Provided by: tk8.6-doc_8.6.8-4_all 
NAME
ttk::entry - Editable text field widget
SYNOPSIS
ttk::entry pathName ?options? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
An ttk::entry widget displays a one-line text string and allows that string to be edited by the user.
The value of the string may be linked to a Tcl variable with the -textvariable option. Entry widgets
support horizontal scrolling with the standard -xscrollcommand option and xview widget command.
STANDARD OPTIONS
-class -cursor -style
-takefocus -xscrollcommand
See the ttk_widget manual entry for details on the standard options.
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
Command-Line Name:-exportselection
Database Name: exportSelection
Database Class: ExportSelection
A boolean value specifying whether or not a selection in the widget should be linked to the X
selection. If the selection is exported, then selecting in the widget deselects the current X
selection, selecting outside the widget deselects any widget selection, and the widget will
respond to selection retrieval requests when it has a selection.
Command-Line Name:-invalidcommand
Database Name: invalidCommand
Database Class: InvalidCommand
A script template to evaluate whenever the -validatecommand returns 0. See VALIDATION below for
more information.
Command-Line Name:-justify
Database Name: justify
Database Class: Justify
Specifies how the text is aligned within the entry widget. One of left, center, or right.
Command-Line Name:-show
Database Name: show
Database Class: Show
If this option is specified, then the true contents of the entry are not displayed in the window.
Instead, each character in the entry's value will be displayed as the first character in the value
of this option, such as “*” or a bullet. This is useful, for example, if the entry is to be used
to enter a password. If characters in the entry are selected and copied elsewhere, the
information copied will be what is displayed, not the true contents of the entry.
Command-Line Name:-state
Database Name: state
Database Class: State
Compatibility option; see ttk::widget(3tk) for details. Specifies one of three states for the
entry, normal, disabled, or readonly. See WIDGET STATES, below.
Command-Line Name:-textvariable
Database Name: textVariable
Database Class: Variable
Specifies the name of a global variable whose value is linked to the entry widget's contents.
Whenever the variable changes value, the widget's contents are updated, and vice versa.
Command-Line Name:-validate
Database Name: validate
Database Class: Validate
Specifies the mode in which validation should operate: none, focus, focusin, focusout, key, or
all. Default is none, meaning that validation is disabled. See VALIDATION below.
Command-Line Name:-validatecommand
Database Name: validateCommand
Database Class: ValidateCommand
A script template to evaluate whenever validation is triggered. If set to the empty string (the
default), validation is disabled. The script must return a boolean value. See VALIDATION below.
Command-Line Name:-width
Database Name: width
Database Class: Width
Specifies an integer value indicating the desired width of the entry window, in average-size
characters of the widget's font.
NOTES
A portion of the entry may be selected as described below. If an entry is exporting its selection (see
the -exportselection option), then it will observe the standard X11 protocols for handling the selection;
entry selections are available as type STRING. Entries also observe the standard Tk rules for dealing
with the input focus. When an entry has the input focus it displays an insert cursor to indicate where
new characters will be inserted.
Entries are capable of displaying strings that are too long to fit entirely within the widget's window.
In this case, only a portion of the string will be displayed; commands described below may be used to
change the view in the window. Entries use the standard -xscrollcommand mechanism for interacting with
scrollbars (see the description of the -xscrollcommand option for details).
INDICES
Many of the entry widget commands take one or more indices as arguments. An index specifies a particular
character in the entry's string, in any of the following ways:
number Specifies the character as a numerical index, where 0 corresponds to the first character in the
string.
@number
In this form, number is treated as an x-coordinate in the entry's window; the character spanning
that x-coordinate is used. For example, “@0” indicates the left-most character in the window.
end Indicates the character just after the last one in the entry's string. This is equivalent to
specifying a numerical index equal to the length of the entry's string.
insert Indicates the character adjacent to and immediately following the insert cursor.
sel.first
Indicates the first character in the selection. It is an error to use this form if the selection
is not in the entry window.
sel.last
Indicates the character just after the last one in the selection. It is an error to use this form
if the selection is not in the entry window.
Abbreviations may be used for any of the forms above, e.g. “e” or “sel.l”. In general, out-of-range
indices are automatically rounded to the nearest legal value.
