Cairo Context

class Context()

class cairo.Context(target: _SomeSurface)

Context is the main object used when drawing with cairo. To draw with cairo, you create a Context, set the target surface, and drawing options for the Context, create shapes with functions like Context.move_to() and Context.line_to(), and then draw shapes with Context.stroke() or Context.fill().

Contexts can be pushed to a stack via Context.save(). They may then safely be changed, without losing the current state. Use Context.restore() to restore to the saved state.

__init__(target: _SomeSurface) → None
Parameters:

target – target Surface for the context

Raises:

MemoryError in case of no memory

Creates a new Context with all graphics state parameters set to default values and with target as a target surface. The target surface should be constructed with a backend-specific function such as ImageSurface (or any other cairo backend surface create variant).

append_path(path: Path) → None
Parameters:

path – Path to be appended

Append the path onto the current path. The path may be either the return value from one of Context.copy_path() or Context.copy_path_flat() or it may be constructed manually (in C).

arc(xc: float, yc: float, radius: float, angle1: float, angle2: float) → None
Parameters:

  • xc – X position of the center of the arc

  • yc – Y position of the center of the arc

  • radius – the radius of the arc

  • angle1 – the start angle, in radians

  • angle2 – the end angle, in radians

Adds a circular arc of the given radius to the current path. The arc is centered at (xc, yc), begins at angle1 and proceeds in the direction of increasing angles to end at angle2. If angle2 is less than angle1 it will be progressively increased by 2*PI until it is greater than angle1.

If there is a current point, an initial line segment will be added to the path to connect the current point to the beginning of the arc. If this initial line is undesired, it can be avoided by calling Context.new_sub_path() before calling Context.arc().

Angles are measured in radians. An angle of 0.0 is in the direction of the positive X axis (in user space). An angle of PI/2.0 radians (90 degrees) is in the direction of the positive Y axis (in user space). Angles increase in the direction from the positive X axis toward the positive Y axis. So with the default transformation matrix, angles increase in a clockwise direction.

To convert from degrees to radians, use degrees * (math.pi / 180).

This function gives the arc in the direction of increasing angles; see Context.arc_negative() to get the arc in the direction of decreasing angles.

The arc is circular in user space. To achieve an elliptical arc, you can scale the current transformation matrix by different amounts in the X and Y directions. For example, to draw an ellipse in the box given by x, y, width, height:

ctx.save()
ctx.translate(x + width / 2., y + height / 2.)
ctx.scale(width / 2., height / 2.)
ctx.arc(0., 0., 1., 0., 2 * math.pi)
ctx.restore()
arc_negative(xc: float, yc: float, radius: float, angle1: float, angle2: float) → None
Parameters:

  • xc – X position of the center of the arc

  • yc – Y position of the center of the arc

  • radius – the radius of the arc

  • angle1 – the start angle, in radians

  • angle2 – the end angle, in radians

Adds a circular arc of the given radius to the current path. The arc is centered at (xc, yc), begins at angle1 and proceeds in the direction of decreasing angles to end at angle2. If angle2 is greater than angle1 it will be progressively decreased by 2*PI until it is less than angle1.

See Context.arc() for more details. This function differs only in the direction of the arc between the two angles.

clip() → None

Establishes a new clip region by intersecting the current clip region with the current path as it would be filled by Context.fill() and according to the current fill rule (see Context.set_fill_rule()).

After clip(), the current path will be cleared from the Context.

The current clip region affects all drawing operations by effectively masking out any changes to the surface that are outside the current clip region.

Calling clip() can only make the clip region smaller, never larger. But the current clip is part of the graphics state, so a temporary restriction of the clip region can be achieved by calling clip() within a Context.save()/Context.restore() pair. The only other means of increasing the size of the clip region is Context.reset_clip().

clip_extents() → Tuple[float, float, float, float]
Returns:

(x1, y1, x2, y2), all float

  • x1: left of the resulting extents

  • y1: top of the resulting extents

  • x2: right of the resulting extents

  • y2: bottom of the resulting extents

Computes a bounding box in user coordinates covering the area inside the current clip.

New in version 1.4.

clip_preserve() → None

Establishes a new clip region by intersecting the current clip region with the current path as it would be filled by Context.fill() and according to the current fill rule (see Context.set_fill_rule()).

Unlike Context.clip(), clip_preserve() preserves the path within the Context.

The current clip region affects all drawing operations by effectively masking out any changes to the surface that are outside the current clip region.

Calling clip_preserve() can only make the clip region smaller, never larger. But the current clip is part of the graphics state, so a temporary restriction of the clip region can be achieved by calling clip_preserve() within a Context.save()/Context.restore() pair. The only other means of increasing the size of the clip region is Context.reset_clip().

close_path() → None

Adds a line segment to the path from the current point to the beginning of the current sub-path, (the most recent point passed to Context.move_to()), and closes this sub-path. After this call the current point will be at the joined endpoint of the sub-path.

The behavior of close_path() is distinct from simply calling Context.line_to() with the equivalent coordinate in the case of stroking. When a closed sub-path is stroked, there are no caps on the ends of the sub-path. Instead, there is a line join connecting the final and initial segments of the sub-path.

If there is no current point before the call to close_path(), this function will have no effect.

Note: As of cairo version 1.2.4 any call to close_path() will place an explicit MOVE_TO element into the path immediately after the CLOSE_PATH element, (which can be seen in Context.copy_path() for example). This can simplify path processing in some cases as it may not be necessary to save the “last move_to point” during processing as the MOVE_TO immediately after the CLOSE_PATH will provide that point.

copy_clip_rectangle_list() → List[Rectangle]
Returns:

the current clip region as a list of rectangles in user coordinates. Returns a list of Rectangle

New in version 1.4.

copy_page() → None

Emits the current page for backends that support multiple pages, but doesn’t clear it, so, the contents of the current page will be retained for the next page too. Use Context.show_page() if you want to get an empty page after the emission.

