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how do i copy a file to clipboard in python? [duplicate]

I'm trying to make a basic Windows application that builds a string out of user input and then adds it to the clipboard. How do I copy a string to the clipboard using Python?

Actually, pywin32 and ctypes seem to be an overkill for this simple task. tkinter is a cross-platform GUI framework, which ships with Python by default and has clipboard accessing methods along with other cool stuff.
If all you need is to put some text to system clipboard, this will do it:
from tkinter import Tk # in Python 2, use "Tkinter" instead
r = Tk()
r.withdraw()
r.clipboard_clear()
r.clipboard_append('i can has clipboardz?')
r.update() # now it stays on the clipboard after the window is closed
r.destroy()
And that's all, no need to mess around with platform-specific third-party libraries.
If you are using Python 2, replace tkinter with Tkinter.

I didn't have a solution, just a workaround.
Windows Vista onwards has an inbuilt command called clip that takes the output of a command from command line and puts it into the clipboard. For example, ipconfig | clip.
So I made a function with the os module which takes a string and adds it to the clipboard using the inbuilt Windows solution.
import os
def addToClipBoard(text):
command = 'echo ' + text.strip() + '| clip'
os.system(command)
# Example
addToClipBoard('penny lane')
# Penny Lane is now in your ears, eyes, and clipboard.
As previously noted in the comments however, one downside to this approach is that the echo command automatically adds a newline to the end of your text. To avoid this you can use a modified version of the command:
def addToClipBoard(text):
command = 'echo | set /p nul=' + text.strip() + '| clip'
os.system(command)
If you are using Windows XP it will work just following the steps in Copy and paste from Windows XP Pro's command prompt straight to the Clipboard.

You can use pyperclip - cross-platform clipboard module. Or Xerox - similar module, except requires the win32 Python module to work on Windows.

You can also use ctypes to tap into the Windows API and avoid the massive pywin32 package. This is what I use (excuse the poor style, but the idea is there):
import ctypes
# Get required functions, strcpy..
strcpy = ctypes.cdll.msvcrt.strcpy
ocb = ctypes.windll.user32.OpenClipboard # Basic clipboard functions
ecb = ctypes.windll.user32.EmptyClipboard
gcd = ctypes.windll.user32.GetClipboardData
scd = ctypes.windll.user32.SetClipboardData
ccb = ctypes.windll.user32.CloseClipboard
ga = ctypes.windll.kernel32.GlobalAlloc # Global memory allocation
gl = ctypes.windll.kernel32.GlobalLock # Global memory Locking
gul = ctypes.windll.kernel32.GlobalUnlock
GMEM_DDESHARE = 0x2000
def Get():
ocb(None) # Open Clip, Default task
pcontents = gcd(1) # 1 means CF_TEXT.. too lazy to get the token thingy...
data = ctypes.c_char_p(pcontents).value
#gul(pcontents) ?
ccb()
return data
def Paste(data):
ocb(None) # Open Clip, Default task
ecb()
hCd = ga(GMEM_DDESHARE, len(bytes(data,"ascii")) + 1)
pchData = gl(hCd)
strcpy(ctypes.c_char_p(pchData), bytes(data, "ascii"))
gul(hCd)
scd(1, hCd)
ccb()

The simplest way is with pyperclip. Works in python 2 and 3.
To install this library, use:
pip install pyperclip
Example usage:
import pyperclip
pyperclip.copy("your string")
If you want to get the contents of the clipboard:
clipboard_content = pyperclip.paste()

You can use the excellent pandas, which has a built in clipboard support, but you need to pass through a DataFrame.
import pandas as pd
df=pd.DataFrame(['Text to copy'])
df.to_clipboard(index=False,header=False)

Here's the most easy and reliable way I found if you're okay depending on Pandas. However I don't think this is officially part of the Pandas API so it may break with future updates. It works as of 0.25.3
from pandas.io import clipboard
clipboard.copy("test")

For some reason I've never been able to get the Tk solution to work for me. kapace's solution is much more workable, but the formatting is contrary to my style and it doesn't work with Unicode. Here's a modified version.
import ctypes
from ctypes.wintypes import BOOL, HWND, HANDLE, HGLOBAL, UINT, LPVOID
from ctypes import c_size_t as SIZE_T
OpenClipboard = ctypes.windll.user32.OpenClipboard
OpenClipboard.argtypes = HWND,
OpenClipboard.restype = BOOL
EmptyClipboard = ctypes.windll.user32.EmptyClipboard
EmptyClipboard.restype = BOOL
GetClipboardData = ctypes.windll.user32.GetClipboardData
GetClipboardData.argtypes = UINT,
GetClipboardData.restype = HANDLE
SetClipboardData = ctypes.windll.user32.SetClipboardData
SetClipboardData.argtypes = UINT, HANDLE
SetClipboardData.restype = HANDLE
CloseClipboard = ctypes.windll.user32.CloseClipboard
CloseClipboard.restype = BOOL
CF_UNICODETEXT = 13
GlobalAlloc = ctypes.windll.kernel32.GlobalAlloc
GlobalAlloc.argtypes = UINT, SIZE_T
GlobalAlloc.restype = HGLOBAL
GlobalLock = ctypes.windll.kernel32.GlobalLock
GlobalLock.argtypes = HGLOBAL,
GlobalLock.restype = LPVOID
GlobalUnlock = ctypes.windll.kernel32.GlobalUnlock
GlobalUnlock.argtypes = HGLOBAL,
GlobalSize = ctypes.windll.kernel32.GlobalSize
GlobalSize.argtypes = HGLOBAL,
GlobalSize.restype = SIZE_T
GMEM_MOVEABLE = 0x0002
GMEM_ZEROINIT = 0x0040
unicode_type = type(u'')
def get():
text = None
OpenClipboard(None)
handle = GetClipboardData(CF_UNICODETEXT)
pcontents = GlobalLock(handle)
size = GlobalSize(handle)
if pcontents and size:
raw_data = ctypes.create_string_buffer(size)
ctypes.memmove(raw_data, pcontents, size)
text = raw_data.raw.decode('utf-16le').rstrip(u'\0')
GlobalUnlock(handle)
CloseClipboard()
return text
def put(s):
if not isinstance(s, unicode_type):
s = s.decode('mbcs')
data = s.encode('utf-16le')
OpenClipboard(None)
EmptyClipboard()
handle = GlobalAlloc(GMEM_MOVEABLE | GMEM_ZEROINIT, len(data) + 2)
pcontents = GlobalLock(handle)
ctypes.memmove(pcontents, data, len(data))
GlobalUnlock(handle)
SetClipboardData(CF_UNICODETEXT, handle)
CloseClipboard()
paste = get
copy = put
The above has changed since this answer was first created, to better cope with extended Unicode characters and Python 3. It has been tested in both Python 2.7 and 3.5, and works even with emoji such as \U0001f601 (😁).
Update 2021-10-26: This was working great for me in Windows 7 and Python 3.8. Then I got a new computer with Windows 10 and Python 3.10, and it failed for me the same way as indicated in the comments. This post gave me the answer. The functions from ctypes don't have argument and return types properly specified, and the defaults don't work consistently with 64-bit values. I've modified the above code to include that missing information.

