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Textbox widget with automatic x and y scrollbars, rounded corners, and all text features of the tkinter.Text widget. Scrollbars only appear when needed. Text wraps at line end by default.

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Constructor

CTkTextbox(master, width, height, corner_radius, border_width, border_spacing,
           bg_color, fg_color, border_color, text_color, scrollbar_button_color,
           scrollbar_button_hover_color, font, activate_scrollbars, **kwargs)
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master
widget
required
Parent widget
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width
int
default:"200"
Width of the textbox in pixels
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height
int
default:"200"
Height of the textbox in pixels
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corner_radius
int
default:"theme"
Corner radius in pixels
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border_width
int
default:"theme"
Border width in pixels
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border_spacing
int
default:"3"
Spacing between border and inner text widget
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bg_color
str | tuple[str, str]
default:"transparent"
Background color
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fg_color
str | tuple[str, str]
default:"theme"
Foreground color of the textbox area
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border_color
str | tuple[str, str]
default:"theme"
Border color
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text_color
str | tuple[str, str]
default:"theme"
Color of the text
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scrollbar_button_color
str | tuple[str, str]
default:"theme"
Color of the scrollbar button
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scrollbar_button_hover_color
str | tuple[str, str]
default:"theme"
Hover color of the scrollbar button
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font
tuple | CTkFont
default:"default font"
Font of the text
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activate_scrollbars
bool
default:"True"
Enable automatic scrollbars when content overflows
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**kwargs
various
Additional tkinter.Text arguments: autoseparators, cursor, exportselection, insertborderwidth, insertofftime, insertontime, insertwidth, maxundo, padx, pady, selectborderwidth, spacing1, spacing2, spacing3, state, tabs, takefocus, undo, wrap, xscrollcommand, yscrollcommand

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Methods

CTkTextbox inherits all methods from tkinter.Text. Below are the most commonly used methods:

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insert

.insert(index, text, tags=None)
Insert text at the specified index.
​
index
str
required
Position to insert text (e.g., “1.0” for beginning, “end” for end)
​
text
str
required
Text to insert
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tags
str | tuple
default:"None"
Optional tags to apply to the inserted text

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get

.get(index1, index2=None) -> str
Get text between two indices.
​
index1
str
required
Starting position (e.g., “1.0”)
​
index2
str
default:"None"
Ending position (defaults to one character after index1)

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delete

.delete(index1, index2=None)
Delete text between two indices.

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configure

.configure(**kwargs)
Configure widget parameters. Accepts all constructor parameters plus tkinter.Text parameters.

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Tag Methods

The following tag methods are inherited from tkinter.Text:
  • .tag_add(tagName, index1, index2) - Add a tag to text range
  • .tag_config(tagName, **kwargs) - Configure tag appearance (note: font option is forbidden)
  • .tag_delete(*tagName) - Delete tags
  • .tag_remove(tagName, index1, index2) - Remove tag from text range
  • .tag_bind(tagName, sequence, func, add=None) - Bind event to tagged text
  • .tag_names(index=None) - Get tag names

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Search and Navigation

  • .search(pattern, index, **kwargs) - Search for text pattern
  • .see(index) - Scroll to make index visible
  • .index(i) - Get canonical index

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Edit Methods

  • .edit_undo() - Undo last change
  • .edit_redo() - Redo last undone change
  • .edit_modified(arg=None) - Get/set modified flag
  • .edit_separator() - Insert undo separator

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View Methods

  • .xview(*args) - Query/modify horizontal view
  • .yview(*args) - Query/modify vertical view

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Scrollbars

CTkTextbox automatically manages two CTkScrollbar widgets:
  • Vertical scrollbar: Appears when content height exceeds widget height
  • Horizontal scrollbar: Appears when content width exceeds widget width (requires wrap="none")
Scrollbars are automatically hidden when not needed and update every 200ms.

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Usage Examples

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Basic Text Input

import customtkinter as ctk

app = ctk.CTk()

textbox = ctk.CTkTextbox(app, width=400, height=200)
textbox.pack(pady=20, padx=20)

# Insert some text
textbox.insert("1.0", "This is a textbox\nwith multiple lines")

app.mainloop()

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Get Text Content

import customtkinter as ctk

app = ctk.CTk()

textbox = ctk.CTkTextbox(app, width=400, height=200)
textbox.pack(pady=20, padx=20)

def get_text():
    # Get all text from beginning to end
    content = textbox.get("1.0", "end")
    print(content)

button = ctk.CTkButton(app, text="Get Text", command=get_text)
button.pack(pady=10)

app.mainloop()

​
Disable Text Wrapping

import customtkinter as ctk

app = ctk.CTk()

# Set wrap="none" to enable horizontal scrollbar
textbox = ctk.CTkTextbox(app, width=400, height=200, wrap="none")
textbox.pack(pady=20, padx=20)

textbox.insert("1.0", "This is a very long line that will require horizontal scrolling when wrap is disabled")

app.mainloop()

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Using Text Tags for Styling

import customtkinter as ctk

app = ctk.CTk()

textbox = ctk.CTkTextbox(app, width=400, height=200)
textbox.pack(pady=20, padx=20)

# Insert text
textbox.insert("1.0", "Normal text\n")
textbox.insert("end", "Bold text\n", "bold")
textbox.insert("end", "Red text\n", "red")

# Configure tags
textbox.tag_config("bold", foreground="white", background="blue")
textbox.tag_config("red", foreground="red")

app.mainloop()

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Read-Only Textbox

import customtkinter as ctk

app = ctk.CTk()

textbox = ctk.CTkTextbox(app, width=400, height=200, state="disabled")
textbox.pack(pady=20, padx=20)

# To insert text in disabled state:
textbox.configure(state="normal")
textbox.insert("1.0", "This text cannot be edited")
textbox.configure(state="disabled")

app.mainloop()

​
Custom Scrollbar Colors

import customtkinter as ctk

app = ctk.CTk()

textbox = ctk.CTkTextbox(
    app,
    width=400,
    height=200,
    scrollbar_button_color="#0066cc",
    scrollbar_button_hover_color="#0052a3"
)
textbox.pack(pady=20, padx=20)

# Add enough text to trigger scrollbar
for i in range(30):
    textbox.insert("end", f"Line {i+1}\n")

app.mainloop()

​
Undo/Redo Support

import customtkinter as ctk

app = ctk.CTk()

textbox = ctk.CTkTextbox(app, width=400, height=200, undo=True)
textbox.pack(pady=20, padx=20)

undo_btn = ctk.CTkButton(app, text="Undo", command=textbox.edit_undo)
undo_btn.pack(side="left", padx=5)

redo_btn = ctk.CTkButton(app, text="Redo", command=textbox.edit_redo)
redo_btn.pack(side="left", padx=5)

app.mainloop()

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Text Widget Indices

When working with text methods, indices use the format "line.column":
  • "1.0" - Beginning of the first line
  • "end" - End of all text
  • "insert" - Current cursor position
  • "2.5" - Line 2, column 5
For detailed tkinter.Text documentation, see: https://anzeljg.github.io/rin2/book2/2405/docs/tkinter/text.html

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