# WinGetText

Retrieves the text from the specified window.

WinGetText, OutputVar [, WinTitle, WinText, ExcludeTitle, ExcludeText]

#### Parameters

OutputVar | The name of the variable in which to store the retrieved text.
WinTitle | The title or partial title of the target window (the matching behavior is determined by SetTitleMatchMode). If this and the next 3 parameters are omitted, the Last Found Window will be used. If this is the letter A and the next 3 parameters are omitted, the active window will be used. To use a window class, specify ahk_class ExactClassName (shown by Window Spy). To use a process identifier (PID), specify ahk_pid %VarContainingPID%. To use a window group, specify ahk_group GroupName. To use a window's unique ID number, specify ahk_id %VarContainingID%. The search can be narrowed by specifying multiple criteria. For example: My File.txt ahk_class Notepad
WinText | If present, this parameter must be a substring from a single text element of the target window (as revealed by the included Window Spy utility). Hidden text elements are detected if DetectHiddenText is ON.
ExcludeTitle | Windows whose titles include this value will not be considered.
ExcludeText | Windows whose text include this value will not be considered.

#### ErrorLevel

ErrorLevel is set to 1 if there was a problem or 0 otherwise.

#### Remarks

The text retrieved is generally the same as what Window Spy shows for that window. However, if DetectHiddenText has been turned off, hidden text is omitted from OutputVar.

Each text element ends with a carriage return and linefeed (CR+LF), which can be represented in the script as `r`n. To extract individual lines or substrings, use commands such as StringGetPos and StringMid. A parsing loop can also be used to examine each line or word one by one.

If the retrieved text appears to be truncated (incomplete), try using VarSetCapacity(OutputVar, 55) prior to WinGetText [replace 55 with a size that is considerably longer than the truncated text]. This is necessary because some applications do not respond properly to the WM_GETTEXTLENGTH message, which causes AutoHotkey to make the output variable too small to fit all the text.

The amount of text retrieved is limited to a variable's maximum capacity (which can be changed via the #MaxMem directive). As a result, this command might use a large amount of RAM if the target window (e.g. an editor with a large document open) contains a large quantity of text. To avoid this, it might be possible to retrieve only portions of the window's text by using ControlGetText instead. In any case, a variable's memory can be freed later by assigning it to nothing, i.e. OutputVar =

Windows 95/98/ME may be limited to 64 KB for some text elements of certain windows.

To retrieve a list of all controls in a window, follow this example: WinGet, OutputVar, ControlList, WinTitle

Window titles and text are case sensitive. Hidden windows are not detected unless DetectHiddenWindows has been turned on.

#### Related

ControlGetText, WinGetActiveStats, WinGetActiveTitle, WinGetTitle, WinGetPos, #MaxMem

#### Example

    Run, Calc.exe
    WinWait, Calculator
    WinGetText, text  ; The window found above will be used.
    MsgBox, The text is:`n%text%