I've tried various solutions, but this is the simplest one that passes my test:
#coding=utf-8
import win32clipboard # http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/
def copy(text):
win32clipboard.OpenClipboard()
win32clipboard.EmptyClipboard()
win32clipboard.SetClipboardText(text, win32clipboard.CF_UNICODETEXT)
win32clipboard.CloseClipboard()
def paste():
win32clipboard.OpenClipboard()
data = win32clipboard.GetClipboardData(win32clipboard.CF_UNICODETEXT)
win32clipboard.CloseClipboard()
return data
if __name__ == "__main__":
text = "Testing\nthe “clip—board”: 📋"
try: text = text.decode('utf8') # Python 2 needs decode to make a Unicode string.
except AttributeError: pass
print("%r" % text.encode('utf8'))
copy(text)
data = paste()
print("%r" % data.encode('utf8'))
print("OK" if text == data else "FAIL")
try: print(data)
except UnicodeEncodeError as er:
print(er)
print(data.encode('utf8'))
Tested OK in Python 3.4 on Windows 8.1 and Python 2.7 on Windows 7. Also when reading Unicode data with Unix linefeeds copied from Windows. Copied data stays on the clipboard after Python exits: "Testing
the “clip—board”: 📋"
If you want no external dependencies, use this code (now part of cross-platform pyperclip - C:\Python34\Scripts\pip install --upgrade pyperclip):
def copy(text):
GMEM_DDESHARE = 0x2000
CF_UNICODETEXT = 13
d = ctypes.windll # cdll expects 4 more bytes in user32.OpenClipboard(None)
try: # Python 2
if not isinstance(text, unicode):
text = text.decode('mbcs')
except NameError:
if not isinstance(text, str):
text = text.decode('mbcs')
d.user32.OpenClipboard(0)
d.user32.EmptyClipboard()
hCd = d.kernel32.GlobalAlloc(GMEM_DDESHARE, len(text.encode('utf-16-le')) + 2)
pchData = d.kernel32.GlobalLock(hCd)
ctypes.cdll.msvcrt.wcscpy(ctypes.c_wchar_p(pchData), text)
d.kernel32.GlobalUnlock(hCd)
d.user32.SetClipboardData(CF_UNICODETEXT, hCd)
d.user32.CloseClipboard()
def paste():
CF_UNICODETEXT = 13
d = ctypes.windll
d.user32.OpenClipboard(0)
handle = d.user32.GetClipboardData(CF_UNICODETEXT)
text = ctypes.c_wchar_p(handle).value
d.user32.CloseClipboard()
return text

Use pyperclip module
Install using pip pip install pyperclip.
https://pypi.org/project/pyperclip/
Copy text "Hello World!" to clip board
import pyperclip
pyperclip.copy('Hello World!')
You can use Ctrl+V anywhere to paste this somewhere.
Paste the copied text using python
pyperclip.paste() # This returns the copied text of type <class 'str'>

If you don't like the name you can use the derivative module clipboard.
Note: It's just a selective wrapper of pyperclip
After installing, import it:
import clipboard
Then you can copy like this:
clipboard.copy("This is copied")
You can also paste the copied text:
clipboard.paste()

Looks like you need to add win32clipboard to your site-packages. It's part of the pywin32 package

Not all of the answers worked for my various python configurations so this solution only uses the subprocess module. However, copy_keyword has to be pbcopy for Mac or clip for Windows:
import subprocess
subprocess.run('copy_keyword', universal_newlines=True, input='New Clipboard Value 😀')
Here's some more extensive code that automatically checks what the current operating system is:
import platform
import subprocess
copy_string = 'New Clipboard Value 😀'
# Check which operating system is running to get the correct copying keyword.
if platform.system() == 'Darwin':
copy_keyword = 'pbcopy'
elif platform.system() == 'Windows':
copy_keyword = 'clip'
subprocess.run(copy_keyword, universal_newlines=True, input=copy_string)

I think there is a much simpler solution to this.
name = input('What is your name? ')
print('Hello %s' % (name) )
Then run your program in the command line
python greeter.py | clip
This will pipe the output of your file to the clipboard

Widgets also have method named .clipboard_get() that returns the contents of the clipboard (unless some kind of error happens based on the type of data in the clipboard).
The clipboard_get() method is mentioned in this bug report:
http://bugs.python.org/issue14777
Strangely, this method was not mentioned in the common (but unofficial) online TkInter documentation sources that I usually refer to.

Solution with stdlib, without security issues
The following solution works in Linux without any additional library and without the risk of executing unwanted code in your shell.
import subprocess
def to_clipboard(text: str) -> None:
sp = subprocess.Popen(["xclip"], stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
sp.communicate(text.encode("utf8"))
Note that there multiple clipboard in Linux, the you use with the Middle Mouse (Primary) and yet another that you use pressing STRG+C,STRG+V.
You can define which clipboard is used by adding a selection parameter i.e. ["xclip", "-selection", "clipboard"].
See the man xclip for details.
If you using Windows, just replace xclip with clip.
This solution works without Tkinter, which not available some Python installations (i.e. the custom build I am currently using).

