ControlSetText

Changes the text of a control.

ControlSetText , Control, NewText, WinTitle, WinText, ExcludeTitle, ExcludeText

Parameters

Control

Can be either ClassNN (the classname and instance number of the control) or the control's text, both of which can be determined via Window Spy. When using text, the matching behavior is determined by SetTitleMatchMode. If this parameter is blank, the target window's topmost control will be used.

To operate upon a control's HWND (window handle), leave the Control parameter blank and specify ahk_id %ControlHwnd% for the WinTitle parameter (this also works on hidden controls even when DetectHiddenWindows is Off). The HWND of a control is typically retrieved via ControlGet Hwnd, MouseGetPos, or DllCall().

NewText

The new text to set into the control. If blank or omitted, the control is made blank.

WinTitle

A window title or other criteria identifying the target window. See WinTitle.

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.

Error Handling

[v1.1.04+]: This command is able to throw an exception on failure. For more information, see Runtime Errors.

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

Remarks

Most control types use carriage return and linefeed (`r`n) rather than a solitary linefeed (`n) to mark the end of each line. To translate a block of text containing `n characters, follow this example:

StringReplace, MyVar, MyVar, `n, `r`n, All

To improve reliability, a delay is done automatically after every use of this command. That delay can be changed via SetControlDelay.

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

SetControlDelay, ControlGetFocus, ControlGetText, ControlGet, Control, ControlMove, ControlGetPos, ControlClick, ControlFocus, ControlSend

Examples

Changes the text of Notepad's edit control. This example may fail on Windows 11 or later, as it requires the classic version of Notepad.

ControlSetText, Edit1, New Text Here, Untitled -

Changes the text of the main window's edit control.

#Persistent
ListVars
WinWaitActive, ahk_class AutoHotkey
ControlSetText, Edit1, New Text Here ; Use the window found above.