This is a convenience function that simply calls Surface.copy_page() on Context’s target.

copy_path() → Path
Returns:

Path

Raises:

MemoryError in case of no memory

Creates a copy of the current path and returns it to the user as a Path.

copy_path_flat() → Path
Returns:

Path

Raises:

MemoryError in case of no memory

Gets a flattened copy of the current path and returns it to the user as a Path.

This function is like Context.copy_path() except that any curves in the path will be approximated with piecewise-linear approximations, (accurate to within the current tolerance value). That is, the result is guaranteed to not have any elements of type CAIRO_PATH_CURVE_TO which will instead be replaced by a series of CAIRO_PATH_LINE_TO elements.

curve_to(x1: float, y1: float, x2: float, y2: float, x3: float, y3: float) → None
Parameters:

  • x1 – the X coordinate of the first control point

  • y1 – the Y coordinate of the first control point

  • x2 – the X coordinate of the second control point

  • y2 – the Y coordinate of the second control point

  • x3 – the X coordinate of the end of the curve

  • y3 – the Y coordinate of the end of the curve

Adds a cubic Bézier spline to the path from the current point to position (x3, y3) in user-space coordinates, using (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) as the control points. After this call the current point will be (x3, y3).

If there is no current point before the call to curve_to() this function will behave as if preceded by a call to ctx.move_to(x1, y1).

device_to_user(x: float, y: float) → Tuple[float, float]
Parameters:

  • x – X value of coordinate

  • y – Y value of coordinate

Returns:

(x, y), both float

Transform a coordinate from device space to user space by multiplying the given point by the inverse of the current transformation matrix (CTM).

device_to_user_distance(dx: float, dy: float) → Tuple[float, float]
Parameters:

  • dx – X component of a distance vector

  • dy – Y component of a distance vector

Returns:

(dx, dy), both float

Transform a distance vector from device space to user space. This function is similar to Context.device_to_user() except that the translation components of the inverse CTM will be ignored when transforming (dx,dy).

fill() → None

A drawing operator that fills the current path according to the current fill rule, (each sub-path is implicitly closed before being filled). After fill(), the current path will be cleared from the Context. See Context.set_fill_rule() and Context.fill_preserve().

fill_extents() → Tuple[float, float, float, float]
Returns:

(x1, y1, x2, y2), all float

  • x1: left of the resulting extents

  • y1: top of the resulting extents

  • x2: right of the resulting extents

  • y2: bottom of the resulting extents

Computes a bounding box in user coordinates covering the area that would be affected, (the “inked” area), by a Context.fill() operation given the current path and fill parameters. If the current path is empty, returns an empty rectangle (0,0,0,0). Surface dimensions and clipping are not taken into account.

Contrast with Context.path_extents(), which is similar, but returns non-zero extents for some paths with no inked area, (such as a simple line segment).

Note that fill_extents() must necessarily do more work to compute the precise inked areas in light of the fill rule, so Context.path_extents() may be more desirable for sake of performance if the non-inked path extents are desired.

See Context.fill(), Context.set_fill_rule() and Context.fill_preserve().

fill_preserve() → None

A drawing operator that fills the current path according to the current fill rule, (each sub-path is implicitly closed before being filled). Unlike Context.fill(), fill_preserve() preserves the path within the Context.

See Context.set_fill_rule() and Context.fill().

font_extents() → Tuple[float, float, float, float, float]
Returns:

(ascent, descent, height, max_x_advance, max_y_advance), all float

Gets the font extents for the currently selected font.

get_antialias() → Antialias
Returns:

the current antialias mode, as set by Context.set_antialias().

get_current_point() → Tuple[float, float]
Returns:

(x, y), both float

  • x: X coordinate of the current point

  • y: Y coordinate of the current point

Gets the current point of the current path, which is conceptually the final point reached by the path so far.

The current point is returned in the user-space coordinate system. If there is no defined current point or if Context is in an error status, x and y will both be set to 0.0. It is possible to check this in advance with Context.has_current_point().

Most path construction functions alter the current point. See the following for details on how they affect the current point: Context.new_path(), Context.new_sub_path(), Context.append_path(), Context.close_path(), Context.move_to(), Context.line_to(), Context.curve_to(), Context.rel_move_to(), Context.rel_line_to(), Context.rel_curve_to(), Context.arc(), Context.arc_negative(), Context.rectangle(), Context.text_path(), Context.glyph_path().

Some functions use and alter the current point but do not otherwise change current path: Context.show_text().

Some functions unset the current path and as a result, current point: Context.fill(), Context.stroke().

get_dash() → Tuple[List[float], float]
Returns:

(dashes, offset)

  • dashes: return value as a tuple for the dash array

  • offset: return value as float for the current dash offset

Gets the current dash array.

New in version 1.4.

get_dash_count() → int
Returns:

the length of the dash array, or 0 if no dash array set.

See also Context.set_dash() and Context.get_dash().

New in version 1.4.

get_fill_rule() → FillRule
Returns:

the current fill rule, as set by Context.set_fill_rule().

get_font_face() → FontFace
Returns:

the current FontFace for the Context.

get_font_matrix() → Matrix
Returns:

the current Matrix for the Context.

See Context.set_font_matrix().

get_font_options() → FontOptions
Returns:

the current FontOptions for the Context.