In addition to Mark Ransom's answer using ctypes:
This does not work for (all?) x64 systems since the handles seem to be truncated to int-size.
Explicitly defining args and return values helps to overcomes this problem.
import ctypes
import ctypes.wintypes as w
CF_UNICODETEXT = 13
u32 = ctypes.WinDLL('user32')
k32 = ctypes.WinDLL('kernel32')
OpenClipboard = u32.OpenClipboard
OpenClipboard.argtypes = w.HWND,
OpenClipboard.restype = w.BOOL
GetClipboardData = u32.GetClipboardData
GetClipboardData.argtypes = w.UINT,
GetClipboardData.restype = w.HANDLE
EmptyClipboard = u32.EmptyClipboard
EmptyClipboard.restype = w.BOOL
SetClipboardData = u32.SetClipboardData
SetClipboardData.argtypes = w.UINT, w.HANDLE,
SetClipboardData.restype = w.HANDLE
CloseClipboard = u32.CloseClipboard
CloseClipboard.argtypes = None
CloseClipboard.restype = w.BOOL
GHND = 0x0042
GlobalAlloc = k32.GlobalAlloc
GlobalAlloc.argtypes = w.UINT, w.ctypes.c_size_t,
GlobalAlloc.restype = w.HGLOBAL
GlobalLock = k32.GlobalLock
GlobalLock.argtypes = w.HGLOBAL,
GlobalLock.restype = w.LPVOID
GlobalUnlock = k32.GlobalUnlock
GlobalUnlock.argtypes = w.HGLOBAL,
GlobalUnlock.restype = w.BOOL
GlobalSize = k32.GlobalSize
GlobalSize.argtypes = w.HGLOBAL,
GlobalSize.restype = w.ctypes.c_size_t
unicode_type = type(u'')
def get():
text = None
OpenClipboard(None)
handle = GetClipboardData(CF_UNICODETEXT)
pcontents = GlobalLock(handle)
size = GlobalSize(handle)
if pcontents and size:
raw_data = ctypes.create_string_buffer(size)
ctypes.memmove(raw_data, pcontents, size)
text = raw_data.raw.decode('utf-16le').rstrip(u'\0')
GlobalUnlock(handle)
CloseClipboard()
return text
def put(s):
if not isinstance(s, unicode_type):
s = s.decode('mbcs')
data = s.encode('utf-16le')
OpenClipboard(None)
EmptyClipboard()
handle = GlobalAlloc(GHND, len(data) + 2)
pcontents = GlobalLock(handle)
ctypes.memmove(pcontents, data, len(data))
GlobalUnlock(handle)
SetClipboardData(CF_UNICODETEXT, handle)
CloseClipboard()
#Test run
paste = get
copy = put
copy("Hello World!")
print(paste())

also you can use > clipboard
import clipboard
def copy(txt):
clipboard.copy(txt)
copy("your txt")

If (and only if) the application already uses Qt, you can use this (with the advantage of no additional third party dependency)
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication
clipboard = QApplication.clipboard()
# get text (if there's text inside instead of e.g. file)
clipboard.text()
# set text
clipboard.setText(s)
This requires a Qt application object to be already constructed, so it should not be used unless the application already uses Qt.
Besides, as usual, in X systems (and maybe other systems too), the content only persist until the application exists unless you use something like parcellite or xclipboard.
Documentation:
QGuiApplication Class | Qt GUI 5.15.6
QClipboard Class | Qt GUI 5.15.6
See also: python - PyQT - copy file to clipboard - Stack Overflow

import wx
def ctc(text):
if not wx.TheClipboard.IsOpened():
wx.TheClipboard.Open()
data = wx.TextDataObject()
data.SetText(text)
wx.TheClipboard.SetData(data)
wx.TheClipboard.Close()
ctc(text)

The snippet I share here take advantage of the ability to format text files: what if you want to copy a complex output to the clipboard ? (Say a numpy array in column or a list of something)
import subprocess
import os
def cp2clip(clist):
#create a temporary file
fi=open("thisTextfileShouldNotExist.txt","w")
#write in the text file the way you want your data to be
for m in clist:
fi.write(m+"\n")
#close the file
fi.close()
#send "clip < file" to the shell
cmd="clip < thisTextfileShouldNotExist.txt"
w = subprocess.check_call(cmd,shell=True)
#delete the temporary text file
os.remove("thisTextfileShouldNotExist.txt")
return w
works only for windows, can be adapted for linux or mac I guess. Maybe a bit complicated...
example:
>>>cp2clip(["ET","phone","home"])
>>>0
Ctrl+V in any text editor :
ET
phone
home

This is the improved answer of atomizer.
Note 2 calls of update() and 200 ms delay between them. They protect freezing applications due to an unstable state of the clipboard:
from Tkinter import Tk
import time
r = Tk()
r.withdraw()
r.clipboard_clear()
r.clipboard_append('some string')
r.update()
time.sleep(.2)
r.update()
r.destroy()

Use python's clipboard library!
import clipboard as cp
cp.copy("abc")
Clipboard contains 'abc' now. Happy pasting!

You can use winclip32 module!
install:
pip install winclip32
to copy:
import winclip32
winclip32.set_clipboard_data(winclip32.UNICODE_STD_TEXT, "some text")
to get:
import winclip32
print(winclip32.get_clipboard_data(winclip32.UNICODE_STD_TEXT))
for more informations: https://pypi.org/project/winclip32/

On Windows, you can use this. No external dependencies neither have to open sub-process:
import win32clipboard
def to_clipboard(txt):
win32clipboard.OpenClipboard()
win32clipboard.EmptyClipboard()
win32clipboard.SetClipboardText(txt)
win32clipboard.CloseClipboard()

My multiplatform solution base on this question:
import subprocess
import distutils.spawn
def clipit(text):
if distutils.spawn.find_executable("xclip"):
# for Linux
subprocess.run(["xclip", "-i"], input=text.encode("utf8"))
elif distutils.spawn.find_executable("xsel"):
# for Linux
subprocess.run(["xsel", "--input"], input=text.encode("utf8"))
elif distutils.spawn.find_executable("clip"):
# for Windows
subprocess.run(["clip"], input=text.encode("utf8"))
else:
import pyperclip
print("I use module pyperclip.")
pyperclip.copy(text)

Code snippet to copy the clipboard:
Create a wrapper Python code in a module named (clipboard.py):
import clr
clr.AddReference('System.Windows.Forms')
from System.Windows.Forms import Clipboard
def setText(text):
Clipboard.SetText(text)
def getText():
return Clipboard.GetText()
Then import the above module into your code.
import io
import clipboard
code = clipboard.getText()
print code
code = "abcd"
clipboard.setText(code)
I must give credit to the blog post Clipboard Access in IronPython.