WIDGET COMMAND
The following subcommands are possible for entry widgets:
pathName bbox index
Returns a list of four numbers describing the bounding box of the character given by index. The
first two elements of the list give the x and y coordinates of the upper-left corner of the screen
area covered by the character (in pixels relative to the widget) and the last two elements give
the width and height of the character, in pixels. The bounding box may refer to a region outside
the visible area of the window.
pathName delete first ?last?
Delete one or more elements of the entry. First is the index of the first character to delete,
and last is the index of the character just after the last one to delete. If last is not
specified it defaults to first+1, i.e. a single character is deleted. This command returns the
empty string.
pathName get
Returns the entry's string.
pathName icursor index
Arrange for the insert cursor to be displayed just before the character given by index. Returns
the empty string.
pathName index index
Returns the numerical index corresponding to index.
pathName insert index string
Insert string just before the character indicated by index. Returns the empty string.
pathName selection option arg
This command is used to adjust the selection within an entry. It has several forms, depending on
option:
pathName selection clear
Clear the selection if it is currently in this widget. If the selection is not in this
widget then the command has no effect. Returns the empty string.
pathName selection present
Returns 1 if there is are characters selected in the entry, 0 if nothing is selected.
pathName selection range start end
Sets the selection to include the characters starting with the one indexed by start and
ending with the one just before end. If end refers to the same character as start or an
earlier one, then the entry's selection is cleared.
pathName validate
Force revalidation, independent of the conditions specified by the -validate option. Returns 0 if
validation fails, 1 if it succeeds. Sets or clears the invalid state accordingly. See VALIDATION
below for more details.
pathName xview args
This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of the text in the widget's
window. It can take any of the following forms:
pathName xview
Returns a list containing two elements. Each element is a real fraction between 0 and 1;
together they describe the horizontal span that is visible in the window. For example, if
the first element is .2 and the second element is .6, 20% of the entry's text is off-screen
to the left, the middle 40% is visible in the window, and 40% of the text is off-screen to
the right. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the -xscrollcommand option.
pathName xview index
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character given by index is displayed at the
left edge of the window.
pathName xview moveto fraction
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character fraction of the way through the text
appears at the left edge of the window. Fraction must be a fraction between 0 and 1.
pathName xview scroll number what
This command shifts the view in the window left or right according to number and what.
Number must be an integer. What must be either units or pages. If what is units, the view
adjusts left or right by number average-width characters on the display; if it is pages
then the view adjusts by number screenfuls. If number is negative then characters farther
to the left become visible; if it is positive then characters farther to the right become
visible.
The entry widget also supports the following generic ttk::widget widget subcommands (see ttk::widget(3tk)
for details):
cget configure identify
instate state
VALIDATION
The -validate, -validatecommand, and -invalidcommand options are used to enable entry widget validation.
VALIDATION MODES
There are two main validation modes: prevalidation, in which the -validatecommand is evaluated prior to
each edit and the return value is used to determine whether to accept or reject the change; and
revalidation, in which the -validatecommand is evaluated to determine whether the current value is valid.
The -validate option determines when validation occurs; it may be set to any of the following values:
none Default. This means validation will only occur when specifically requested by the validate
widget command.
key The entry will be prevalidated prior to each edit (specifically, whenever the insert or
delete widget commands are called). If prevalidation fails, the edit is rejected.
focus The entry is revalidated when the entry receives or loses focus.
focusin
The entry is revalidated when the entry receives focus.
focusout
The entry is revalidated when the entry loses focus.
all Validation is performed for all above conditions.
The -invalidcommand is evaluated whenever the -validatecommand returns a false value.
The -validatecommand and -invalidcommand may modify the entry widget's value via the widget insert or
delete commands, or by setting the linked -textvariable. If either does so during prevalidation, then
the edit is rejected regardless of the value returned by the -validatecommand.
If -validatecommand is empty (the default), validation always succeeds.
VALIDATION SCRIPT SUBSTITUTIONS
It is possible to perform percent substitutions on the -validatecommand and -invalidcommand, just as in a
bind script. The following substitutions are recognized:
%d Type of action: 1 for insert prevalidation, 0 for delete prevalidation, or -1 for
revalidation.
%i Index of character string to be inserted/deleted, if any, otherwise -1.
