man/pulse-cli-syntax.5.xml.in

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<manpage name="pulse-cli-syntax" section="5" desc="PulseAudio Command Line Interface Syntax">

  <synopsis>
    <p><file>~/.config/pulse/default.pa</file></p>
    <p><file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/default.pa</file></p>
    <p><file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/system.pa</file></p>
  </synopsis>

  <description>
    <p>
      PulseAudio provides a simple command line language used by configuration
      scripts, the pacmd interactive shell, and the modules module-cli and
      module-cli-protocol-{unix,tcp}. Empty lines and lines beginning with a
      hashmark (#) are silently ignored. Several commands are supported.
    </p>

    <p>
      Note that any boolean arguments can be given positively as '1', 't', 'y',
      'true', 'yes' or 'on'. Likewise, negative values can be given as '0',
      'f', 'n', 'false', 'no' or 'off'. Case is ignored.
    </p>
  </description>

  <section name="General Commands">

    <option>
      <p><opt>help</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show a quick help on the commands available.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Status Commands">
    <option>
      <p><opt>list-modules</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show all currently loaded modules with their arguments.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>list-cards</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show all currently registered cards</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>list-sinks</opt> or <opt>list-sources</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show all currently registered sinks (resp. sources).</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>list-clients</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show all currently active clients.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>list-sink-inputs</opt> or <opt>list-source-outputs</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show all currently active inputs to sinks a.k.a. playback
      streams (resp. outputs of sources a.k.a. recording streams).</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>stat</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show some simple statistics about the allocated memory blocks and the space used by them.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>info</opt> or <opt>ls</opt> or <opt>list</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>A combination of all status commands described above (all
      three commands are synonyms).</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Module Management">
    <option>
      <p><opt>load-module</opt> <arg>name</arg> [<arg>arguments...</arg>]</p>
      <optdesc><p>Load a module specified by its name and arguments. For most
      modules it is OK to be loaded more than once.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>unload-module</opt> <arg>index|name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Unload a module, specified either by its index in the module
      list or its name.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>describe-module</opt> <arg>name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Give information about a module specified by its name.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Volume Commands">
    <option>
      <p><opt>set-sink-volume|set-source-volume</opt> <arg>index|name</arg> <arg>volume</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified sink (resp. source). You may
      specify the sink (resp. source) either by its index in the sink/source list
      or by its name. The volume should be an integer value greater or equal than
      0 (muted). Volume 65536 (0x10000) is 'normal' volume a.k.a. 100%. Values
      greater than this amplify the audio signal (with clipping).</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-sink-mute|set-source-mute</opt> <arg>index|name</arg> <arg>boolean</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Mute or unmute the specified sink (resp. source). You may
      specify the sink (resp. source) either by its index or by its name.
      The mute value is either 0 (not muted) or 1 (muted).</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-sink-input-volume|set-source-output-volume</opt> <arg>index</arg> <arg>volume</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of a sink input (resp. source output) specified
      by its index. The same volume rules apply as with set-sink-volume.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-sink-input-mute|set-source-output-mute</opt> <arg>index</arg> <arg>boolean</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Mute or unmute a sink input (resp. source output) specified
      by its index. The same mute rules apply as with set-sink-mute.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Configuration Commands">
    <option>
      <p><opt>set-default-sink|set-default-source</opt> <arg>index|name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Make a sink (resp. source) the default. You may specify the
      sink (resp. source) by its index in the sink (resp. source) list or by its
      name. Use the special name \@NONE@ to unset the user defined default sink or
      source. In this case, pulseaudio will return to the default sink or source
      selection based on priority.</p><p>Note that defaults may be overridden by
      various policy modules or by specific stream configurations.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-card-profile</opt> <arg>index|name</arg> <arg>profile-name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Change the profile of a card.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-sink-port|set-source-port</opt> <arg>index|name</arg> <arg>port-name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Change the profile of a sink (resp. source).</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-port-latency-offset</opt> <arg>card-index|card-name</arg> <arg>port-name</arg> <arg>offset</arg> </p>
      <optdesc><p>Change the latency offset of a port belonging to the specified card</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>suspend-sink|suspend-source</opt> <arg>name|index</arg>
        <arg>true|false</arg>
      </p>
      <optdesc><p>Suspend or resume the specified sink or source (which may be
        specified either by its name or index), depending whether true
        (suspend) or false (resume) is passed as last argument. Suspending
        a sink will pause all playback and suspending a source will pause all
        capturing. Depending on the module implementing the sink or source this
        might have the effect that the underlying device is closed, making it
        available for other applications to use. The exact behaviour depends on
        the module.
      </p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>suspend</opt> <arg>boolean</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Suspend all sinks and sources.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Moving streams">
    <option>
      <p><opt>move-sink-input|move-source-output</opt> <arg>index</arg> <arg>sink-index|sink-name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Move sink input (resp. source output) to another sink
      (resp. source).</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Property lists">
    <option>
      <p><opt>update-sink-proplist|update-source-proplist</opt> <arg>index|name</arg> <arg>properties</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Update the properties of a sink (resp. source) specified by
      name or index. The property is specified as e.g. device.description="My
      Preferred Name"</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>update-sink-input-proplist|update-source-output-proplist</opt> <arg>index</arg> <arg>properties</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Update the properties of a sink input (resp. source output)
      specified by index. The properties are specified as above.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Sample Cache">
    <option>
      <p><opt>list-samples</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Lists the contents of the sample cache.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>play-sample</opt> <arg>name</arg> <arg>sink-index|sink-name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Play a sample cache entry to a sink.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>remove-sample</opt> <arg>name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Remove an entry from the sample cache.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>load-sample</opt> <arg>name</arg> <arg>filename</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Load an audio file to the sample cache.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>load-sample-lazy</opt> <arg>name</arg> <arg>filename</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Create a new entry in the sample cache, but don't load the
      sample immediately. The sample is loaded only when it is first used.
      After a certain idle time it is freed again.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>load-sample-dir-lazy</opt> <arg>path</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Load all entries in the specified directory into the sample
      cache as lazy entries. A shell globbing expression (e.g. *.wav) may be
      appended to the path of the directory to add.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Killing Clients/Streams">
    <option>
      <p><opt>kill-client</opt> <arg>index</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Remove a client forcibly from the server. There is no protection
      against the client reconnecting immediately.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>kill-sink-input|kill-source-output</opt> <arg>index</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Remove a sink input (resp. source output) forcibly from the
      server. This will not remove the owning client or any other streams opened
      by the same client from the server.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Log Commands">
    <option>
      <p><opt>set-log-level</opt> <arg>numeric-level</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Change the log level.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-log-meta</opt> <arg>boolean</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show source code location in log messages.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-log-target</opt> <arg>target</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Change the log target (null, auto, journal, syslog, stderr,
      file:PATH, newfile:PATH).</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-log-time</opt> <arg>boolean</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show timestamps in log messages.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>set-log-backtrace</opt> <arg>num-frames</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Show backtrace in log messages.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Miscellaneous Commands">
    <option>
      <p><opt>play-file</opt> <arg>filename</arg> <arg>sink-index|sink-name</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Play an audio file to a sink.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>dump</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Dump the daemon's current configuration in CLI commands.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>dump-volumes</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Debug: Shows the current state of all volumes.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>shared</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Debug: Show shared properties.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>send-message</opt> <arg>recipient</arg> <arg>message</arg> <arg>message_parameters</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Send a message to the specified recipient object. If applicable an additional string containing
      message parameters can be specified. A string is returned as a response to the message. For available messages
      see https://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/doc/messaging_api.txt.</p></optdesc>
    </option>