you can try this:
command = 'echo content |clip'
subprocess.check_call(command, shell=True)

Python: Wallpaper added using ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW() gets removed after restart [duplicate]

This is what I'm trying:
import ctypes
import os
drive = "F:\\"
folder = "Keith's Stuff"
image = "midi turmes.png"
image_path = os.path.join(drive, folder, image)
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, image_path, 3)
Basicaly, this code is obviously supposed to set the desktop background to midi turmes.png, it changes the desktop, however, for some odd reason, it's always a green background (my personalized settings in windows is a green background behind the image) how do I fix this and make the desktop look like this?: http://i.imgur.com/VqMZF6H.png

The following works for me. I'm using Windows 10 64-bit and Python 3.
import os
import ctypes
from ctypes import wintypes
drive = "c:\\"
folder = "test"
image = "midi turmes.png"
image_path = os.path.join(drive, folder, image)
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 0x0014
SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE = 0x0001
SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE = 0x0002
user32 = ctypes.WinDLL('user32')
SystemParametersInfo = user32.SystemParametersInfoW
SystemParametersInfo.argtypes = ctypes.c_uint,ctypes.c_uint,ctypes.c_void_p,ctypes.c_uint
SystemParametersInfo.restype = wintypes.BOOL
print(SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, image_path, SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE | SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE))
The important part is to make sure to use a Unicode string for image_path if using SystemParametersInfoW, and a byte string if using SystemParametersInfoA. Remember that in Python 3 strings are default Unicode.
It is also good practice to set argtypes and restype as well. You can even "lie" and set the third argtypes parameter to c_wchar_p for SystemParametersInfoW and then ctypes will validate that you are passing a Unicode string and not a byte string.

Python 3.4 changing desktop background image does not work

I tried every example on SO and Google, but none of them working. I don't know why, script finishes without any error. But background image does not changing. I put absolute path for that image, I tried jpg,png formats, basically I tried everything but all examples finished without any error and yet background image doesn't changed. Is there a working example for this? Windows-7 Python 3.4
Some examples didn't work;
import ctypes
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, "myimage.jpg" , 0)
########################################
#This example can't find images, but I put absolute path to it. Don't know what's the problem
import struct
import ctypes
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
WALLPAPER_PATH = 'C:\\your_file_name.jpg'
def is_64_windows():
"""Find out how many bits is OS. """
return struct.calcsize('P') * 8 == 64
def get_sys_parameters_info():
"""Based on if this is 32bit or 64bit returns correct version of SystemParametersInfo function. """
return ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW if is_64_windows() \
else ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA
def change_wallpaper():
sys_parameters_info = get_sys_parameters_info()
r = sys_parameters_info(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, WALLPAPER_PATH, 3)
# When the SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER flag is used,
# SystemParametersInfo returns TRUE
# unless there is an error (like when the specified file doesn't exist).
if not r:
print(ctypes.WinError())
change_wallpaper()

try using following code:
import struct
import ctypes
import os
def is_64_windows():
"""Find out how many bits is OS. """
return 'PROGRAMFILES(X86)' in os.environ
def get_sys_parameters_info():
"""Based on if this is 32bit or 64bit returns correct version of SystemParametersInfo function. """
return ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW if is_64_windows() \
else ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA
def change_wallpaper():
sys_parameters_info = get_sys_parameters_info()
r = sys_parameters_info(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, WALLPAPER_PATH, 3)
if not r: # When the SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER flag is used, SystemParametersInfo returns TRUE unless there is an error (like when the specified file doesn't exist).
print(ctypes.WinError())
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
WALLPAPER_PATH = 'C:\\your_file_name.jpg'
change_wallpaper()
I think your problem is that you have 64 windows but 32 python, a then your is_64_windows() function returns False but it is actually True, 'PROGRAMFILES(X86)' in os.environ should work.

Convert SVG to PNG in Python

How do I convert an svg to png, in Python? I am storing the svg in an instance of StringIO. Should I use the pyCairo library? How do I write that code?

Here is what I did using cairosvg:
from cairosvg import svg2png
svg_code = """
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#000" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round">
<circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"/>
<line x1="12" y1="8" x2="12" y2="12"/>
<line x1="12" y1="16" x2="12" y2="16"/>
</svg>
"""
svg2png(bytestring=svg_code,write_to='output.png')
And it works like a charm!
See more: cairosvg document

The answer is "pyrsvg" - a Python binding for librsvg.
There is an Ubuntu python-rsvg package providing it. Searching Google for its name is poor because its source code seems to be contained inside the "gnome-python-desktop" Gnome project GIT repository.
I made a minimalist "hello world" that renders SVG to a cairo
surface and writes it to disk:
import cairo
import rsvg
img = cairo.ImageSurface(cairo.FORMAT_ARGB32, 640,480)
ctx = cairo.Context(img)
## handle = rsvg.Handle(<svg filename>)
# or, for in memory SVG data:
handle= rsvg.Handle(None, str(<svg data>))
handle.render_cairo(ctx)
img.write_to_png("svg.png")
Update: as of 2014 the needed package for Fedora Linux distribution is: gnome-python2-rsvg. The above snippet listing still works as-is.