Retrieves font rendering options set via Context.set_font_options(). Note that the returned options do not include any options derived from the underlying surface; they are literally the options passed to Context.set_font_options().

get_group_target() → Surface
Returns:

the target Surface.

Gets the current destination Surface for the Context. This is either the original target surface as passed to Context or the target surface for the current group as started by the most recent call to Context.push_group() or Context.push_group_with_content().

New in version 1.2.

get_hairline() → bool
Returns:

whether hairline mode is set.

Returns whether or not hairline mode is set, as set by Context.set_hairline().

New in version 1.23: Only available with cairo 1.17.6+

get_line_cap() → LineCap
Returns:

the current line cap style, as set by Context.set_line_cap().

get_line_join() → LineJoin
Returns:

the current line join style, as set by Context.set_line_join().

get_line_width() → float
Returns:

the current line width

This function returns the current line width value exactly as set by Context.set_line_width(). Note that the value is unchanged even if the CTM has changed between the calls to Context.set_line_width() and get_line_width().

get_matrix() → Matrix
Returns:

the current transformation Matrix (CTM)

get_miter_limit() → float
Returns:

the current miter limit, as set by Context.set_miter_limit().

get_operator() → Operator
Returns:

the current compositing operator for a Context.

get_scaled_font() → ScaledFont
Returns:

the current ScaledFont for a Context.

New in version 1.4.

get_source() → Pattern
Returns:

the current source Pattern for a Context.

get_target() → _SomeSurface
Returns:

the target Surface for the Context

get_tolerance() → float
Returns:

the current tolerance value, as set by Context.set_tolerance()

glyph_extents(glyphs: Sequence[Glyph]) → TextExtents
Parameters:

glyphs – glyphs, a sequence of Glyph

Gets the extents for an array of glyphs. The extents describe a user-space rectangle that encloses the “inked” portion of the glyphs, (as they would be drawn by Context.show_glyphs()). Additionally, the x_advance and y_advance values indicate the amount by which the current point would be advanced by Context.show_glyphs().

Note that whitespace glyphs do not contribute to the size of the rectangle (extents.width and extents.height).

glyph_path(glyphs: Sequence[Glyph]) → None
Parameters:

glyphs – glyphs to show, a sequence of Glyph

Adds closed paths for the glyphs to the current path. The generated path if filled, achieves an effect similar to that of Context.show_glyphs().

has_current_point() → bool
Returns:

True iff a current point is defined on the current path. See Context.get_current_point() for details on the current point.

New in version 1.6.

identity_matrix() → None

Resets the current transformation Matrix (CTM) by setting it equal to the identity matrix. That is, the user-space and device-space axes will be aligned and one user-space unit will transform to one device-space unit.

in_clip(x: float, y: float) → bool
Parameters:

  • x – X coordinate of the point to test

  • y – Y coordinate of the point to test

Returns:

True if the point is inside, or False if outside.

Tests whether the given point is inside the area that would be visible through the current clip, i.e. the area that would be filled by a paint() operation.

See clip(), and clip_preserve().

New in version 1.12.0.

in_fill(x: float, y: float) → bool
Parameters:

  • x – X coordinate of the point to test

  • y – Y coordinate of the point to test

Returns:

True iff the point is inside the area that would be affected by a Context.fill() operation given the current path and filling parameters. Surface dimensions and clipping are not taken into account.

See Context.fill(), Context.set_fill_rule() and Context.fill_preserve().

in_stroke(x: float, y: float) → bool
Parameters:

  • x – X coordinate of the point to test

  • y – Y coordinate of the point to test

Returns:

True iff the point is inside the area that would be affected by a Context.stroke() operation given the current path and stroking parameters. Surface dimensions and clipping are not taken into account.

See Context.stroke(), Context.set_line_width(), Context.set_line_join(), Context.set_line_cap(), Context.set_dash(), and Context.stroke_preserve().

line_to(x: float, y: float) → None
Parameters:

  • x – the X coordinate of the end of the new line

  • y – the Y coordinate of the end of the new line

Adds a line to the path from the current point to position (x, y) in user-space coordinates. After this call the current point will be (x, y).

If there is no current point before the call to line_to() this function will behave as ctx.move_to(x, y).

mask(pattern: Pattern) → None
Parameters:

pattern – a Pattern

A drawing operator that paints the current source using the alpha channel of pattern as a mask. (Opaque areas of pattern are painted with the source, transparent areas are not painted.)

mask_surface(surface: Surface, x: float = 0.0, y: float = 0.0) → None
Parameters:

  • surface – a Surface

  • x – X coordinate at which to place the origin of surface

  • y – Y coordinate at which to place the origin of surface

A drawing operator that paints the current source using the alpha channel of surface as a mask. (Opaque areas of surface are painted with the source, transparent areas are not painted.)

move_to(x: float, y: float) → None
Parameters:

  • x – the X coordinate of the new position

  • y – the Y coordinate of the new position

Begin a new sub-path. After this call the current point will be (x, y).

new_path() → None

Clears the current path. After this call there will be no path and no current point.

new_sub_path() → None

Begin a new sub-path. Note that the existing path is not affected. After this call there will be no current point.

In many cases, this call is not needed since new sub-paths are frequently started with Context.move_to().

A call to new_sub_path() is particularly useful when beginning a new sub-path with one of the Context.arc() calls. This makes things easier as it is no longer necessary to manually compute the arc’s initial coordinates for a call to Context.move_to().

