Repository navigation
Tkinter: reference document of possible cursor names #76607
Description
Activity
alex75 commented
on Dec 25, 2017 alex75mannequinMannequinAuthorIn the documentation of Tkinter.ttk Widget it is defined the "cursor" parameter. It is:
cursor
Specifies the mouse cursor to be used for the widget. If set to the empty string (the default), the cursor is inherited for the parent widget.There is not ANY way to knok wich value this parameter accept.
Searching "cursor" in the documentation does not find nothing, apart database cursor and this page (Tkinter.ttk.Widget).Thanks,
Alessandro
The tkinter docs currently omit much, but refer one to, among other places, http://infohost.nmt.edu/tcc/help/pubs/tkinter/web/index.html, which has a page with images and names.
http://infohost.nmt.edu/tcc/help/pubs/tkinter/web/cursors.htmlpatthoyts commented
on Nov 12, 2020 patthoytsmannequinMannequinThe Tk documentation for the acceptable cursor names is the cursors manual page. https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TkCmd/cursors.htm
Tk does not provide a way to get all these names in script.
This should probably be closed.
alex75 commented
on Nov 12, 2020 alex75mannequinMannequinAuthorAs suggested the documentation for "cursor" is here: https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TkCmd/cursors.htm
Close [SOLVED]
A link here is not a patch. The current tkinter doc for the cursor option in https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html#tk-option-data-types badly needs updating.
"""
The standard X cursor names from cursorfont.h can be used, without the XC_ prefix. For example to get a hand cursor (XC_hand2), use the string "hand2". You can also specify a bitmap and mask file of your own. See page 179 of Ousterhout’s book.
"""The ttk doc https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.ttk.html#standard-options is, as noted, incomplete.
"Specifies the mouse cursor to be used for the widget. If set to the empty string (the default), the cursor is inherited for the parent widget."I propose to replace the tkinter entry with a combined and updated entry.
"""
The name of the cursor to use when the mouse point is over the widget. An empty string, the default, means to inherit the cursor from the parent widget or the system. "none" means no cursor. Other names recognized by tk are listed at https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TkCmd/cursors.htm. Possible forms of the cross-platform cursors are illustrated at https://tkdocs.com/shipman/cursors.html. The cursor hot spot, the point reported for mouse clicks, depends on the cursor.
"""I may try to reference this, rather than copy it, in the ttk doc.
- changed the title
[-]Tkinter.ttk Widget does not define wich option exists to set the cursor[/-][+]Tkinter: reference document of possible cursor names[/+]on Nov 12, 2020 PR #152481 updates the
cursoroption-type documentation to link to thecursors(3tk)manual page for the list of names and to note that the available names are platform-dependent, replacing the "page 179 of Ousterhout's book" reference.It also adds the cross-reference from the ttk standard
cursoroption that @terryjreedy asked for.That should cover both parts of this issue; it can be closed once the PR (and its 3.13–3.15 backports) land.
- added 4 commits that reference this issue
on Jul 5, 2026
Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.
Show more details
GitHub fields:
bugs.python.org fields:
Linked PRs