Turtle reference — MYP Digital Design

Turtle command cheatsheet

This cheatsheet is your quick guide to the most useful Python Turtle commands.

Command	What It Does	Example
`import turtle`	This is the very first thing you need to do! It brings the turtle library into your program.	`import turtle`
`t = turtle.Turtle()`	Creates a turtle for you to control. We'll call it 't'.	`t = turtle.Turtle()`

These commands tell your turtle where to go. The number inside the parentheses is the number of "steps" or "degrees."

Command	What It Does	Example
`t.forward(steps)`	Moves the turtle forward.	`t.forward(100)`
`t.backward(steps)`	Moves the turtle backward.	`t.backward(50)`
`t.right(degrees)`	Turns the turtle to its right.	`t.right(90)`
`t.left(degrees)`	Turns the turtle to its left.	`t.left(45)`
`t.goto(x, y)`	Moves the turtle to a specific location on the screen.	`t.goto(50, -20)`
`t.circle(radius)`	Draws a circle. The radius is how big it is.	`t.circle(50)`

These commands control whether the turtle draws a line or not.

Command	What It Does	Example
`t.penup()`	Lifts the pen up. The turtle can move without drawing.	`t.penup()`
`t.pendown()`	Puts the pen back down. The turtle will start drawing again.	`t.pendown()`
`t.pensize(size)`	Changes how thick the line is.	`t.pensize(5)`
`t.color("color_name")`	Changes the color of the pen. Use quotes!	`t.color("red")`

You can use these commands to fill in a shape with a color.

Command	What It Does	Example
`t.begin_fill()`	Starts the "filling" process.	`t.begin_fill()`
`t.end_fill()`	Stops filling. Everything between this and `begin_fill()` will be filled.	`t.end_fill()`
`t.fillcolor("color_name")`	Chooses the color to fill with.	`t.fillcolor("blue")`

Variables: A variable is like a container for information. You can use it to store numbers or text. size = 100 or my_color = "red".
Loops: A for loop is used to repeat code a certain number of times. It's super useful for drawing shapes! python # This will repeat the code inside 4 times for i in range(4): t.forward(50) t.left(90)
Selection: An if statement lets your program make a decision. python # This checks if the color is "red" if my_color == "red": t.color("red")

onclick() will execute a function, providing the (x,y) coordinates of the mouse click.

Example:

def handle_screen_click(x,y):
   print("You clicked at ",x,y)

screen = turtle.Screen()
screen.onclick(handle_screen_click)