New in version 1.6.

paint() → None

A drawing operator that paints the current source everywhere within the current clip region.

paint_with_alpha(alpha: float) → None
Parameters:

alpha – alpha value, between 0 (transparent) and 1 (opaque)

A drawing operator that paints the current source everywhere within the current clip region using a mask of constant alpha value alpha. The effect is similar to Context.paint(), but the drawing is faded out using the alpha value.

path_extents() → Tuple[float, float, float, float]
Returns:

(x1, y1, x2, y2), all float

  • x1: left of the resulting extents

  • y1: top of the resulting extents

  • x2: right of the resulting extents

  • y2: bottom of the resulting extents

Computes a bounding box in user-space coordinates covering the points on the current path. If the current path is empty, returns an empty rectangle (0, 0, 0, 0). Stroke parameters, fill rule, surface dimensions and clipping are not taken into account.

Contrast with Context.fill_extents() and Context.stroke_extents() which return the extents of only the area that would be “inked” by the corresponding drawing operations.

The result of path_extents() is defined as equivalent to the limit of Context.stroke_extents() with cairo.LINE_CAP_ROUND as the line width approaches 0.0, (but never reaching the empty-rectangle returned by Context.stroke_extents() for a line width of 0.0).

Specifically, this means that zero-area sub-paths such as Context.move_to(); Context.line_to() segments, (even degenerate cases where the coordinates to both calls are identical), will be considered as contributing to the extents. However, a lone Context.move_to() will not contribute to the results of Context.path_extents().

New in version 1.6.

pop_group() → SurfacePattern
Returns:

a newly created SurfacePattern containing the results of all drawing operations performed to the group.

Terminates the redirection begun by a call to Context.push_group() or Context.push_group_with_content() and returns a new pattern containing the results of all drawing operations performed to the group.

The pop_group() function calls Context.restore(), (balancing a call to Context.save() by the Context.push_group() function), so that any changes to the graphics state will not be visible outside the group.

New in version 1.2.

pop_group_to_source() → None

Terminates the redirection begun by a call to Context.push_group() or Context.push_group_with_content() and installs the resulting pattern as the source Pattern in the given Context.

The behavior of this function is equivalent to the sequence of operations:

group = cairo_pop_group()
ctx.set_source(group)

but is more convenient as their is no need for a variable to store the short-lived pointer to the pattern.

The Context.pop_group() function calls Context.restore(), (balancing a call to Context.save() by the Context.push_group() function), so that any changes to the graphics state will not be visible outside the group.

New in version 1.2.

push_group() → None

Temporarily redirects drawing to an intermediate surface known as a group. The redirection lasts until the group is completed by a call to Context.pop_group() or Context.pop_group_to_source(). These calls provide the result of any drawing to the group as a pattern, (either as an explicit object, or set as the source pattern).

This group functionality can be convenient for performing intermediate compositing. One common use of a group is to render objects as opaque within the group, (so that they occlude each other), and then blend the result with translucence onto the destination.

Groups can be nested arbitrarily deep by making balanced calls to Context.push_group()/Context.pop_group(). Each call pushes/pops the new target group onto/from a stack.

The push_group() function calls Context.save() so that any changes to the graphics state will not be visible outside the group, (the pop_group functions call Context.restore()).

By default the intermediate group will have a cairo.Content type of cairo.Content.COLOR_ALPHA. Other content types can be chosen for the group by using Context.push_group_with_content() instead.

As an example, here is how one might fill and stroke a path with translucence, but without any portion of the fill being visible under the stroke:

ctx.push_group()
ctx.set_source(fill_pattern)
ctx.fill_preserve()
ctx.set_source(stroke_pattern)
ctx.stroke()
ctx.pop_group_to_source()
ctx.paint_with_alpha(alpha)

New in version 1.2.

push_group_with_content(content: Content) → None
Parameters:

content (cairo.Content) – a content indicating the type of group that will be created

Temporarily redirects drawing to an intermediate surface known as a group. The redirection lasts until the group is completed by a call to Context.pop_group() or Context.pop_group_to_source(). These calls provide the result of any drawing to the group as a pattern, (either as an explicit object, or set as the source pattern).

The group will have a content type of content. The ability to control this content type is the only distinction between this function and Context.push_group() which you should see for a more detailed description of group rendering.

New in version 1.2.

rectangle(x: float, y: float, width: float, height: float) → None
Parameters:

  • x – the X coordinate of the top left corner of the rectangle

  • y – the Y coordinate to the top left corner of the rectangle

  • width – the width of the rectangle

  • height – the height of the rectangle

Adds a closed sub-path rectangle of the given size to the current path at position (x, y) in user-space coordinates.

This function is logically equivalent to:

ctx.move_to(x, y)
ctx.rel_line_to(width, 0)
ctx.rel_line_to(0, height)
ctx.rel_line_to(-width, 0)
ctx.close_path()
rel_curve_to(dx1: float, dy1: float, dx2: float, dy2: float, dx3: float, dy3: float) → None
Parameters:

  • dx1 – the X offset to the first control point

  • dy1 – the Y offset to the first control point

  • dx2 – the X offset to the second control point

  • dy2 – the Y offset to the second control point

  • dx3 – the X offset to the end of the curve

  • dy3 – the Y offset to the end of the curve

Raises:

cairo.Error if called with no current point.

Relative-coordinate version of Context.curve_to(). All offsets are relative to the current point. Adds a cubic Bézier spline to the path from the current point to a point offset from the current point by (dx3, dy3), using points offset by (dx1, dy1) and (dx2, dy2) as the control points. After this call the current point will be offset by (dx3, dy3).

