is
"nopic" , delete background image,
if present. If picname is None ,
return the filename of the current backgroundimage.

>>> screen.bgpic()
>>>
'nopic'

>>> screen.bgpic("landscape.gif")

>>> screen.bgpic()

"landscape.gif"

turtle. clear()

Note:
This TurtleScreen method is available as a global function only under the
name
clearscreen . The global function clear is a different one
derived from the Turtle method
clear .

turtle. clearscreen()
Delete all drawings and all turtles from the TurtleScreen. Reset the now
empty TurtleScreen
to its initial state: white background, no background
image, no event bindings and tracing on.

turtle. reset()

Note:
This TurtleScreen method is available as a global function only under the
name
resetscreen . The global function reset is another one
derived from the Turtle method reset .

turtle. resetscreen()
 Reset all Turtles on the Screen to their initial state.

turtle. screensize(canvwidth=None, canvheight=None, bg=None)

Parameters: canvwidth – positive integer, new width of canvas in pixels

canvheight – positive integer, new height of canvas in pixels
bg – colorstring or color-tuple, new background color

If no arguments are given, return current (canvaswidth, canvasheight). Else

resize the canvas
the turtles are drawing on. Do not alter the drawing
window. To observe hidden parts of the
canvas, use the scrollbars. With this
method, one can make visible those parts of a drawing
which were outside the
canvas before.

>>> screen.screensize()
>>>
(400, 300)

>>> screen.screensize(2000,1500)

>>> screen.screensize()

(2000, 1500)

e.g. to search for an erroneously escaped turtle ;-)

turtle. setworldcoordinates(llx, lly, urx, ury)

Parameters: llx – a number, x-coordinate of lower left corner of canvas

lly – a number, y-coordinate of lower left corner of canvas
urx – a number, x-coordinate of upper right corner of canvas
ury – a number, y-coordinate of upper right corner of canvas

Set up user-defined coordinate system and switch to mode “world” if

necessary. This
performs a screen.reset() . If mode “world” is already
active, all drawings are redrawn
according to the new coordinates.

ATTENTION: in user-defined coordinate systems angles may appear

distorted.

>>> screen.reset()

>>> screen.setworldcoordinates(-50,-7.5,50,7.5)

>>> for _ in range(72):

... left(10)

...

>>> for _ in range(8):

... left(45); fd(2) # a regular octagon

Animation control

turtle. delay(delay=None)

Parameters: delay – positive integer

 Set or return the drawing delay in milliseconds. (This is approximately
the time interval
between two consecutive canvas updates.) The longer the
drawing delay, the slower the
animation.

Optional argument:

>>> screen.delay()

10

>>> screen.delay(5)

>>> screen.delay()

turtle. tracer(n=None, delay=None)

Parameters: n – nonnegative integer

delay – nonnegative integer

Turn turtle animation on/off and set delay for update drawings. If
n is given, only each n-th
regular screen update is really
performed. (Can be used to accelerate the drawing of
complex
graphics.) When called without arguments, returns the currently
stored value of n.
Second argument sets delay value (see
delay() ).

>>> screen.tracer(8, 25)

>>> dist = 2

>>> for i in range(200):

... fd(dist)

... rt(90)

... dist += 2

turtle. update()
Perform a TurtleScreen update. To be used when tracer is turned off.

See also the RawTurtle/Turtle method speed() .

Using screen events

turtle. listen(xdummy=None, ydummy=None)

Set focus on TurtleScreen (in order to collect key-events). Dummy arguments
are provided in
order to be able to pass listen() to the onclick method.

turtle. onkey(fun, key)

turtle. onkeyrelease(fun, key)

Parameters: fun – a function with no arguments or None

key – a string: key (e.g. “a”) or key-symbol (e.g. “space”)
 Bind fun to key-release event of key. If fun is None , event bindings
are removed. Remark: in
order to be able to register key-events, TurtleScreen
must have the focus. (See method
listen() .)

>>> def f():

... fd(50)

... lt(60)

...

>>> screen.onkey(f, "Up")

>>> screen.listen()

turtle. onkeypress(fun, key=None)

Parameters: fun – a function with no arguments or None

key – a string: key (e.g. “a”) or key-symbol (e.g. “space”)

Bind fun to key-press event of key if key is given,

or to any key-press-event if no key is given.
Remark: in order to be able to register key-events, TurtleScreen
must have focus. (See
method listen() .)

>>> def f():

... fd(50)

...

