class Input

Global input tracker. Controls use its state to update theirs.

key: table<string, ControlState>

Current state of keyboard presses.

sc: table<string, ControlState>

Current state of keyboard presses, as scancodes.

text: table<string, ControlState>

Current state of text input.

mouse: table<string | integer, ControlState>

Current state of mouse presses.

button: table<string, ControlState>

Current state of gamepad button presses.

axis: table<string, ControlState>

Current state of gamepad joysticks.

get: InputGetter

Getters for other inputs.

staticmethod keypressed(key: string, sc: string)

Handles keyboard key press events.

Parameters:

  • key (string) – The key that was pressed.

  • sc (string) – The scancode of the pressed key.

staticmethod textinput(text: string)

Handles text input events.

Parameters:

text (string) – The text that was input.

staticmethod keyreleased(key: string, sc: string)

Handles keyboard key release events.

Parameters:

  • key (string) – The key that was released.

  • sc (string) – The scancode of the released key.

staticmethod mousepressed(x: number, y: number, button: number)

Handles mouse button press events.

Parameters:

  • x (number) – Mouse x position when pressed.

  • y (number) – Mouse y position when pressed.

  • button (number) – Mouse button that was pressed (1=left, 2=right, 3=middle).

staticmethod mousereleased(x: number, y: number, button: number)

Handles mouse button release events.

Parameters:

  • x (number) – Mouse x position when released.

  • y (number) – Mouse y position when released.

  • button (number) – Mouse button that was released.

staticmethod mousemoved(x: number, y: number)

Handles mouse movement events.

Parameters:

  • x (number) – New mouse x position.

  • y (number) – New mouse y position.

staticmethod wheelmoved(x: number, y: number)

Handles mouse wheel movement events.

Parameters:

  • x (number) – Horizontal wheel movement.

  • y (number) – Vertical wheel movement.

staticmethod gamepadpressed(joystick: love.joystick.Joystick, button: string)

Handles gamepad button press events.

Parameters:

  • joystick (love.joystick.Joystick) – The joystick object that generated the event.

  • button (string) – The name of the button that was pressed.

staticmethod gamepadreleased(joystick: love.joystick.Joystick, button: string)

Handles gamepad button release events.

Parameters:

  • joystick (love.joystick.Joystick) – The joystick object that generated the event.

  • button (string) – The name of the button that was released.

staticmethod gamepadaxis(
    joystick: love.joystick.Joystick,
    axis_name: string,
    axis_value: number
)

Handles gamepad axis movement events.

Parameters:

  • joystick (love.joystick.Joystick) – The joystick object that generated the event.

  • axis_name (string) – The name of the axis that moved (e.g., “leftx”, “lefty”, “triggerleft”).

  • axis_value (number) – The new axis value (-1 to 1 for sticks, 0 to 1 for triggers).

staticmethod hook()

Automatically integrates Mash with LÖVE by hooking into all the necessary input callbacks. Call this once during initialization.

staticmethod reset()

Resets all input states for the next frame. This should be called at the end of each frame (typically in love.update) to clear pressed/released flags and prepare for the next frame’s input.

staticmethod setThreshold(threshold: number)

Sets the deadzone threshold for analog inputs.

Parameters:

threshold (number) – The new threshold value (0-1), default is 0.5.

Controls: Controls

A configured set of controls.

class InputGetter

Metatable for input value getters

_parent: {_joystickId: integer, _mode: "both" | "joystick" | "keyboard", _transform: love.math.Transform}
mouse(self: InputGetter, transform?: love.math.Transform): (x: number, y: number)

Gets the current mouse position, optionally transformed.

Parameters:

transform? (love.math.Transform) – Optional transform to apply (overrides instance transform).

Returns:

  • x (number) – The mouse x coordinate.

  • y (number) – The mouse y coordinate.

wheel(self: InputGetter): (x: number, y: number)

Gets the current mouse wheel movement.

Returns:

  • x (number) – Horizontal wheel movement.

  • y (number) – Vertical wheel movement.

left(
    self: InputGetter,
    joystick?: number | love.joystick.Joystick
): (x: number, y: number)

Gets the left analog stick position.