Given a current point of (x, y), ctx.rel_curve_to(dx1, dy1, dx2, dy2, dx3, dy3) is logically equivalent to ctx.curve_to(x+dx1, y+dy1, x+dx2, y+dy2, x+dx3, y+dy3).

rel_line_to(dx: float, dy: float) → None
Parameters:

  • dx – the X offset to the end of the new line

  • dy – the Y offset to the end of the new line

Raises:

cairo.Error if called with no current point.

Relative-coordinate version of Context.line_to(). Adds a line to the path from the current point to a point that is offset from the current point by (dx, dy) in user space. After this call the current point will be offset by (dx, dy).

Given a current point of (x, y), ctx.rel_line_to(dx, dy) is logically equivalent to ctx.line_to(x + dx, y + dy).

rel_move_to(dx: float, dy: float) → None
Parameters:

  • dx – the X offset

  • dy – the Y offset

Raises:

cairo.Error if called with no current point.

Begin a new sub-path. After this call the current point will offset by (dx, dy).

Given a current point of (x, y), ctx.rel_move_to(dx, dy) is logically equivalent to ctx.(x + dx, y + dy).

reset_clip() → None

Reset the current clip region to its original, unrestricted state. That is, set the clip region to an infinitely large shape containing the target surface. Equivalently, if infinity is too hard to grasp, one can imagine the clip region being reset to the exact bounds of the target surface.

Note that code meant to be reusable should not call reset_clip() as it will cause results unexpected by higher-level code which calls clip(). Consider using save() and restore() around clip() as a more robust means of temporarily restricting the clip region.

restore() → None

Restores Context to the state saved by a preceding call to save() and removes that state from the stack of saved states.

rotate(angle: float) → None
Parameters:

angle – angle (in radians) by which the user-space axes will be rotated

Modifies the current transformation matrix (CTM) by rotating the user-space axes by angle radians. The rotation of the axes takes places after any existing transformation of user space. The rotation direction for positive angles is from the positive X axis toward the positive Y axis.

save() → None

Makes a copy of the current state of Context and saves it on an internal stack of saved states. When restore() is called, Context will be restored to the saved state. Multiple calls to save() and restore() can be nested; each call to restore() restores the state from the matching paired save().

scale(sx: float, sy: float) → None
Parameters:

  • sx – scale factor for the X dimension

  • sy – scale factor for the Y dimension

Modifies the current transformation matrix (CTM) by scaling the X and Y user-space axes by sx and sy respectively. The scaling of the axes takes place after any existing transformation of user space.

select_font_face(family: str, slant: FontSlant = Ellipsis, weight: FontWeight = Ellipsis) → None
Parameters:

Note: The select_font_face() function call is part of what the cairo designers call the “toy” text API. It is convenient for short demos and simple programs, but it is not expected to be adequate for serious text-using applications.

Selects a family and style of font from a simplified description as a family name, slant and weight. Cairo provides no operation to list available family names on the system (this is a “toy”, remember), but the standard CSS2 generic family names, (“serif”, “sans-serif”, “cursive”, “fantasy”, “monospace”), are likely to work as expected.

For “real” font selection, see the font-backend-specific font_face_create functions for the font backend you are using. (For example, if you are using the freetype-based cairo-ft font backend, see cairo_ft_font_face_create_for_ft_face() or cairo_ft_font_face_create_for_pattern().) The resulting font face could then be used with cairo_scaled_font_create() and cairo_set_scaled_font().

Similarly, when using the “real” font support, you can call directly into the underlying font system, (such as fontconfig or freetype), for operations such as listing available fonts, etc.

It is expected that most applications will need to use a more comprehensive font handling and text layout library, (for example, pango), in conjunction with cairo.

If text is drawn without a call to select_font_face(), (nor set_font_face() nor set_scaled_font()), the default family is platform-specific, but is essentially “sans-serif”. Default slant is cairo.FontSlant.NORMAL, and default weight is cairo.FontWeight.NORMAL.

This function is equivalent to a call to ToyFontFace followed by set_font_face().

set_antialias(antialias: Antialias) → None
Parameters:

antialias – the new antialias mode

Set the antialiasing mode of the rasterizer used for drawing shapes. This value is a hint, and a particular backend may or may not support a particular value. At the current time, no backend supports cairo.Antialias.SUBPIXEL when drawing shapes.

Note that this option does not affect text rendering, instead see FontOptions.set_antialias().

set_dash(dashes: Sequence[float], offset: float = 0) → None
Parameters:

  • dashes – a sequence specifying alternate lengths of on and off stroke portions as float.

  • offset – an offset into the dash pattern at which the stroke should start, defaults to 0.

Raises:

cairo.Error if any value in dashes is negative, or if all values are 0.

Sets the dash pattern to be used by stroke(). A dash pattern is specified by dashes - a sequence of positive values. Each value provides the length of alternate “on” and “off” portions of the stroke. The offset specifies an offset into the pattern at which the stroke begins.

Each “on” segment will have caps applied as if the segment were a separate sub-path. In particular, it is valid to use an “on” length of 0.0 with cairo.LineCap.ROUND or cairo.LineCap.SQUARE in order to distributed dots or squares along a path.

Note: The length values are in user-space units as evaluated at the time of stroking. This is not necessarily the same as the user space at the time of set_dash().

If the number of dashes is 0 dashing is disabled.

If the number of dashes is 1 a symmetric pattern is assumed with alternating on and off portions of the size specified by the single value in dashes.

set_fill_rule(fill_rule: FillRule) → None
Parameters:

fill_rule – a fill rule to set the within the cairo context. The fill rule is used to determine which regions are inside or outside a complex (potentially self-intersecting) path. The current fill rule affects both fill() and clip().

