Pencil Code Reference > moveto

 

moveto moves the turtle to an absolute location

The turtle starts in the middle of the window, at (x, y) coordinates (0, 0).

moveto x, y moves to an absolute location in traditional Cartesian coordinates. In this coordinate system, each unit is one pixel, and each graph paper grid square is 25 units. The mathematical coordinate axes are used, placing (0, 0) at the middle with x increasing to the right and y increasing upward.

A vector represented as an array of two numbers can be used. moveto [x, y] is treated the same as moveto x, y.

Drawing while Moving

moveto will trace lines if a pen is being used. It allows lines to be drawn between any points without worrying about the angle and distance of the turtle. moveto does not affect the turtle rotation, only its position.

pen peru
moveto 50, 50
moveto -75, -25
moveto 0, -50
moveto -125, 100

Using HTML Coordinates

The native coordinate system supported by HTML follows a different convention: it places the (pageX, pageY) origin at the upper-left corner of the page. pageX increases to the right, but pageY is inverted: pageY increases going down.

moveto supports native HTML coordinates if they are passed with the pageX and pageY properties. Note that HTML mouse events all have pageX and pageY properties, so moveto lastclick will move to the location of the last mouse click.

moveto pageX: 50, pageY: 100
pen slateblue
moveto pageX: 150, pageY: 200
moveto pageX: 250, pageY: 100
moveto lastclick

Other Locations

moveto will also move to any element or jQuery object or any other object that supports a pagexy() method that returns page coordinates. For example moveto otherturtle will move to the location of another turtle.

Here is a summary of some types of locations that moveto understands.

example motion
moveto x, y move to (x, y) in traditional mathematical y-up coordinates.
moveto [x, y] same as moveto x, y
moveto pageX: px, pageY: py move using HTML page coordinates.
moveto lastmouse move to the location of the last mouse event.
moveto otherturtle move to another turtle.
moveto $('#spot') move to the element with id spot.
moveto document move to the center of the document.
moveto window move to the center of the visible window.

Limiting Motion

When passing a single location object to moveto, it supports an optional second argument limiting the distance of the motion. When the second argument is given, the turtle will move towards the location, but no farther than the limiting distance in pixels.

The following program will move the turtle towards the last mouse event twice per second, but will move no more than 10 pixels each time.

pen green
tick 2, ->
  moveto lastmouse, 10

In all these uses, moveto moves the turtle without changing its direction.