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6 documentation

Using pyttsx3
An application invokes the pyttsx3.init() factory function to get a reference to a pyttsx3.Engine in-
stance. During construction, the engine initializes a pyttsx3.driver.DriverProxy object responsible for
loading a speech engine driver implementation from the pyttsx3.drivers module. After construction, an
application uses the engine object to register and unregister event callbacks; produce and stop speech; get
and set speech engine properties; and start and stop event loops.

The Engine factory

pyttsx3.init ([driverName : string, debug : bool]) → pyttsx3.Engine
Gets a reference to an engine instance that will use the given driver. If the requested driver is already
in use by another engine instance, that engine is returned. Otherwise, a new engine is created.

Parameters: driverName –
Name of the pyttsx3.drivers module to load and use. Defaults to the best available
driver for the platform, currently:

sapi5 - SAPI5 on Windows

nsss - NSSpeechSynthesizer on Mac OS X
espeak - eSpeak on every other platform
debug – Enable debug output or not.
Raises: ImportError – When the requested driver is not found
RuntimeError – When the driver fails to initialize

The Engine interface

class pyttsx3.engine.Engine
Provides application access to text-to-speech synthesis.

connect (topic : string, cb : callable) → dict

Registers a callback for notifications on the given topic.

Parameters: topic – Name of the event to subscribe to.

cb – Function to invoke when the event fires.
Returns: A token that the caller can use to unsubscribe the callback later.

The following are the valid topics and their callback signatures.

started-utterance
Fired when the engine begins speaking an utterance. The associated callback must have the
folowing signature.

onStartUtterance (name : string) → None

Parameters: name – Name associated with the utterance.
started-word
Fired when the engine begins speaking a word. The associated callback must have the folowing
signature.

onStartWord (name : string, location : integer, length : integer)   v: latest 

Parameters: name – Name associated with the utterance.

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finished-utterance
Fired when the engine finishes speaking an utterance. The associated callback must have the
folowing signature.

onFinishUtterance (name : string, completed : bool) → None

Parameters: name – Name associated with the utterance.
completed – True if the utterance was output in its entirety or not.
error
Fired when the engine encounters an error. The associated callback must have the folowing
signature.

onError (name : string, exception : Exception) → None

Parameters: name – Name associated with the utterance that caused the error.
exception – Exception that was raised.
disconnect (token : dict)
Unregisters a notification callback.

Parameters: token – Token returned by connect() associated with the callback to be

disconnected.

endLoop () → None
Ends a running event loop. If startLoop() was called with useDriverLoop set to True, this method
stops processing of engine commands and immediately exits the event loop. If it was called with
False, this method stops processing of engine commands, but it is up to the caller to end the exter-
nal event loop it started.

Raises: RuntimeError – When the loop is not running

getProperty (name : string) → object

Gets the current value of an engine property.

Parameters: name – Name of the property to query.

Returns: Value of the property at the time of this invocation.
The following property names are valid for all drivers.

rate
Integer speech rate in words per minute. Defaults to 200 word per minute.

voice
String identifier of the active voice.

voices
List of pyttsx3.voice.Voice descriptor objects.

volume
Floating point volume in the range of 0.0 to 1.0 inclusive. Defaults to 1.0.

isBusy () → bool
Gets if the engine is currently busy speaking an utterance or not.

Returns: True if speaking, false if not.

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runAndWait () → None

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Blocks while processing all currently queued commands. Invokes callbacks for engine notifications
appropriately. Returns when all commands queued before this call are emptied from the queue.
say (text : unicode, name : string) → None
Queues a command to speak an utterance. The speech is output according to the properties set be-
fore this command in the queue.

Parameters: text – Text to speak.

name – Name to associate with the utterance. Included in notifications about
this utterance.

setProperty (name, value) → None

Queues a command to set an engine property. The new property value affects all utterances
queued after this command.

Parameters: name – Name of the property to change.

value – Value to set.
The following property names are valid for all drivers.

rate
Integer speech rate in words per minute.

voice
String identifier of the active voice.

volume
Floating point volume in the range of 0.0 to 1.0 inclusive.

startLoop ([useDriverLoop : bool]) → None

Starts running an event loop during which queued commands are processed and notifications are
fired.

Parameters: useDriverLoop – True to use the loop provided by the selected driver. False to
indicate the caller will enter its own loop after invoking this method. The caller’s
loop must pump events for the driver in use so that pyttsx3 notifications are deliv-
ered properly (e.g., SAPI5 requires a COM message pump). Defaults to True.

stop () → None
Stops the current utterance and clears the command queue.

The Voice metadata

class pyttsx3.voice.Voice
Contains information about a speech synthesizer voice.

age
Integer age of the voice in years. Defaults to None if unknown.

gender
String gender of the voice: male, female, or neutral. Defaults to None if unknown.

id
String identifier of the voice. Used to set the active voice via   v: latest 
pyttsx3.engine.Engine.setPropertyValue(). This attribute is always defined.

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languages
List of string languages supported by this voice. Defaults to an empty list of unknown.

name
Human readable name of the voice. Defaults to None if unknown.

Examples
Speaking text
import pyttsx3
engine = pyttsx3.init()
engine.say('Sally sells seashells by the seashore.')
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.')
engine.runAndWait()

Saving voice to a file

import pyttsx3
engine = pyttsx3.init()
engine.save_to_file('Hello World' , 'test.mp3')
engine.runAndWait()

Listening for events

import pyttsx3
def onStart(name):
print 'starting', name
def onWord(name, location, length):
print 'word', name, location, length
def onEnd(name, completed):
print 'finishing', name, completed
engine = pyttsx3.init()
engine.connect('started-utterance', onStart)
engine.connect('started-word', onWord)
engine.connect('finished-utterance', onEnd)
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.')
engine.runAndWait()

Interrupting an utterance
import pyttsx3
def onWord(name, location, length):
print 'word', name, location, length
if location > 10:
engine.stop()
engine = pyttsx3.init()
engine.connect('started-word', onWord)
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.')
engine.runAndWait()

  v: latest 
Changing voices

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engine = pyttsx3.init()
voices = engine.getProperty('voices')
for voice in voices:
engine.setProperty('voice', voice.id)
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.')
engine.runAndWait()

Changing speech rate

engine = pyttsx3.init()
rate = engine.getProperty('rate')
engine.setProperty('rate', rate+50)
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.')
engine.runAndWait()

Changing volume
engine = pyttsx3.init()
volume = engine.getProperty('volume')
engine.setProperty('volume', volume-0.25)
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.')
engine.runAndWait()

Running a driver event loop

engine = pyttsx3.init()
def onStart(name):
print 'starting', name
def onWord(name, location, length):
print 'word', name, location, length
def onEnd(name, completed):
print 'finishing', name, completed
if name == 'fox':
engine.say('What a lazy dog!', 'dog')
elif name == 'dog':
engine.endLoop()
engine = pyttsx3.init()
engine.connect('started-utterance', onStart)
engine.connect('started-word', onWord)
engine.connect('finished-utterance', onEnd)
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.', 'fox')
engine.startLoop()

Using an external event loop

engine = pyttsx3.init()
engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.', 'fox')
engine.startLoop(False)
# engine.iterate() must be called inside externalLoop()
externalLoop()
engine.endLoop()

  v: latest 

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