The default fill rule is cairo.FillRule.WINDING.

set_font_face(font_face: FontFace | None) → None
Parameters:

font_face – a FontFace, or None to restore to the default FontFace

Replaces the current FontFace object in the Context with font_face.

set_font_matrix(matrix: Matrix) → None
Parameters:

matrix – a Matrix describing a transform to be applied to the current font.

Sets the current font matrix to matrix. The font matrix gives a transformation from the design space of the font (in this space, the em-square is 1 unit by 1 unit) to user space. Normally, a simple scale is used (see set_font_size()), but a more complex font matrix can be used to shear the font or stretch it unequally along the two axes

set_font_options(options: FontOptions) → None
Parameters:

options – FontOptions to use

Sets a set of custom font rendering options for the Context. Rendering options are derived by merging these options with the options derived from underlying surface; if the value in options has a default value (like cairo.Antialias.DEFAULT), then the value from the surface is used.

set_font_size(size: float) → None
Parameters:

size – the new font size, in user space units

Sets the current font matrix to a scale by a factor of size, replacing any font matrix previously set with set_font_size() or set_font_matrix(). This results in a font size of size user space units. (More precisely, this matrix will result in the font’s em-square being a size by size square in user space.)

If text is drawn without a call to set_font_size(), (nor set_font_matrix() nor set_scaled_font()), the default font size is 10.0.

set_hairline(set_hairline: bool) → None
Parameters:

set_hairline – whether or not to set hairline mode

Sets lines within the cairo context to be hairlines. Hairlines are logically zero-width lines that are drawn at the thinnest renderable width possible in the current context. On surfaces with native hairline support, the native hairline functionality will be used. Surfaces that support hairlines include:

  • pdf/ps: Encoded as 0-width line.

  • win32_printing: Rendered with PS_COSMETIC pen.

  • svg: Encoded as 1px non-scaling-stroke.

  • script: Encoded with set-hairline function.

Cairo will always render hairlines at 1 device unit wide, even if an anisotropic scaling was applied to the stroke width. In the wild, handling of this situation is not well-defined. Some PDF, PS, and SVG renderers match Cairo’s output, but some very popular implementations (Acrobat, Chrome, rsvg) will scale the hairline unevenly. As such, best practice is to reset any anisotropic scaling before calling stroke(). See https://cairographics.org/cookbook/ellipses/ for an example.

New in version 1.23: Only available with cairo 1.17.6+

set_line_cap(line_cap: LineCap) → None
Parameters:

line_cap – a line cap style

Sets the current line cap style within the Context.

As with the other stroke parameters, the current line cap style is examined by stroke() and stroke_extents(), but does not have any effect during path construction.

The default line cap style is cairo.LineCap.BUTT.

set_line_join(line_join: LineJoin) → None
Parameters:

line_join – a line join style

Sets the current line join style within the Context.

As with the other stroke parameters, the current line join style is examined by stroke() and stroke_extents(), but does not have any effect during path construction.

The default line join style is cairo.LineJoin.MITER.

set_line_width(width: float) → None
Parameters:

width – a line width

Sets the current line width within the Context. The line width value specifies the diameter of a pen that is circular in user space, (though device-space pen may be an ellipse in general due to scaling/shear/rotation of the CTM).

Note: When the description above refers to user space and CTM it refers to the user space and CTM in effect at the time of the stroking operation, not the user space and CTM in effect at the time of the call to set_line_width(). The simplest usage makes both of these spaces identical. That is, if there is no change to the CTM between a call to set_line_width() and the stroking operation, then one can just pass user-space values to set_line_width() and ignore this note.

As with the other stroke parameters, the current line width is examined by stroke() and stroke_extents(), but does not have any effect during path construction.

The default line width value is 2.0.

set_matrix(matrix: Matrix) → None
Parameters:

matrix – a transformation Matrix from user space to device space.

Modifies the current transformation matrix (CTM) by setting it equal to matrix.

set_miter_limit(limit: float) → None
Parameters:

limit – miter limit to set

Sets the current miter limit within the Context.

If the current line join style is set to cairo.LineJoin.MITER (see set_line_join()), the miter limit is used to determine whether the lines should be joined with a bevel instead of a miter. Cairo divides the length of the miter by the line width. If the result is greater than the miter limit, the style is converted to a bevel.

As with the other stroke parameters, the current line miter limit is examined by stroke() and stroke_extents(), but does not have any effect during path construction.

The default miter limit value is 10.0, which will convert joins with interior angles less than 11 degrees to bevels instead of miters. For reference, a miter limit of 2.0 makes the miter cutoff at 60 degrees, and a miter limit of 1.414 makes the cutoff at 90 degrees.

A miter limit for a desired angle can be computed as:

miter limit = 1/math.sin(angle/2)
set_operator(op: Operator) → None
Parameters:

op – the compositing operator to set for use in all drawing operations.

The default operator is cairo.Operator.OVER.

set_scaled_font(scaled_font: ScaledFont) → None
Parameters:

scaled_font – a ScaledFont

Replaces the current font face, font matrix, and font options in the Context with those of the ScaledFont. Except for some translation, the current CTM of the Context should be the same as that of the ScaledFont, which can be accessed using ScaledFont.get_ctm().

New in version 1.2.

set_source(source: Pattern) → None
Parameters:

source – a Pattern to be used as the source for subsequent drawing operations.

Sets the source pattern within Context to source. This pattern will then be used for any subsequent drawing operation until a new source pattern is set.

Note: The pattern’s transformation matrix will be locked to the user space in effect at the time of set_source(). This means that further modifications of the current transformation matrix will not affect the source pattern. See Pattern.set_matrix().