Install Inkscape and call it as command line:
${INKSCAPE_PATH} -z -f ${source_svg} -w ${width} -j -e ${dest_png}
You can also snap specific rectangular area only using parameter -j, e.g. co-ordinate "0:125:451:217"
${INKSCAPE_PATH} -z -f ${source_svg} -w ${width} -j -a ${coordinates} -e ${dest_png}
If you want to show only one object in the SVG file, you can specify the parameter -i with the object id that you have setup in the SVG. It hides everything else.
${INKSCAPE_PATH} -z -f ${source_svg} -w ${width} -i ${object} -j -a ${coordinates} -e ${dest_png}

I'm using Wand-py (an implementation of the Wand wrapper around ImageMagick) to import some pretty advanced SVGs and so far have seen great results! This is all the code it takes:
with wand.image.Image( blob=svg_file.read(), format="svg" ) as image:
png_image = image.make_blob("png")
I just discovered this today, and felt like it was worth sharing for anyone else who might straggle across this answer as it's been a while since most of these questions were answered.
NOTE: Technically in testing I discovered you don't even actually have to pass in the format parameter for ImageMagick, so with wand.image.Image( blob=svg_file.read() ) as image: was all that was really needed.
EDIT: From an attempted edit by qris, here's some helpful code that lets you use ImageMagick with an SVG that has a transparent background:
from wand.api import library
import wand.color
import wand.image
with wand.image.Image() as image:
with wand.color.Color('transparent') as background_color:
library.MagickSetBackgroundColor(image.wand,
background_color.resource)
image.read(blob=svg_file.read(), format="svg")
png_image = image.make_blob("png32")
with open(output_filename, "wb") as out:
out.write(png_image)

I did not find any of the answers satisfactory. All the mentioned libraries have some problem or the other like Cairo dropping support for python 3.6 (they dropped Python 2 support some 3 years ago!). Also, installing the mentioned libraries on the Mac was a pain.
Finally, I found the best solution was svglib + reportlab. Both installed without a hitch using pip and first call to convert from svg to png worked beautifully! Very happy with the solution.
Just 2 commands do the trick:
from svglib.svglib import svg2rlg
from reportlab.graphics import renderPM
drawing = svg2rlg("my.svg")
renderPM.drawToFile(drawing, "my.png", fmt="PNG")
Are there any limitations with these I should be aware of?

Try this: http://cairosvg.org/
The site says:
CairoSVG is written in pure python and only depends on Pycairo. It is
known to work on Python 2.6 and 2.7.
Update November 25, 2016:
2.0.0 is a new major version, its changelog includes:
Drop Python 2 support

Another solution I've just found here How to render a scaled SVG to a QImage?
from PySide.QtSvg import *
from PySide.QtGui import *
def convertSvgToPng(svgFilepath,pngFilepath,width):
r=QSvgRenderer(svgFilepath)
height=r.defaultSize().height()*width/r.defaultSize().width()
i=QImage(width,height,QImage.Format_ARGB32)
p=QPainter(i)
r.render(p)
i.save(pngFilepath)
p.end()
PySide is easily installed from a binary package in Windows (and I use it for other things so is easy for me).
However, I noticed a few problems when converting country flags from Wikimedia, so perhaps not the most robust svg parser/renderer.

A little extension on the answer of jsbueno:
#!/usr/bin/env python
import cairo
import rsvg
from xml.dom import minidom
def convert_svg_to_png(svg_file, output_file):
# Get the svg files content
with open(svg_file) as f:
svg_data = f.read()
# Get the width / height inside of the SVG
doc = minidom.parse(svg_file)
width = int([path.getAttribute('width') for path
in doc.getElementsByTagName('svg')][0])
height = int([path.getAttribute('height') for path
in doc.getElementsByTagName('svg')][0])
doc.unlink()
# create the png
img = cairo.ImageSurface(cairo.FORMAT_ARGB32, width, height)
ctx = cairo.Context(img)
handler = rsvg.Handle(None, str(svg_data))
handler.render_cairo(ctx)
img.write_to_png(output_file)
if __name__ == '__main__':
from argparse import ArgumentParser
parser = ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument("-f", "--file", dest="svg_file",
help="SVG input file", metavar="FILE")
parser.add_argument("-o", "--output", dest="output", default="svg.png",
help="PNG output file", metavar="FILE")
args = parser.parse_args()
convert_svg_to_png(args.svg_file, args.output)

Here is a another solution without using rsvg(which is currently not available for windows).Only install cairosvg using pip install CairoSVG
svg2png.py
from cairosvg import svg2png
svg_code = open("input.svg", 'rt').read()
svg2png(bytestring=svg_code,write_to='output.png')

SVG scaling and PNG rendering
Using pycairo and librsvg I was able to achieve SVG scaling and rendering to a bitmap. Assuming your SVG is not exactly 256x256 pixels, the desired output, you can read in the SVG to a Cairo context using rsvg and then scale it and write to a PNG.
main.py
import cairo
import rsvg
width = 256
height = 256
svg = rsvg.Handle('cool.svg')
unscaled_width = svg.props.width
unscaled_height = svg.props.height
svg_surface = cairo.SVGSurface(None, width, height)
svg_context = cairo.Context(svg_surface)
svg_context.save()
svg_context.scale(width/unscaled_width, height/unscaled_height)
svg.render_cairo(svg_context)
svg_context.restore()
svg_surface.write_to_png('cool.png')
RSVG C binding
From the Cario website with some minor modification. Also a good example of how to call a C-library from Python
from ctypes import CDLL, POINTER, Structure, byref, util
from ctypes import c_bool, c_byte, c_void_p, c_int, c_double, c_uint32, c_char_p
class _PycairoContext(Structure):
_fields_ = [("PyObject_HEAD", c_byte * object.__basicsize__),
("ctx", c_void_p),
("base", c_void_p)]
class _RsvgProps(Structure):
_fields_ = [("width", c_int), ("height", c_int),
("em", c_double), ("ex", c_double)]
class _GError(Structure):
_fields_ = [("domain", c_uint32), ("code", c_int), ("message", c_char_p)]
def _load_rsvg(rsvg_lib_path=None, gobject_lib_path=None):
if rsvg_lib_path is None:
rsvg_lib_path = util.find_library('rsvg-2')
if gobject_lib_path is None:
gobject_lib_path = util.find_library('gobject-2.0')
l = CDLL(rsvg_lib_path)
g = CDLL(gobject_lib_path)
g.g_type_init()
l.rsvg_handle_new_from_file.argtypes = [c_char_p, POINTER(POINTER(_GError))]
l.rsvg_handle_new_from_file.restype = c_void_p
l.rsvg_handle_render_cairo.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_void_p]
l.rsvg_handle_render_cairo.restype = c_bool
l.rsvg_handle_get_dimensions.argtypes = [c_void_p, POINTER(_RsvgProps)]
return l
_librsvg = _load_rsvg()
class Handle(object):
def __init__(self, path):
lib = _librsvg
err = POINTER(_GError)()
self.handle = lib.rsvg_handle_new_from_file(path.encode(), byref(err))
if self.handle is None:
gerr = err.contents
raise Exception(gerr.message)
self.props = _RsvgProps()
lib.rsvg_handle_get_dimensions(self.handle, byref(self.props))
def get_dimension_data(self):
svgDim = self.RsvgDimensionData()
_librsvg.rsvg_handle_get_dimensions(self.handle, byref(svgDim))
return (svgDim.width, svgDim.height)
def render_cairo(self, ctx):
"""Returns True is drawing succeeded."""
z = _PycairoContext.from_address(id(ctx))
return _librsvg.rsvg_handle_render_cairo(self.handle, z.ctx)

