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  1. Turtle Penup & Pendown
  2. Turtle Positioning: goto, setpos, setx, sety, setheading
  3. Turtle hideturtle,  showturtle
  4. Turtle Speed
  5. Turtle Fill
  6. Learn Python with Turtle
  7. Turtle Rotating Rectangles
  8. Turtle Turbines
  9. Turtle Spirals
  10. Turtle Stars
  11. Turtle Constellations

Turtle hideturtle() and showturtle()

Turtle Hideturtle and Showturtle Methods

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. .hideturtle()
  3. .showturtle()
  4. Example 1: How to hide and show turtle
  5. Example 2: Hide and show turtle continuously
  6. Summary

Introduction

.hideturtle() and .showturtle() methods can be used to hide and show turtle drawing icon. It can be particularly helpful during or after the drawing to improve visibility or aesthetics of the turtle drawing. Default state of turtle is .showturtle() but you can use .hideturtle() to hide the turtle. Drawings will still proceed but you just won’t see the turtle icon that makes the drawing.

.hideturtle()

Just add .hideturtle() to your turtle’s name or to turtle directly and it will hide the turtle.
  • This method can be used as this Python code sample:
    • turtle.hideturtle()

.showturtle()

If you hid the turtle you will need .showturtle() to bring it back. Otherwise it will remain visible.

  • You can use this code sample to show turtle again.
    • turtle.showturtle()

Example 1: Flashing Turtle

Hiding and showing turtle is a really straightforward procedure. We want to get a little creative with demonstrating it.

Using a Python for loop, you can make turtle disappear and reappear continuously creating some kind of a flashing effect.

Here is the code:

import turtle
turtle.hideturtle()

turtle.pen(pencolor="green", pensize=3)

turtle.begin_fill() 

for i in range(5):
    turtle.forward(150)
    turtle.right(144)
    turtle.fillcolor("pink")
  
turtle.end_fill()
Drawing a star with a hidden turtle using .hideturtle() method

Example 2: Flashing Turtle

Hiding and showing turtle is a really straightforward procedure. We want to get a little creative with demonstrating it.

Using a Python for loop, you can make turtle disappear and reappear continuously creating some kind of a flashing effect.

Here is the code:

import turtle

colors = ["red", "blue", "green", "gray", "orange", "black"]
a = turtle.Turtle()
a.speed(5)

for i in range(130):
    
    a.color(colors[i%6])    

    if i%2==0:
        # a.pendown()
        a.forward(i/10)
        a.hideturtle()
    else:
        # a.penup()
        a.forward(5+i/10)
        a.showturtle()

    a.left(40 - i/1.5)
    
turtle.exitonclick()
Flashing turtle

Summary

In this Python Tutorial, we’ve covered turtle hideturtle() and showturtle() methods. We’ve learned when these turtle methods can be useful and how to use them.

We have also demonstrated this knowledge with a couple of appropriate Python examples that show usage of hideturtle() and showturtle() in practice.

Thank you for visiting Holypython’s turtle tutorials!