The default source pattern is a solid pattern that is opaque black, (that is, it is equivalent to set_source_rgb(0.0, 0.0, 0.0).

set_source_rgb(red: float, green: float, blue: float) → None
Parameters:

  • red – red component of color

  • green – green component of color

  • blue – blue component of color

Sets the source pattern within Context to an opaque color. This opaque color will then be used for any subsequent drawing operation until a new source pattern is set.

The color components are floating point numbers in the range 0 to 1. If the values passed in are outside that range, they will be clamped.

The default source pattern is opaque black, (that is, it is equivalent to set_source_rgb(0.0, 0.0, 0.0).

set_source_rgba(red: float, green: float, blue: float, alpha: float = 1.0) → None
Parameters:

  • red – red component of color

  • green – green component of color

  • blue – blue component of color

  • alpha – alpha component of color

Sets the source pattern within Context to a translucent color. This color will then be used for any subsequent drawing operation until a new source pattern is set.

The color and alpha components are floating point numbers in the range 0 to 1. If the values passed in are outside that range, they will be clamped.

The default source pattern is opaque black, (that is, it is equivalent to set_source_rgba(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0).

set_source_surface(surface: Surface, x: float = 0.0, y: float = 0.0) → None
Parameters:

  • surface – a Surface to be used to set the source pattern

  • x – User-space X coordinate for surface origin

  • y – User-space Y coordinate for surface origin

This is a convenience function for creating a pattern from a Surface and setting it as the source in Context with set_source().

The x and y parameters give the user-space coordinate at which the surface origin should appear. (The surface origin is its upper-left corner before any transformation has been applied.) The x and y patterns are negated and then set as translation values in the pattern matrix.

Other than the initial translation pattern matrix, as described above, all other pattern attributes, (such as its extend mode), are set to the default values as in SurfacePattern. The resulting pattern can be queried with get_source() so that these attributes can be modified if desired, (eg. to create a repeating pattern with Pattern.set_extend()).

set_tolerance(tolerance: float) → None
Parameters:

tolerance – the tolerance, in device units (typically pixels)

Sets the tolerance used when converting paths into trapezoids. Curved segments of the path will be subdivided until the maximum deviation between the original path and the polygonal approximation is less than tolerance. The default value is 0.1. A larger value will give better performance, a smaller value, better appearance. (Reducing the value from the default value of 0.1 is unlikely to improve appearance significantly.) The accuracy of paths within Cairo is limited by the precision of its internal arithmetic, and the prescribed tolerance is restricted to the smallest representable internal value.

show_glyphs(glyphs: Sequence[Glyph]) → None
Parameters:

glyphs – glyphs to show as a sequence of Glyph

A drawing operator that generates the shape from an array of glyphs, rendered according to the current font face, font size (font matrix), and font options.

show_page() → None

Emits and clears the current page for backends that support multiple pages. Use copy_page() if you don’t want to clear the page.

This is a convenience function that simply calls ctx.get_target() . show_page()

show_text(text: str) → None
Parameters:

text – text

A drawing operator that generates the shape from a string of text, rendered according to the current font_face, font_size (font_matrix), and font_options.

This function first computes a set of glyphs for the string of text. The first glyph is placed so that its origin is at the current point. The origin of each subsequent glyph is offset from that of the previous glyph by the advance values of the previous glyph.

After this call the current point is moved to the origin of where the next glyph would be placed in this same progression. That is, the current point will be at the origin of the final glyph offset by its advance values. This allows for easy display of a single logical string with multiple calls to show_text().

Note: The show_text() function call is part of what the cairo designers call the “toy” text API. It is convenient for short demos and simple programs, but it is not expected to be adequate for serious text-using applications. See show_glyphs() for the “real” text display API in cairo.

show_text_glyphs(utf8: str, glyphs: List[Glyph], clusters: List[TextCluster], cluster_flags: TextClusterFlags) → None
Parameters:

  • utf8 – a string of text

  • glyphs – list of glyphs to show

  • clusters – list of cluster mapping information

  • cluster_flags – cluster mapping flags

Raises:

Error –

New in version 1.15.

This operation has rendering effects similar to Context.show_glyphs() but, if the target surface supports it, uses the provided text and cluster mapping to embed the text for the glyphs shown in the output. If the target does not support the extended attributes, this function acts like the basic Context.show_glyphs() as if it had been passed glyphs .

The mapping between utf8 and glyphs is provided by a list of clusters. Each cluster covers a number of text bytes and glyphs, and neighboring clusters cover neighboring areas of utf8 and glyphs . The clusters should collectively cover utf8 and glyphs in entirety.

The first cluster always covers bytes from the beginning of utf8 . If cluster_flags do not have the TextClusterFlags.BACKWARD set, the first cluster also covers the beginning of glyphs , otherwise it covers the end of the glyphs array and following clusters move backward.

See TextCluster for constraints on valid clusters.

stroke() → None

A drawing operator that strokes the current path according to the current line width, line join, line cap, and dash settings. After stroke(), the current path will be cleared from the cairo context. See set_line_width(), set_line_join(), set_line_cap(), set_dash(), and stroke_preserve().

Note: Degenerate segments and sub-paths are treated specially and provide a useful result. These can result in two different situations:

1. Zero-length “on” segments set in set_dash(). If the cap style is cairo.LineCap.ROUND or cairo.LineCap.SQUARE then these segments will be drawn as circular dots or squares respectively. In the case of cairo.LineCap.SQUARE, the orientation of the squares is determined by the direction of the underlying path.