Here is an approach where Inkscape is called by Python.
Note that it suppresses certain crufty output that Inkscape writes to the console (specifically, stderr and stdout) during normal error-free operation. The output is captured in two string variables, out and err.
import subprocess # May want to use subprocess32 instead
cmd_list = [ '/full/path/to/inkscape', '-z',
'--export-png', '/path/to/output.png',
'--export-width', 100,
'--export-height', 100,
'/path/to/input.svg' ]
# Invoke the command. Divert output that normally goes to stdout or stderr.
p = subprocess.Popen( cmd_list, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE )
# Below, < out > and < err > are strings or < None >, derived from stdout and stderr.
out, err = p.communicate() # Waits for process to terminate
# Maybe do something with stdout output that is in < out >
# Maybe do something with stderr output that is in < err >
if p.returncode:
raise Exception( 'Inkscape error: ' + (err or '?') )
For example, when running a particular job on my Mac OS system, out ended up being:
Background RRGGBBAA: ffffff00
Area 0:0:339:339 exported to 100 x 100 pixels (72.4584 dpi)
Bitmap saved as: /path/to/output.png
(The input svg file had a size of 339 by 339 pixels.)

Try this python script:
Don't forget to install cairosvg: pip3 install cairosvg
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os
import cairosvg
for file in os.listdir('.'):
if os.path.isfile(file) and file.endswith(".svg"):
name = file.split('.svg')[0]
cairosvg.svg2png(url=name+'.svg',write_to=name+'.png')

Try using Gtk.Image and Gdk.Pixbuf
import gi
gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0')
gi.require_version('Gdk', '3.0')
from gi.repository import Gdk, Gtk
from PIL import Image
image = Gtk.Image()
image.set_from_file("path/to/image.svg")
pb = image.get_pixbuf()
pb.savev("path/to/convented/image.jpeg","jpeg",[],[])
im = Image.open("path/to/convented/image.jpeg")
pix = im.load()
print(pix[1,1])

Actually, I did not want to be dependent of anything else but Python (Cairo, Ink.., etc.)
My requirements were to be as simple as possible, at most, a simple pip install "savior" would suffice, that's why any of those above didn't suit for me.
I came through this (going further than Stackoverflow on the research).
https://www.tutorialexample.com/best-practice-to-python-convert-svg-to-png-with-svglib-python-tutorial/
Looks good, so far. So I share it in case anyone in the same situation.

All the answer's here are great, but I figure I'll mention that I have made a simple library that loads SVG's files as pillow Image instances which can then be exported. It uses inkscape like in blj's answer, but renders to stdout so that no temporary files are made. There's some basic usage stuff in the README.
https://github.com/jlwoolf/pillow-svg
EDIT:
As suggested, here's a brief explanation, since the link could become invalid:
The library uses inkscape's command line interface to convert the image to a png of a specific size or dpi using the python subprocess library. By setting --export-filename to -, inkscape redirects the output to the stdout. The first two lines are discarded, and the remaining output is passed to PIL.Image.open, converting it to pillow image instance.
import subprocess
from PIL import Image
options = ["inkscape", "--export-filename=-", "--export-type=png", "file.svg"]
pipe = subprocess.Popen(options, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
pipe.stdout.readline()
pipe.stdout.readline()
img = Image.open(pipe.stdout)
From there you can do whatever pillow image operations you need (like export as a jpg, resize, crop, etc).
EDIT 2:
Just added support for skia-python (haven't fully tested it, but seems to work so far). This way you can convert an svg to png with only a single pip install (no need to use inkscape).
Here is an explanation of how the library uses skia-python:
First, the svg file is loaded into a skia.SVGDOM. From there you can grab the SVGDOM's dimensions, using containerSize. Then a skia.Surface of the desired image output size is made. The canvas is scaled to fit the svg to the surface, and then the svg is rendered. From there, an image snapshot can be made, which can then be fed to PIL.Image.open.
import skia
from PIL import Image
skia_stream = skia.Stream.MakeFromFile("file.svg")
skia_svg = skia.SVGDOM.MakeFromStream(skia_stream)
svg_width, svg_height = skia_svg.containerSize()
surface_width, surface_height = 512, 512
surface = skia.Surface(surface_width, surface_height)
with surface as canvas:
canvas.scale(surface_width / svg_width, surface_height / svg_height)
skia_svg.render(canvas)
with io.BytesIO(surface.makeImageSnapshot().encodeToData()) as f:
img = Image.open(f)
img.load()
Edit 3:
I have fleshed out the library much much more. There is a command line utility now for easy svg conversion, along with more documentation explaining usage. Hope it helps!

Posting my code from this StackOverflow answer. It's a workaround to svglib+reportlib not supporting a transparent background and no scaling (see #sarang's answer and #ualter-jr's answer as well as these Github issues on scaling not working and this one on transparency)
This uses pyMuPDF to render an intermediate pdf from reportlab to PNG.
The big advantage is that it doesn't need any external libraries as pymupdf comes with precompiled wheels for Windows, Linux and MacOS.
The whole thing is as easy as
pip install pymupdf svglib
and then executing the following lines
import fitz
from svglib import svglib
from reportlab.graphics import renderPDF
# Convert svg to pdf in memory with svglib+reportlab
# directly rendering to png does not support transparency nor scaling
drawing = svglib.svg2rlg(path="input.svg")
pdf = renderPDF.drawToString(drawing)
# Open pdf with fitz (pyMuPdf) to convert to PNG
doc = fitz.Document(stream=pdf)
pix = doc.load_page(0).get_pixmap(alpha=True, dpi=300)
pix.save("output.png")

How can I change my desktop background with python?

How can I change my desktop background with python?
I want to do it in both Windows and Linux.