%P In prevalidation, the new value of the entry if the edit is accepted. In revalidation, the
current value of the entry.
%s The current value of entry prior to editing.
%S The text string being inserted/deleted, if any, {} otherwise.
%v The current value of the -validate option.
%V The validation condition that triggered the callback (key, focusin, focusout, or forced).
%W The name of the entry widget.
DIFFERENCES FROM TK ENTRY WIDGET VALIDATION
The standard Tk entry widget automatically disables validation (by setting -validate to none) if the
-validatecommand or -invalidcommand modifies the entry's value. The Tk themed entry widget only disables
validation if one of the validation scripts raises an error, or if -validatecommand does not return a
valid boolean value. (Thus, it is not necessary to re-enable validation after modifying the entry value
in a validation script).
In addition, the standard entry widget invokes validation whenever the linked -textvariable is modified;
the Tk themed entry widget does not.
DEFAULT BINDINGS
The entry widget's default bindings enable the following behavior. In the descriptions below, “word”
refers to a contiguous group of letters, digits, or “_” characters, or any single character other than
these.
• Clicking mouse button 1 positions the insert cursor just before the character underneath the mouse
cursor, sets the input focus to this widget, and clears any selection in the widget. Dragging with
mouse button 1 down strokes out a selection between the insert cursor and the character under the
mouse.
• Double-clicking with mouse button 1 selects the word under the mouse and positions the insert cursor
at the end of the word. Dragging after a double click strokes out a selection consisting of whole
words.
• Triple-clicking with mouse button 1 selects all of the text in the entry and positions the insert
cursor at the end of the line.
• The ends of the selection can be adjusted by dragging with mouse button 1 while the Shift key is
down. If the button is double-clicked before dragging then the selection will be adjusted in units
of whole words.
• Clicking mouse button 1 with the Control key down will position the insert cursor in the entry
without affecting the selection.
• If any normal printing characters are typed in an entry, they are inserted at the point of the insert
cursor.
• The view in the entry can be adjusted by dragging with mouse button 2. If mouse button 2 is clicked
without moving the mouse, the selection is copied into the entry at the position of the mouse cursor.
• If the mouse is dragged out of the entry on the left or right sides while button 1 is pressed, the
entry will automatically scroll to make more text visible (if there is more text off-screen on the
side where the mouse left the window).
• The Left and Right keys move the insert cursor one character to the left or right; they also clear
any selection in the entry. If Left or Right is typed with the Shift key down, then the insertion
cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new character. Control-Left and Control-
Right move the insert cursor by words, and Control-Shift-Left and Control-Shift-Right move the insert
cursor by words and also extend the selection. Control-b and Control-f behave the same as Left and
Right, respectively.
• The Home key and Control-a move the insert cursor to the beginning of the entry and clear any
selection in the entry. Shift-Home moves the insert cursor to the beginning of the entry and extends
the selection to that point.
• The End key and Control-e move the insert cursor to the end of the entry and clear any selection in
the entry. Shift-End moves the cursor to the end and extends the selection to that point.
• Control-/ selects all the text in the entry.
• Control-\ clears any selection in the entry.
• The standard Tk <<Cut>>, <<Copy>>, <<Paste>>, and <<Clear>> virtual events operate on the selection
in the expected manner.
• The Delete key deletes the selection, if there is one in the entry. If there is no selection, it
deletes the character to the right of the insert cursor.
• The BackSpace key and Control-h delete the selection, if there is one in the entry. If there is no
selection, it deletes the character to the left of the insert cursor.
• Control-d deletes the character to the right of the insert cursor.
• Control-k deletes all the characters to the right of the insertion cursor.
WIDGET STATES
In the disabled state, the entry cannot be edited and the text cannot be selected. In the readonly
state, no insert cursor is displayed and the entry cannot be edited (specifically: the insert and delete
commands have no effect). The disabled state is the same as readonly, and in addition text cannot be
selected.
Note that changes to the linked -textvariable will still be reflected in the entry, even if it is
disabled or readonly.
Typically, the text is “grayed-out” in the disabled state, and a different background is used in the
readonly state.
The entry widget sets the invalid state if revalidation fails, and clears it whenever validation
succeeds.
SEE ALSO
ttk::widget(3tk), entry(3tk)
KEYWORDS
entry, widget, text field