2. A sub-path created by move_to() followed by either a close_path() or one or more calls to line_to() to the same coordinate as the move_to(). If the cap style is cairo.LineCap.ROUND then these sub-paths will be drawn as circular dots. Note that in the case of cairo.LineCap.SQUARE a degenerate sub-path will not be drawn at all, (since the correct orientation is indeterminate).

In no case will a cap style of cairo.LineCap.BUTT cause anything to be drawn in the case of either degenerate segments or sub-paths.

stroke_extents() → Tuple[float, float, float, float]
Returns:

(x1, y1, x2, y2), all float

  • x1: left of the resulting extents

  • y1: top of the resulting extents

  • x2: right of the resulting extents

  • y2: bottom of the resulting extents

Computes a bounding box in user coordinates covering the area that would be affected, (the “inked” area), by a stroke() operation given the current path and stroke parameters. If the current path is empty, returns an empty rectangle (0, 0, 0, 0). Surface dimensions and clipping are not taken into account.

Note that if the line width is set to exactly zero, then stroke_extents() will return an empty rectangle. Contrast with path_extents() which can be used to compute the non-empty bounds as the line width approaches zero.

Note that stroke_extents() must necessarily do more work to compute the precise inked areas in light of the stroke parameters, so path_extents() may be more desirable for sake of performance if non-inked path extents are desired.

See stroke(), set_line_width(), set_line_join(), set_line_cap(), set_dash(), and stroke_preserve().

stroke_preserve() → None

A drawing operator that strokes the current path according to the current line width, line join, line cap, and dash settings. Unlike stroke(), stroke_preserve() preserves the path within the cairo context.

See set_line_width(), set_line_join(), set_line_cap(), set_dash(), and stroke_preserve().

tag_begin(tag_name: str, attributes: str) → None
Parameters:

  • tag_name – tag name

  • attributes – tag attributes

Marks the beginning of the tag_name structure. Call tag_end() with the same tag_name to mark the end of the structure.

The attributes string is of the form “key1=value2 key2=value2 …”. Values may be boolean (true/false or 1/0), integer, float, string, or an array.

String values are enclosed in single quotes (‘). Single quotes and backslashes inside the string should be escaped with a backslash.

Boolean values may be set to true by only specifying the key. eg the attribute string “key” is the equivalent to “key=true”.

Arrays are enclosed in ‘[]’. eg “rect=[1.2 4.3 2.0 3.0]”.

If no attributes are required, attributes can be an empty string.

See Tags and Links Description for the list of tags and attributes.

Invalid nesting of tags or invalid attributes will cause the context to shutdown with a status of Status.TAG_ERROR.

See tag_end().

New in version 1.18.0: Only available with cairo 1.15.10+

tag_end(tag_name: str) → None
Parameters:

tag_name – tag name

Marks the end of the tag_name structure.

Invalid nesting of tags will cause the context to shutdown with a status of Status.TAG_ERROR.

See tag_begin().

New in version 1.18.0: Only available with cairo 1.15.10+

text_extents(text: str) → TextExtents
Parameters:

text – text to get extents for

Gets the extents for a string of text. The extents describe a user-space rectangle that encloses the “inked” portion of the text, (as it would be drawn by Context.show_text()). Additionally, the x_advance and y_advance values indicate the amount by which the current point would be advanced by Context.show_text().

Note that whitespace characters do not directly contribute to the size of the rectangle (extents.width and extents.height). They do contribute indirectly by changing the position of non-whitespace characters. In particular, trailing whitespace characters are likely to not affect the size of the rectangle, though they will affect the x_advance and y_advance values.

text_path(text: str) → None
Parameters:

text – text

Adds closed paths for text to the current path. The generated path if filled, achieves an effect similar to that of Context.show_text().

Text conversion and positioning is done similar to Context.show_text().

Like Context.show_text(), After this call the current point is moved to the origin of where the next glyph would be placed in this same progression. That is, the current point will be at the origin of the final glyph offset by its advance values. This allows for chaining multiple calls to to Context.text_path() without having to set current point in between.

Note: The text_path() function call is part of what the cairo designers call the “toy” text API. It is convenient for short demos and simple programs, but it is not expected to be adequate for serious text-using applications. See Context.glyph_path() for the “real” text path API in cairo.

transform(matrix: Matrix) → None
Parameters:

matrix – a transformation Matrix to be applied to the user-space axes

Modifies the current transformation matrix (CTM) by applying matrix as an additional transformation. The new transformation of user space takes place after any existing transformation.

translate(tx: float, ty: float) → None
Parameters:

  • tx – amount to translate in the X direction

  • ty – amount to translate in the Y direction

Modifies the current transformation matrix (CTM) by translating the user-space origin by (tx, ty). This offset is interpreted as a user-space coordinate according to the CTM in place before the new call to translate(). In other words, the translation of the user-space origin takes place after any existing transformation.

user_to_device(x: float, y: float) → Tuple[float, float]
Parameters:

  • x – X value of coordinate

  • y – Y value of coordinate

Returns:

(x, y), both float

  • x: X value of coordinate

  • y: Y value of coordinate

Transform a coordinate from user space to device space by multiplying the given point by the current transformation matrix (CTM).

user_to_device_distance(dx: float, dy: float) → Tuple[float, float]
Parameters:

  • dx – X value of a distance vector

  • dy – Y value of a distance vector

Returns:

(dx, dy), both float

  • dx: X value of a distance vector

  • dy: Y value of a distance vector

Transform a distance vector from user space to device space. This function is similar to Context.user_to_device() except that the translation components of the CTM will be ignored when transforming (dx,dy).