>>> screen.onkey(f, "Up")

>>> screen.listen()

turtle. onclick(fun, btn=1, add=None)

turtle. onscreenclick(fun, btn=1, add=None)

Parameters: fun – a function with two arguments which will be called with the
coordinates of the clicked point on the canvas
btn – number of the mouse-button, defaults to 1 (left mouse button)
add – True or False – if True , a new binding will be
added, otherwise it will
replace a former binding

Bind fun to mouse-click events on this screen. If fun is None ,

existing bindings are removed.

Example for a TurtleScreen instance named screen and a Turtle instance

named turtle :

>>> screen.onclick(turtle.goto) # Subsequently clicking into the TurtleScreen will

>>> # make the turtle move to the clicked point.

>>> screen.onclick(None) # remove event binding again

Note:
This TurtleScreen method is available as a global function only under the
name
onscreenclick . The global function onclick is another one
derived from the Turtle method
onclick .
turtle. ontimer(fun, t=0)

Parameters: fun – a function with no arguments

t – a number >= 0

Install a timer that calls fun after t milliseconds.

>>> running = True

>>> def f():

... if running:

... fd(50)
... lt(60)

... screen.ontimer(f, 250)

>>> f() ### makes the turtle march around

>>> running = False

turtle. mainloop()
turtle. done()
Starts event loop - calling Tkinter’s mainloop function.
Must be the last statement in a turtle
graphics program.
Must not be used if a script is run from within IDLE in -n mode
(No
subprocess) - for interactive use of turtle graphics.

>>> screen.mainloop()
>>>

Input methods

turtle. textinput(title, prompt)

Parameters: title – string

prompt – string

Pop up a dialog window for input of a string. Parameter title is

the title of the dialog window,
prompt is a text mostly describing
what information to input.
Return the string input. If the
dialog is canceled, return None .

>>> screen.textinput("NIM", "Name of first player:")

>>>

turtle. numinput(title, prompt, default=None, minval=None, maxval=None)

Parameters: title – string

prompt – string
default – number (optional)
minval – number (optional)
maxval – number (optional)
 Pop up a dialog window for input of a number. title is the title of the
dialog window, prompt is
a text mostly describing what numerical information
to input. default: default value, minval:
minimum value for input,
maxval: maximum value for input
The number input must be in the
range minval .. maxval if these are
given. If not, a hint is issued and the dialog remains open
for
correction.
Return the number input. If the dialog is canceled, return None .

>>> screen.numinput("Poker", "Your stakes:", 1000, minval=10, maxval=10000)

>>>

Settings and special methods

turtle. mode(mode=None)

Parameters: mode – one of the strings “standard”, “logo” or “world”

Set turtle mode (“standard”, “logo” or “world”) and perform reset. If mode
is not given, current
mode is returned.

Mode “standard” is compatible with old turtle . Mode “logo” is

compatible with most Logo
turtle graphics. Mode “world” uses user-defined
“world coordinates”. Attention: in this mode
angles appear distorted if
x/y unit-ratio doesn’t equal 1.

Mode Initial turtle heading positive angles

“standard” to the right (east) counterclockwise
“logo” upward (north) clockwise

>>> mode("logo") # resets turtle heading to north

>>> mode()

'logo'

turtle. colormode(cmode=None)

Parameters: cmode – one of the values 1.0 or 255

Return the colormode or set it to 1.0 or 255. Subsequently r, g, b

values of color triples have
to be in the range 0..cmode.

>>> screen.colormode(1)

>>> turtle.pencolor(240, 160, 80)

Traceback (most recent call last):

...

TurtleGraphicsError: bad color sequence: (240, 160, 80)

>>> screen.colormode()

1.0

>>> screen.colormode(255)

>>> screen.colormode()

 255

>>> turtle.pencolor(240,160,80)

turtle. getcanvas()
Return the Canvas of this TurtleScreen. Useful for insiders who know what to
do with a
Tkinter Canvas.

>>> cv = screen.getcanvas()
>>> cv

<turtle.ScrolledCanvas object ...>

turtle. getshapes()
Return a list of names of all currently available turtle shapes.

>>> screen.getshapes()

['arrow', 'blank', 'circle', ..., 'turtle']

turtle. register_shape(name, shape=None)

turtle. addshape(name, shape=None)
There are three different ways to call this function:

1. name is the name of a gif-file and shape is None : Install the

corresponding image
shape.