    <option>
      <p><opt>exit</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Terminate the daemon. If you want to terminate a CLI
      connection ("log out") you might want to use ctrl+d</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Meta Commands">
    <p>
      In addition to the commands described above there are a few meta directives
      supported by the command line interpreter.
    </p>
    <option>
      <p><opt>.include</opt> <arg>filename|folder</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Executes the commands from the specified script file or in all
      of the *.pa files within the folder.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
    <option>
      <p><opt>.fail</opt> and <opt>.nofail</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>Enable (resp. disable) that following failing commands will
      cancel the execution of the current script file. This is ignored when
      used on the interactive command line.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
    <option>
      <p><opt>.ifexists</opt> <arg>filename</arg></p>
      <optdesc><p>Execute the subsequent block of commands only if the specified
      file exists. Typically <arg>filename</arg> indicates a module. Relative
      paths are resolved using the module directory as the base. By using an
      absolute path, the existence of other files can be checked as well.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
    <option>
      <p><opt>.else</opt> and <opt>.endif</opt></p>
      <optdesc><p>A block of commands is delimited by an <opt>.else</opt> or
      <opt>.endif</opt> meta command. Nesting conditional commands is not
      supported.</p></optdesc>
    </option>
  </section>

  <section name="Authors">
    <p>The PulseAudio Developers &lt;@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@&gt;;
    PulseAudio is available from <url href="@PACKAGE_URL@"/></p>
  </section>

  <section name="See also">
    <p>
      <manref name="default.pa" section="5"/>,
      <manref name="pacmd" section="1"/>,
      <manref name="pulseaudio" section="1"/>
    </p>
  </section>

</manpage>