Can a Mac be programmed to simulate pressing a key at a certain rate via software?

Question

Is there a way or a 3rd party application which would let me specify, for example, that I want it to send a keyboard event (so that it has the same effect as physically hitting the key on the keyboard) every 5 seconds?

So, for example, I could tell it to hit K every 5 seconds, 15 times in total?

Basically, I'm looking for something like AutoHotkey but for OS X.

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited May 11 '15 at 11:00

11

I found a way to do this in a bash script:

#!/bin/sh
# Simulates hitting a key on OS X
# http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/63899/72339

echo "tell application \"System Events\" to keystroke \"$1\"" | osascript

Save as hitkey, chmod +x hitkey, hitkey k to hit K.

From there it's simple to use Automator to loop over the script several times or make an iCal alarm to initiate the script at a specific time.

Automator document types

edited May 11 '15 at 11:00

Dorian

2,201
1
16
17

answered Sep 13 '12 at 16:20

houbysoft

9,182

Doesn't that miss the whole "repeat every 5 seconds for a total of 15 times" part? – Daniel Sep 13 '12 at 16:35
1

I didn't know about the echo "script" | osascript syntax - I've always used osascript -e "script". So you get +1 for that. – Cajunluke Sep 13 '12 at 16:53
1

@DanielLawson: yes, but having the shell script it's simple to loop it however you want. – houbysoft Sep 13 '12 at 17:20
I've never used Automator. Would you mind sharing a step-by-step guide? I'd like to repeatedly press Return in a web form. – Adam_G Oct 22 '20 at 14:19

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 13 '12 at 16:52

11

Here's an AppleScript to do what you want:

set i to 0
repeat while i < 15
    set i to i + 1
    delay 5
    tell application "System Events" to keystroke "k"
end repeat

You can inline it in a shell script like this:

echo "set i to 0
repeat while i < 15
set i to i + 1
delay 5
tell application \"System Events\" to keystroke \"k\"
end repeat" | osascript

(Thanks to @houbysoft for the echo "script" | osacript syntax!)

answered Sep 13 '12 at 16:52

Cajunluke

17,704

I've never used Automator. Would you mind sharing a step-by-step guide? I'd like to repeatedly press Return in a web form. – Adam_G Oct 22 '20 at 17:06

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 04 '19 at 08:03

0

Here is my type workflow

in command line, type Ctrl + x then Ctrl + e to enter Vim and type there.
type below ; you see there is no backslash.

     cat << EOF | osascript
     set repeat_number to 5
     set i to 1
     repeat while i <= repeat_number
     tell application "System Events" to keystroke "k"

     display notification "repeat keystroke " & i & "time"
     set i to i + 1
     delay 1
     end repeat
    EOF

then save vim and exit command, supposed you know how to out in vim ;)
- Esc :wq
Back to terminal to run typed above.

+++ Oh one more thing.

     cat | osascript
     display alert "typeing like Script Editor, no need to type backslash!"
     display notification "type ctrl + d to end typing and run it."

edited Jun 04 '19 at 08:03

nohillside

100,768

answered Jun 04 '19 at 07:30

Jeongpyo Lee

1

Using cat together with a here-doc seems to be kind of overkill (you don't need the cat part). – nohillside Jun 04 '19 at 08:04
1

@nohillside Aaaah, echoes of the “useless use of cat” awards, regularly handed out on comp.unix.shell in the good old usenet days! – Harald Hanche-Olsen Jun 04 '19 at 10:45

Can a Mac be programmed to simulate pressing a key at a certain rate via software?

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