>>> screen.register_shape("turtle.gif")
>>>

Note:
Image shapes do not rotate when turning the turtle, so they do not
display the
heading of the turtle!

2. name is an arbitrary string and shape is a tuple of pairs of

coordinates: Install the
corresponding polygon shape.

>>> screen.register_shape("triangle", ((5,-3), (0,5), (-5,-3)))

3. name is an arbitrary string and shape is a (compound) Shape

object: Install the
corresponding compound shape.

Add a turtle shape to TurtleScreen’s shapelist. Only thusly registered

shapes can be used by
issuing the command shape(shapename) .

turtle. turtles()
Return the list of turtles on the screen.

>>> for turtle in screen.turtles():

... turtle.color("red")

turtle. window_height()
Return the height of the turtle window.

>>> screen.window_height()
>>>
480

turtle. window_width()
Return the width of the turtle window.

>>> screen.window_width()
>>>
640

Methods specific to Screen, not inherited from TurtleScreen

turtle. bye()
Shut the turtlegraphics window.

turtle. exitonclick()
Bind bye() method to mouse clicks on the Screen.

If the value “using_IDLE” in the configuration dictionary is False

(default value), also enter
mainloop. Remark: If IDLE with the -n switch
(no subprocess) is used, this value should be
set to True in
turtle.cfg . In this case IDLE’s own mainloop is active also for the
client script.

turtle. setup(width=_CFG["width"], height=_CFG["height"], startx=_CFG["leftright"],

starty=_CFG["topbottom"])
Set the size and position of the main window. Default values of arguments
are stored in the
configuration dictionary and can be changed via a
turtle.cfg file.

Parameters: width – if an integer, a size in pixels, if a float, a fraction of the

screen;
default is 50% of screen
height – if an integer, the height in pixels, if a float, a fraction of
the screen;
default is 75% of screen
startx – if positive, starting position in pixels from the left
edge of the
screen, if negative from the right edge, if None ,
center window horizontally
starty – if positive, starting position in pixels from the top
edge of the
screen, if negative from the bottom edge, if None ,
center window vertically

>>> screen.setup (width=200, height=200, startx=0, starty=0)

>>> # sets window to 200x200 pixels, in upper left of screen

>>> screen.setup(width=.75, height=0.5, startx=None, starty=None)

>>> # sets window to 75% of screen by 50% of screen and centers

turtle. title(titlestring)
 Parameters: titlestring – a string that is shown in the titlebar of the turtle
graphics window

Set title of turtle window to titlestring.

>>> screen.title("Welcome to the turtle zoo!")

Public classes
class turtle. RawTurtle(canvas)
class turtle. RawPen(canvas)

Parameters: canvas – a tkinter.Canvas , a ScrolledCanvas or a

TurtleScreen

Create a turtle. The turtle has all methods described above as “methods of
Turtle/RawTurtle”.

class turtle. Turtle

Subclass of RawTurtle, has the same interface but draws on a default
Screen object created
automatically when needed for the first time.

class turtle. TurtleScreen(cv)

Parameters: cv – a tkinter.Canvas

Provides screen oriented methods like setbg() etc. that are described
above.

class turtle. Screen

Subclass of TurtleScreen, with four methods added.

class turtle. ScrolledCanvas(master)

Parameters: master – some Tkinter widget to contain the ScrolledCanvas, i.e.

a Tkinter-
canvas with scrollbars added

Used by class Screen, which thus automatically provides a ScrolledCanvas as

playground for
the turtles.

class turtle. Shape(type_, data)

Parameters: type_ – one of the strings “polygon”, “image”, “compound”

Data structure modeling shapes. The pair (type_, data) must follow this
specification:

type_ data
“polygon” a polygon-tuple, i.e. a tuple of pairs of coordinates
“image” an image (in this form only used internally!)
 type_ data
None (a compound shape has to be constructed using the
addcomponent()
“compound”
method)

addcomponent(poly, fill, outline=None)

Parameters: poly – a polygon, i.e. a tuple of pairs of numbers
fill – a color the poly will be filled with
outline – a color for the poly’s outline (if given)

Example:

>>> poly = ((0,0),(10,-5),(0,10),(-10,-5))

>>> s = Shape("compound")

>>> s.addcomponent(poly, "red", "blue")

>>> # ... add more components and then use register_shape()

See Compound shapes.

class turtle. Vec2D(x, y)

A two-dimensional vector class, used as a helper class for implementing
turtle graphics. May
be useful for turtle graphics programs too. Derived
from tuple, so a vector is a tuple!