Parameters:

joystick? (number | love.joystick.Joystick) – Optional specific joystick to query

Returns:

  • x (number) – The x-axis value (-1 to 1)

  • y (number) – The y-axis value (-1 to 1)

right(
    self: InputGetter,
    joystick?: number | love.joystick.Joystick
): (x: number, y: number)

Gets the right analog stick position

Parameters:

joystick? (number | love.joystick.Joystick) – Optional specific joystick to query

Returns:

  • x (number) – The x-axis value (-1 to 1)

  • y (number) – The y-axis value (-1 to 1)

lt(
    self: InputGetter,
    joystick?: number | love.joystick.Joystick
): number

Gets the left trigger value

Parameters:

joystick? (number | love.joystick.Joystick) – Optional specific joystick to query

Returns:

_1 (number) – The trigger value (0 to 1)

triggerleft: function

Alias for left trigger

rt(
    self: InputGetter,
    joystick?: number | love.joystick.Joystick
): number

Gets the right trigger value

Parameters:

joystick? (number | love.joystick.Joystick) – Optional specific joystick to query

Returns:

_1 (number) – The trigger value (0 to 1)

triggerright: function

Alias for right trigger

trigger(
    self: InputGetter,
    joystick?: number | love.joystick.Joystick
): (left: number, right: number)

Gets both trigger values

Parameters:

joystick? (number | love.joystick.Joystick) – Optional specific joystick to query

Returns:

  • left (number) – Left trigger value (0 to 1)

  • right (number) – Right trigger value (0 to 1)

class ControlState
pressed: boolean

Whether the control was just pressed.

down: boolean

Whether the control is held down.

released: boolean

Whether the control was just released.

vector: Vector2?

A vector if the control is a pair.

class Controls: Object

A configured set of controls.

get: InputGetter

Getters for other inputs.

[string]: ControlState

The state of a named control.

__new(self: Controls, config: ControlsOptions)
Parameters:

config (ControlsOptions) – Configuration options.

setControls(self: Controls, controls: table)

Sets the control configuration for this input instance

  • Key: string - The name of the control (e.g., “jump”, “move_left”)

  • Value: string|table|function - The trigger definition: - string: Single trigger (e.g., “key:space”) - table: Multiple triggers (e.g., {“key:space”, “button:a”}) - function: Custom function returning (pressed, x, y)

Parameters:

controls (table) – A table mapping control names to trigger definitions

setPairs(self: Controls, pairs_config: any)
update(self: Controls)

Updates all controls for this instance. This should be called once per frame, before referencing the controls.

setMode(self: Controls, mode: "both" | "joystick" | "keyboard")

Sets the input mode.

Parameters:

mode ("both" | "joystick" | "keyboard") – The input mode.

getMode(self: Controls): (InputMode: string)

Gets the current input mode.

Returns:

InputMode (string) – The current input mode.

setAutoSwitch(self: Controls, state: boolean)

Sets whether to automatically switch between input modes.

Parameters:

state (boolean) – True to enable automatic switching.

getAutoSwitch(self: Controls): boolean

Gets the current auto-switch setting.

Returns:

_1 (boolean) – True if auto-switching is enabled.

setJoystick(
    self: Controls,
    joystick: number | love.joystick.Joystick
)

Sets the joystick for this input instance.

Parameters:

joystick (number | love.joystick.Joystick) – Either a joystick ID or a LÖVE Joystick object.

getJoystick(self: Controls): love.joystick.Joystick?

Gets the LÖVE Joystick object for this instance.

Returns:

_1? (love.joystick.Joystick) – The Joystick object, or nil if not found.

setTransform(self: Controls, transform: love.math.Transform)

Sets a transform matrix for mouse coordinate conversion.

Parameters:

transform (love.math.Transform) – A LÖVE Transform object for coordinate conversion.

getTransform(self: Controls): (transform: love.math.Transform | nil)

Gets the current transform matrix.

Returns:

transform (love.math.Transform | nil) – The current transform or nil.

vibrate(
    self: Controls,
    left: number,
    right: number,
    duration?: number
)

Vibrates the gamepad associated with this instance.

Parameters:

  • left (number) – Left motor strength (0-1).

  • right (number) – Right motor strength (0-1).

  • duration? (number) – Duration in seconds (optional).

Other members:

Inherited from Object: _serializationBlacklist, adopt(), assertType(), className, deepcopy(), deserialize(), extend(), instanceOf(), is(), isInstance(), mixin(), prettyprint(), serializationBlacklist, serialize()

class ControlsOptions
controls: table<string, string | function | string[]>
pairs: table<string, string[]>?
mode: ("both" | "joystick" | "keyboard")?
autoSwitch: boolean?
transform: love.math.Transform?

Object containing a coordinate system transformation.

The love.graphics module has several functions and function variants which accept Transform objects.

[Open in Browser](https://love2d.org/wiki/Transform)

joystick: (number | love.joystick.Joystick)?

Represents a physical joystick.

[Open in Browser](https://love2d.org/wiki/Joystick)