How To Take Screenshot In Mac Os X From Inside Of Python: Aka Command-control-shift-4

With Command-Control-Shift-4 the screenshot area can be taken/then saved to a clipboard. I wonder if same would be possible from inside of Python. Ideally an image file format coul

Solution 1:

There seems to be a standard utility called screencapture on the Mac, you could use subprocess to call that, like so:

from subprocess import callcall(["screencapture", "screenshot.jpg"])

There are options to screencapture to specify a specific rectangle as well:

$ screencapture -h
. . . 
  -R<x,y,w,h> capture screen rect

Solution 2:

/Users/MYNAME/ should be existent for example to work:

import subprocess

defrunAppleScript(appleScript=None):   
    AppleProcess=subprocess.Popen(['osascript', '-'], stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
    AppleProcess.communicate(appleScript)[0]

appleScript="""on run
    set shellCommand to "/usr/sbin/screencapture -i \\"" & "/Users/MYNAME/Pictures/Screenshot.png\\""
    do shell script shellCommand
end run"""

runAppleScript(appleScript)

Solution 3:

Following works well for me just by importing from selenium import webdriver:

self.now = datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S')
self.driver.save_screenshot('login-%s.png' % self.now)

It creates files in the same directory from where script was executed with time stamp.

Solution 4:

I find these these commands work for me on my Mac OS X

from subprocess import callcall(["screencapture", "screenshot.jpg"])   # Captures full screen
call(["screencapture", "-R 100,100,500,500", "screenshot.jpg"]) # Captures area of screen

The first call captures a full screen. The second call captures a section of screen. This screenshot.jpg is saved automatically in the directory the python code runs.

Solution 5:

Mac users who experience difficulty getting these functions to work - namely, when you screen capture it only shows the desktop wallpaper - the reason is that you need to give permissions to relevant software (e.g. Terminal, PyCharm CE, etc.) you are using for the screen capture commands as found in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Screen Recording.