Provides (for a, b vectors, k number):

a + b vector addition
a - b vector subtraction
a * b inner product
k * a and a * k multiplication with scalar
abs(a) absolute value of a
a.rotate(angle) rotation

Help and configuration

How to use help

The public methods of the Screen and Turtle classes are documented extensively
via docstrings.
So these can be used as online-help via the Python help
facilities:

When using IDLE, tooltips show the signatures and first lines of the
docstrings of typed in
function-/method calls.
Calling help() on methods or functions displays the docstrings:

>>> help(Screen.bgcolor)
>>>
Help on method bgcolor in module turtle:

bgcolor(self, *args) unbound turtle.Screen method

Set or return backgroundcolor of the TurtleScreen.

Arguments (if given): a color string or three numbers

in the range 0..colormode or a 3-tuple of such numbers.

>>> screen.bgcolor("orange")

>>> screen.bgcolor()

"orange"

>>> screen.bgcolor(0.5,0,0.5)

>>> screen.bgcolor()

"#800080"

>>> help(Turtle.penup)

Help on method penup in module turtle:

penup(self) unbound turtle.Turtle method

Pull the pen up -- no drawing when moving.

Aliases: penup | pu | up

No argument

>>> turtle.penup()

The docstrings of the functions which are derived from methods have a modified
form:

>>> help(bgcolor)
>>>
Help on function bgcolor in module turtle:

bgcolor(*args)

Set or return backgroundcolor of the TurtleScreen.

Arguments (if given): a color string or three numbers

in the range 0..colormode or a 3-tuple of such numbers.

Example::

>>> bgcolor("orange")

>>> bgcolor()

"orange"

>>> bgcolor(0.5,0,0.5)

>>> bgcolor()

"#800080"

>>> help(penup)

Help on function penup in module turtle:

penup()

Pull the pen up -- no drawing when moving.

Aliases: penup | pu | up

No argument

Example:

>>> penup()

These modified docstrings are created automatically together with the function
definitions that
are derived from the methods at import time.

Translation of docstrings into different languages

There is a utility to create a dictionary the keys of which are the method names
and the values of
which are the docstrings of the public methods of the classes
Screen and Turtle.

turtle. write_docstringdict(filename="turtle_docstringdict")

Parameters: filename – a string, used as filename

Create and write docstring-dictionary to a Python script with the given

filename. This
function has to be called explicitly (it is not used by the
turtle graphics classes). The
docstring dictionary will be written to the
Python script filename.py . It is intended to serve as
a template
for translation of the docstrings into different languages.

If you (or your students) want to use turtle with online help in your
native language, you have to
translate the docstrings and save the resulting
file as e.g. turtle_docstringdict_german.py .

If you have an appropriate entry in your turtle.cfg file this dictionary

will be read in at import time
and will replace the original English docstrings.

At the time of this writing there are docstring dictionaries in German and in
Italian. (Requests
please to [email protected].)

How to configure Screen and Turtles

The built-in default configuration mimics the appearance and behaviour of the
old turtle module
in order to retain best possible compatibility with it.

If you want to use a different configuration which better reflects the features
of this module or
which better fits to your needs, e.g. for use in a classroom,
you can prepare a configuration file
turtle.cfg which will be read at import
time and modify the configuration according to its settings.

The built in configuration would correspond to the following turtle.cfg:

width = 0.5

height = 0.75

leftright = None

topbottom = None

canvwidth = 400

canvheight = 300

mode = standard

colormode = 1.0

delay = 10

undobuffersize = 1000

shape = classic

pencolor = black

fillcolor = black

resizemode = noresize

visible = True

language = english

exampleturtle = turtle

examplescreen = screen

title = Python Turtle Graphics

using_IDLE = False

Short explanation of selected entries:

The first four lines correspond to the arguments of the Screen.setup()

method.
Line 5 and 6 correspond to the arguments of the method
Screen.screensize() .
shape can be any of the built-in shapes, e.g: arrow, turtle, etc. For more
info try help(shape) .
If you want to use no fillcolor (i.e. make the turtle transparent), you have
to write fillcolor = ""
(but all nonempty strings must not have quotes in
the cfg-file).
If you want to reflect the turtle its state, you have to use resizemode =
auto .
If you set e.g. language = italian the docstringdict
turtle_docstringdict_italian.py will be
loaded at import time (if
present on the import path, e.g. in the same directory as turtle .
The entries exampleturtle and examplescreen define the names of these
objects as they
occur in the docstrings. The transformation of
method-docstrings to function-docstrings
will delete these names from the
docstrings.
using_IDLE: Set this to True if you regularly work with IDLE and its -n
switch (“no
subprocess”). This will prevent exitonclick() to enter the
mainloop.