On Windows with python2.5 or higher, use ctypes to load user32.dll and call SystemParametersInfo() with SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER action.
For example:
import ctypes
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, "image.jpg" , 0)

For Python3.5, SystemParametersInfoA doesn't work. Use SystemParametersInfoW.
import ctypes
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW(20, 0, "absolute path" , 0)

I use the following method in one of my initial projects:
def set_wallpaper(self,file_loc, first_run):
# Note: There are two common Linux desktop environments where
# I have not been able to set the desktop background from
# command line: KDE, Enlightenment
desktop_env = self.get_desktop_environment()
try:
if desktop_env in ["gnome", "unity", "cinnamon"]:
uri = "'file://%s'" % file_loc
try:
SCHEMA = "org.gnome.desktop.background"
KEY = "picture-uri"
gsettings = Gio.Settings.new(SCHEMA)
gsettings.set_string(KEY, uri)
except:
args = ["gsettings", "set", "org.gnome.desktop.background", "picture-uri", uri]
subprocess.Popen(args)
elif desktop_env=="mate":
try: # MATE >= 1.6
# info from http://wiki.mate-desktop.org/docs:gsettings
args = ["gsettings", "set", "org.mate.background", "picture-filename", "'%s'" % file_loc]
subprocess.Popen(args)
except: # MATE < 1.6
# From https://bugs.launchpad.net/variety/+bug/1033918
args = ["mateconftool-2","-t","string","--set","/desktop/mate/background/picture_filename",'"%s"' %file_loc]
subprocess.Popen(args)
elif desktop_env=="gnome2": # Not tested
# From https://bugs.launchpad.net/variety/+bug/1033918
args = ["gconftool-2","-t","string","--set","/desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename", '"%s"' %file_loc]
subprocess.Popen(args)
## KDE4 is difficult
## see http://blog.zx2c4.com/699 for a solution that might work
elif desktop_env in ["kde3", "trinity"]:
# From http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-803417.html
args = 'dcop kdesktop KBackgroundIface setWallpaper 0 "%s" 6' % file_loc
subprocess.Popen(args,shell=True)
elif desktop_env=="xfce4":
#From http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/2055/change-wallpaper-for-xfce4-4.6.0
if first_run:
args0 = ["xfconf-query", "-c", "xfce4-desktop", "-p", "/backdrop/screen0/monitor0/image-path", "-s", file_loc]
args1 = ["xfconf-query", "-c", "xfce4-desktop", "-p", "/backdrop/screen0/monitor0/image-style", "-s", "3"]
args2 = ["xfconf-query", "-c", "xfce4-desktop", "-p", "/backdrop/screen0/monitor0/image-show", "-s", "true"]
subprocess.Popen(args0)
subprocess.Popen(args1)
subprocess.Popen(args2)
args = ["xfdesktop","--reload"]
subprocess.Popen(args)
elif desktop_env=="razor-qt": #TODO: implement reload of desktop when possible
if first_run:
desktop_conf = configparser.ConfigParser()
# Development version
desktop_conf_file = os.path.join(self.get_config_dir("razor"),"desktop.conf")
if os.path.isfile(desktop_conf_file):
config_option = r"screens\1\desktops\1\wallpaper"
else:
desktop_conf_file = os.path.join(self.get_home_dir(),".razor/desktop.conf")
config_option = r"desktops\1\wallpaper"
desktop_conf.read(os.path.join(desktop_conf_file))
try:
if desktop_conf.has_option("razor",config_option): #only replacing a value
desktop_conf.set("razor",config_option,file_loc)
with codecs.open(desktop_conf_file, "w", encoding="utf-8", errors="replace") as f:
desktop_conf.write(f)
except:
pass
else:
#TODO: reload desktop when possible
pass
elif desktop_env in ["fluxbox","jwm","openbox","afterstep"]:
#http://fluxbox-wiki.org/index.php/Howto_set_the_background
# used fbsetbg on jwm too since I am too lazy to edit the XML configuration
# now where fbsetbg does the job excellent anyway.
# and I have not figured out how else it can be set on Openbox and AfterSTep
# but fbsetbg works excellent here too.
try:
args = ["fbsetbg", file_loc]
subprocess.Popen(args)
except:
sys.stderr.write("ERROR: Failed to set wallpaper with fbsetbg!\n")
sys.stderr.write("Please make sre that You have fbsetbg installed.\n")
elif desktop_env=="icewm":
# command found at http://urukrama.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/desktop-backgrounds-in-window-managers/
args = ["icewmbg", file_loc]
subprocess.Popen(args)
elif desktop_env=="blackbox":
# command found at http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/BlackboxDocumentation/BlackboxBackground
args = ["bsetbg", "-full", file_loc]
subprocess.Popen(args)
elif desktop_env=="lxde":
args = "pcmanfm --set-wallpaper %s --wallpaper-mode=scaled" % file_loc
subprocess.Popen(args,shell=True)
elif desktop_env=="windowmaker":
# From http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/3857/set-wallpaper-on-windowmaker-in-one-line
args = "wmsetbg -s -u %s" % file_loc
subprocess.Popen(args,shell=True)
## NOT TESTED BELOW - don't want to mess things up ##
#elif desktop_env=="enlightenment": # I have not been able to make it work on e17. On e16 it would have been something in this direction
# args = "enlightenment_remote -desktop-bg-add 0 0 0 0 %s" % file_loc
# subprocess.Popen(args,shell=True)
#elif desktop_env=="windows": #Not tested since I do not run this on Windows
# #From https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1977694/change-desktop-background
# import ctypes
# SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
# ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, file_loc , 0)
#elif desktop_env=="mac": #Not tested since I do not have a mac
# #From https://stackoverflow.com/questions/431205/how-can-i-programatically-change-the-background-in-mac-os-x
# try:
# from appscript import app, mactypes
# app('Finder').desktop_picture.set(mactypes.File(file_loc))
# except ImportError:
# #import subprocess
# SCRIPT = """/usr/bin/osascript<<END
# tell application "Finder" to
# set desktop picture to POSIX file "%s"
# end tell
# END"""
# subprocess.Popen(SCRIPT%file_loc, shell=True)
else:
if first_run: #don't spam the user with the same message over and over again
sys.stderr.write("Warning: Failed to set wallpaper. Your desktop environment is not supported.")
sys.stderr.write("You can try manually to set Your wallpaper to %s" % file_loc)
return False
return True
except:
sys.stderr.write("ERROR: Failed to set wallpaper. There might be a bug.\n")
return False
def get_config_dir(self, app_name=APP_NAME):
if "XDG_CONFIG_HOME" in os.environ:
confighome = os.environ['XDG_CONFIG_HOME']
elif "APPDATA" in os.environ: # On Windows
confighome = os.environ['APPDATA']
else:
try:
from xdg import BaseDirectory
confighome = BaseDirectory.xdg_config_home
except ImportError: # Most likely a Linux/Unix system anyway
confighome = os.path.join(self.get_home_dir(),".config")
configdir = os.path.join(confighome,app_name)
return configdir
def get_home_dir(self):
if sys.platform == "cygwin":
home_dir = os.getenv('HOME')
else:
home_dir = os.getenv('USERPROFILE') or os.getenv('HOME')
if home_dir is not None:
return os.path.normpath(home_dir)
else:
raise KeyError("Neither USERPROFILE or HOME environment variables set.")
The get_desktop_environment method has been posted in another thread.

