keydown - pygame - Key inputs not working in if not syntax -

so have been working on project pygame , starting work on character control. player can move arrow keys cannot stop when there no keys being pressed. solution pygame test if user not pressing left, right, up, or down players speed go zero. reason when don't have , keys pressed player speed still not stop. wondering wrong if statement. reading , helping!

the if statement code this:

            if event.key != k_left , event.key != k_right , event.key != k_down , event.key != k_up:                 playerspeed = 0 

this full code movment:

            #keypress-player movement            elif event.type == keydown:             if event.key != k_left , event.key != k_right , event.key != k_down , event.key != k_up:                 playerspeed = 0             if event.key == k_left:                 direction = left                 playerspeed = .2             elif event.key == k_right:                 direction = right                 playerspeed = .2             elif event.key == k_down:                 direction = down                 playerspeed = .2             elif event.key == k_up:                 playerspeed = .2                 direction =      if direction == up:         if canmoveup == 'true':             newplayer = {'x':coords[0]['x'], 'y':coords[0]['y']-playerspeed}     elif direction == down:         if canmovedown == 'true':             newplayer = {'x':coords[0]['x'], 'y':coords[0]['y']+playerspeed}     elif direction == left:         if canmoveleft == 'true':             newplayer = {'x':coords[0]['x']-playerspeed, 'y':coords[0]['y']}     elif direction == right:         if canmoveright == 'true':             newplayer = {'x':coords[0]['x']+playerspeed, 'y':coords[0]['y']} 

you need rethink approach. there 2 ways of doing key-based input.

1) have flag each key, set on keydown, , unset on keyup.

2) use currently-pressed keys dictionary pygame provides.

then can stuff "if keys["up"]:". lets use more 1 key @ time, , makes logic simpler.