Global hot keys in Python for Win32

globalhotkeys.py

import ctypes
import ctypes.wintypes
import win32con


class GlobalHotKeys(object):
    """
    Register a key using the register() method, or using the @register decorator
    Use listen() to start the message pump

    Example:

    from globalhotkeys import GlobalHotKeys

    @GlobalHotKeys.register(GlobalHotKeys.VK_F1)
    def hello_world():
        print 'Hello World'

    GlobalHotKeys.listen()
    """

    key_mapping = []
    user32 = ctypes.windll.user32

    MOD_ALT = win32con.MOD_ALT
    MOD_CTRL = win32con.MOD_CONTROL
    MOD_CONTROL = win32con.MOD_CONTROL
    MOD_SHIFT = win32con.MOD_SHIFT
    MOD_WIN = win32con.MOD_WIN

    @classmethod
    def register(cls, vk, modifier=0, func=None):
        """
        vk is a windows virtual key code
         - can use ord('X') for A-Z, and 0-1 (note uppercase letter only)
         - or win32con.VK_* constants
         - for full list of VKs see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd375731.aspx

        modifier is a win32con.MOD_* constant

        func is the function to run.  If False then break out of the message loop
        """

        # Called as a decorator?
        if func is None:
            def register_decorator(f):
                cls.register(vk, modifier, f)
                return f
            return register_decorator
        else:
            cls.key_mapping.append((vk, modifier, func))


    @classmethod
    def listen(cls):
        """
        Start the message pump
        """

        for index, (vk, modifiers, func) in enumerate(cls.key_mapping):
            if not cls.user32.RegisterHotKey(None, index, modifiers, vk):
                raise Exception('Unable to register hot key: ' + str(vk))

        try:
            msg = ctypes.wintypes.MSG()
            while cls.user32.GetMessageA(ctypes.byref(msg), None, 0, 0) != 0:
                if msg.message == win32con.WM_HOTKEY:
                    (vk, modifiers, func) = cls.key_mapping[msg.wParam]
                    if not func:
                        break
                    func()

                cls.user32.TranslateMessage(ctypes.byref(msg))
                cls.user32.DispatchMessageA(ctypes.byref(msg))

        finally:
            for index, (vk, modifiers, func) in enumerate(cls.key_mapping):
                cls.user32.UnregisterHotKey(None, index)


    @classmethod
    def _include_defined_vks(cls):
        for item in win32con.__dict__:
            item = str(item)
            if item[:3] == 'VK_':
                setattr(cls, item, win32con.__dict__[item])


    @classmethod
    def _include_alpha_numeric_vks(cls):
        for key_code in (range(ord('A'), ord('Z')) + range(ord('0'), ord('9'))):
            setattr(cls, 'VK_' + chr(key_code), key_code)


# Not sure if this is really a good idea or not?
#
# It makes decorators look a little nicer, and the user doesn't have to explicitly use win32con (and we add missing VKs
# for A-Z, 0-9
#
# But there no auto-complete (as it's done at run time), and lint'ers hate it
GlobalHotKeys._include_defined_vks()
GlobalHotKeys._include_alpha_numeric_vks()

globalhotkeys_test.py

from globalhotkeys import GlobalHotKeys


@GlobalHotKeys.register(GlobalHotKeys.VK_F1, GlobalHotKeys.MOD_SHIFT)
def hello_world():
    print "Hello World!"


@GlobalHotKeys.register(GlobalHotKeys.VK_F2)
def hello_world_2():
    print "Hello World again?"


# Q and ctrl will stop message loop
GlobalHotKeys.register(GlobalHotKeys.VK_Q, 0, False)
GlobalHotKeys.register(GlobalHotKeys.VK_C, GlobalHotKeys.MOD_CTRL, False)

# start main loop
GlobalHotKeys.listen()

Many thanks to you!
I also find a bug:
for key_code in (range(ord('A'), ord('Z') + 1) + range(ord('0'), ord('9') + 1)):

How do I manually kill the hotkey listener? in the example, lines 15 and 16 do what I want if you press the appropriate keys, but I'm not sure how to duplicate this functionality without actively pressing keys. I looked at the register function to try to understand how it does this, but couldn't figure it out.
p.s. thanks for writing the only global python hotkey program that actually works!

python 3.6 TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'range' and 'range'

used it

        a = ord('A');b = ord('Z')+1;c = ord('0');d = ord('9')+1;
        #range(a,b)+range(c,d) is list, that have items between a and b and between c and d
        #that list we also can get used list bettwen min(a,c) and max(b,d), but not between max(a,c) and min(b,d)
        #that list is [k for k in range(min(a,c), max(b,d)) if k not in range(max(a,c), min(b,d))]
        
        for key_code in [k for k in range(min(a,c), max(b,d)) if k not in range(max(a,c), min(b,d))]:
        #for key_code in (range(ord('A'), ord('Z')) + range(ord('0'), ord('9'))):