On a gnome desktop, you usually do this with gconf, either directly calling gconftool or using the gconf python module. The latter is in the link given by unutbu. The first method could be done like this.
import commands
command = "gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename --type string '/path/to/file.jpg'"
status, output = commands.getstatusoutput(command) # status=0 if success

In gnome, it is probably preferable to use the python binding of gconf directly:
import gconf
conf = gconf.client_get_default()
conf.set_string('/desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename','/path/to/filename.jpg')

On windows, you will need some trickery with pywin32, and the windows API, on 'linux' the answer will depend on which desktop is running - KDE, Gnome, or something more exotic. Under KDE (and maybe Gnome) you can probably send a message using D-Bus, which you could do without including any new libraries by using the command line tool dbus-send.
The other option would be to set the desktop wallpaper to a file which you then edit / replace from python - but this will probably only result in a change when the user logs in.

Firstly, import ctypes: it gives you access to windows components such as the screensaver, wallpapers, etc.
Then call
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(20, 0, the_complete_path_of_your_image, 0)
Make sure the path is the complete path of your image, not just the path from the active directory

There is a difference what SystemParametersInfo method to be called based on what if you are running on 64 bit or 32 bit OS. For 64 bit you have to use SystemParametersInfoW (Unicode) and for 32 bit SystemParametersInfoA (ANSI)
import struct
import ctypes
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
WALLPAPER_PATH = 'C:\\your_file_name.jpg'
def is_64_windows():
"""Find out how many bits is OS. """
return struct.calcsize('P') * 8 == 64
def get_sys_parameters_info():
"""Based on if this is 32bit or 64bit returns correct version of SystemParametersInfo function. """
return ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW if is_64_windows() \
else ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA
def change_wallpaper():
sys_parameters_info = get_sys_parameters_info()
r = sys_parameters_info(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, WALLPAPER_PATH, 3)
# When the SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER flag is used,
# SystemParametersInfo returns TRUE
# unless there is an error (like when the specified file doesn't exist).
if not r:
print(ctypes.WinError())
change_wallpaper()

import ctypes,win32con
def getWallpaper():
ubuf = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(512)
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW(win32con.SPI_GETDESKWALLPAPER,len(ubuf),ubuf,0)
return ubuf.value
def setWallpaper(path):
changed = win32con.SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE | win32con.SPIF_SENDCHANGE
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW(win32con.SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER,0,path,changed)
Alternatively: (with SystemParametersInfoA)
def getWallpaper():
sbuf = ctypes.create_string_buffer(512) # ctypes.c_buffer(512)
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(win32con.SPI_GETDESKWALLPAPER,len(sbuf),sbuf,0)
return sbuf.value
def setWallpaper(path):
changed = win32con.SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE | win32con.SPIF_SENDCHANGE
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(win32con.SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER,0,path.encode(),changed) # "".encode() = b""
Arguments are:
SystemParametersInfo(SetOrGet, GetBufferSize, SetBufferOrGetBuffer, SetChange)
The path has to be absolute, so if you're using something relative to your script, do:
path = os.path.abspath(path)
To see more stuff you can do with SystemParametersInfo, see the docs.
(near the bottom there's an example to change the mouse speed)
P.S. There are many answers already here, but they're leaving out the broadcasting you're supposed to do. Sure it works without it, but it's bad practice not to use it properly.
P.P.S And they only gave hard coded values, rather than the variables they come from.
Also note, i use 512 characters for the buffer size when getting the path, just to be more safe since paths might exceed 256. I doubt anyone will have paths as long as that though.
One more note. I've only tested the above examples in Python 3, but i don't think SystemParametersInfoA needs the .encode() in Python 2. (they updated strings in Python 3 to unicode i believe) The string in SystemParametersInfoW may need converting for Python 2.

I read all the answers and after searching for a while i found a easier solution.
Install the module named py-wallpaper.
pip install py-wallpaper
Import the module.
from wallpaper import set_wallpaper, get_wallpaper
set the wallpaper using set walpaper
set_wallpaper("location/to/image.jpg")
get the current wallpaper's path using get wallpaper
print(get_wallpaper())
thanks.

changing the background image of desktop
import ctypes
import os
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoA(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, 'your image path', 3)
#'C:\\Users\\Public\\Pictures\\abc.jpg'
it worked fine for me. windows10, python27

On Windows with python2.5 or higher, use ctypes to load user32.dll and call
import ctypes
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW(20,0,"Path_wallpaper", 0)
speak("Background changed succesfully")

Just adding a small precision to ShivaGuntuku 's post :
In python 3 you should replace the 'A' by a 'W' in SytemParametersInfoA. Small exemple to change your desktop background in windows10 with python 3 :
import ctypes
import os
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW(
SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, 'C:\\Users\\godet\\OneDrive\\Images\\breaker_wall.jpg', 0)

this works for me
import ctypes
ctypes.windll.user32.SystemParametersInfoW(20,0,path:os.PathLike,3)

You can use this library PyWallpaper, worked for me on mac also.
To install type pip install PyWallpaper.
And then to change/set your wallpaper -
from PyWallpaper import change_wallpaper
change_wallpaper("/some_path/sample.jpg")