There can be a turtle.cfg file in the directory where turtle is

stored and an additional one in the
current working directory. The latter will
override the settings of the first one.

The Lib/turtledemo directory contains a turtle.cfg file. You can

study it as an example and see its
effects when running the demos (preferably
not from within the demo-viewer).

turtledemo — Demo scripts

The turtledemo package includes a set of demo scripts. These
scripts can be run and viewed
using the supplied demo viewer as follows:

python -m turtledemo

Alternatively, you can run the demo scripts individually. For example,

python -m turtledemo.bytedesign

The turtledemo package directory contains:

A demo viewer __main__.py which can be used to view the sourcecode

of the scripts and
run them at the same time.
Multiple scripts demonstrating different features of the turtle
module. Examples can be
accessed via the Examples menu. They can also
be run standalone.
A turtle.cfg file which serves as an example of how to write
and use such files.

The demo scripts are:

Name Description Features

complex classical
turtle graphics
bytedesign tracer() , delay,
update()
pattern
graphs Verhulst dynamics,
shows that
computer’s
computations can generate
chaos world coordinates
results sometimes against the
common sense expectations
analog clock showing time
of your turtles as clock’s
hands,
clock
computer ontimer
colormixer experiment with r, g, b ondrag()

forest 3 breadth-first trees randomization

fractalcurves Hilbert & Koch curves recursion
lindenmayer ethnomathematics
(indian kolams) L-System
Rectangular Turtles
as Hanoi
minimal_hanoi Towers of Hanoi
discs
(shape, shapesize)
play the classical nim game
with three turtles as nimsticks,
event
nim
heaps of sticks
against the computer. driven (mouse,
keyboard)
paint super minimalistic
drawing program onclick()

turtle: appearance
and
peace elementary
animation
penrose aperiodic tiling with
kites and darts stamp()

planet_and_moon simulation of
gravitational system compound shapes,
Vec2D
compound shapes, clone
dancing turtles rotating
pairwise in
round_dance shapesize, tilt,
get_shapepoly,
opposite
direction
update
 Name Description Features
visual demonstration of
different simple alignment,
sorting_animate
sorting methods randomization
a (graphical) breadth
first tree (using
tree clone()
generators)
two_canvases simple design turtles on two
canvases
a pattern from the wikipedia
article on
wikipedia clone() ,
undo()
turtle graphics
yinyang another elementary example circle()

Have fun!

Changes since Python 2.6

The methods Turtle.tracer() , Turtle.window_width() and
Turtle.window_height() have been
eliminated.
Methods with these names and functionality are now available only
as methods
of Screen . The functions derived from these remain
available. (In fact already in Python 2.6
these methods were merely
duplications of the corresponding
TurtleScreen / Screen -
methods.)
The method Turtle.fill() has been eliminated.
The behaviour of begin_fill() and end_fill()
have
changed slightly: now every filling-process must be completed with an
end_fill() call.
A method Turtle.filling() has been added. It returns a boolean
value: True if a filling process
is under way, False otherwise.
This behaviour corresponds to a fill() call without arguments
in
Python 2.6.

Changes since Python 3.0

The methods Turtle.shearfactor() , Turtle.shapetransform() and
Turtle.get_shapepoly() have
been added. Thus the full range of
regular linear transforms is now available for
transforming turtle shapes.
Turtle.tiltangle() has been enhanced in functionality: it now can
be used to get or set the tiltangle. Turtle.settiltangle() has been
deprecated.
The method Screen.onkeypress() has been added as a complement to
Screen.onkey() which
in fact binds actions to the keyrelease event.
Accordingly the latter has got an alias:
Screen.onkeyrelease() .
The method Screen.mainloop() has been added. So when working only
with Screen and
Turtle objects one must not additionally import
mainloop() anymore.
Two input methods has been added Screen.textinput() and
Screen.numinput() . These popup
input dialogs and return
strings and numbers respectively.
Two example scripts tdemo_nim.py and tdemo_round_dance.py
have been added to the
Lib/turtledemo directory.