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1<?xml version="1.0"?><!--*-nxml-*-->
2<!DOCTYPE manpage SYSTEM "xmltoman.dtd">
3<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="xmltoman.xsl" ?>
4
5<!--
6This file is part of PulseAudio.
7
8PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
9under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
10published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
11License, or (at your option) any later version.
12
13PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
14ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
15or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General
16Public License for more details.
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18You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
19License along with PulseAudio; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
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21
22<manpage name="pactl" section="1" desc="Control a running PulseAudio sound server">
23
24  <synopsis>
25    <cmd>pactl [<arg>options</arg>] <arg>COMMAND</arg> [<arg>ARGS ...</arg>]</cmd>
26    <cmd>pactl <opt>--help</opt></cmd>
27    <cmd>pactl <opt>--version</opt></cmd>
28  </synopsis>
29
30  <description>
31    <p><file>pactl</file> can be used to issue control commands to the PulseAudio sound server.</p>
32
33    <p><file>pactl</file> only exposes a subset of the available operations. For the full set use the <manref name="pacmd" section="1"/>.</p>
34  </description>
35
36  <options>
37
38    <option>
39      <p><opt>-h | --help</opt></p>
40
41      <optdesc><p>Show help.</p></optdesc>
42    </option>
43
44    <option>
45      <p><opt>--version</opt></p>
46
47      <optdesc><p>Show version information.</p></optdesc>
48    </option>
49
50    <option>
51      <p><opt>-s | --server</opt><arg>=SERVER</arg></p>
52
53      <optdesc><p>Choose the server to connect to.</p></optdesc>
54    </option>
55
56    <option>
57      <p><opt>-f | --format</opt><arg>=FORMAT</arg></p>
58
59      <optdesc><p>Choose output format, available options are "text" or "json".</p></optdesc>
60    </option>
61
62    <option>
63      <p><opt>-n | --client-name</opt><arg>=NAME</arg></p>
64
65      <optdesc><p>Specify the client name <file>pactl</file> shall pass to the server when connecting.</p></optdesc>
66    </option>
67
68  </options>
69
70  <section name="Commands">
71    <p>
72        When supplied as arguments to the commands below, the special names \@DEFAULT_SINK@, \@DEFAULT_SOURCE@ and \@DEFAULT_MONITOR@
73        can be used to specify the default sink, source and monitor respectively.
74    </p>
75
76    <option>
77      <p><opt>stat</opt></p>
78      <optdesc><p>Dump a few statistics about the memory usage of the PulseAudio daemon.</p></optdesc>
79    </option>
80
81    <option>
82      <p><opt>info</opt></p>
83      <optdesc><p>Dump some info about the PulseAudio daemon.</p></optdesc>
84    </option>
85
86    <option>
87      <p><opt>list</opt> [<arg>short</arg>] [<arg>TYPE</arg>]</p>
88      <optdesc><p>Dump all currently loaded modules, available sinks, sources, streams, etc.  <arg>TYPE</arg> must be one of:
89      modules, sinks, sources, sink-inputs, source-outputs, clients, samples, cards, message-handlers.  If not specified, all info is listed
90      with the exception of the message-handlers. If short is given, output is in a tabular format, for easy parsing by scripts.</p></optdesc>
91    </option>
92
93    <option>
94      <p><opt>exit</opt></p>
95      <optdesc><p>Asks the PulseAudio server to terminate.</p></optdesc>
96    </option>
97
98    <option>
99      <p><opt>upload-sample</opt> <arg>FILENAME</arg> [<arg>NAME</arg>]</p>
100      <optdesc><p>Upload a sound from the specified audio file into
101      the sample cache. The file types supported are those understood
102      by <file>libsndfile</file>. The sample in the cache is named
103      after the audio file, unless the name is explicitly
104      specified.</p></optdesc>
105    </option>
106
107    <option>
108      <p><opt>play-sample</opt> <arg>NAME</arg> [<arg>SINK</arg>]</p>
109      <optdesc><p>Play the specified sample from the sample cache. It
110      is played on the default sink, unless the symbolic name or the
111      numerical index of the sink to play it on is
112      specified.</p></optdesc>
113    </option>
114
115    <option>
116      <p><opt>remove-sample</opt> <arg>NAME</arg></p>
117      <optdesc><p>Remove the specified sample from the sample cache.</p></optdesc>
118    </option>
119
120    <option>
121      <p><opt>load-module</opt> <arg>NAME</arg> [<arg>ARGUMENTS ...</arg>]</p>
122      <optdesc><p>Load the specified module with the specified arguments into the running sound server.
123      Prints the numeric index of the module just loaded to STDOUT. You can use it to unload the module later.</p></optdesc>
124    </option>
125
126    <option>
127      <p><opt>unload-module</opt> <arg>ID|NAME</arg></p>
128      <optdesc><p>Unload the module instance identified by the specified numeric index or unload all modules by the specified name.</p></optdesc>
129    </option>
130
131    <option>
132      <p><opt>move-sink-input</opt> <arg>ID</arg> <arg>SINK</arg></p>
133      <optdesc><p>Move the specified playback stream (identified by its numerical index) to the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
134    </option>
135
136    <option>
137      <p><opt>move-source-output</opt> <arg>ID</arg> <arg>SOURCE</arg></p>
138      <optdesc><p>Move the specified recording stream (identified by its numerical index) to the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
139    </option>
140
141    <option>
142      <p><opt>suspend-sink</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>true|false</arg></p>
143      <optdesc><p>Suspend or resume the specified sink (which may be
144        specified either by its symbolic name or numerical index), depending whether true
145        (suspend) or false (resume) is passed as last argument. Suspending
146        a sink will pause all playback. Depending on the module implementing
147        the sink this might have the effect that the underlying device is
148        closed, making it available for other applications to use. The exact
149        behaviour depends on the module.
150      </p></optdesc>
151    </option>
152
153    <option>
154      <p><opt>suspend-source</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg> <arg>true|false</arg></p>
155      <optdesc><p>Suspend or resume the specified source (which may be
156        specified either by its symbolic name or numerical index), depending whether true
157        (suspend) or false (resume) is passed as last argument. Suspending
158        a source will pause all capturing. Depending on the module implementing
159        the source this might have the effect that the underlying device is
160        closed, making it available for other applications to use. The exact
161        behaviour depends on the module.
162      </p></optdesc>
163    </option>
164
165    <option>
166      <p><opt>set-card-profile</opt> <arg>CARD</arg> <arg>PROFILE</arg></p>
167      <optdesc><p>Set the specified card (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) to the specified profile (identified by its symbolic name).</p></optdesc>
168    </option>
169
170    <option>
171      <p><opt>get-default-sink</opt></p>
172      <optdesc><p>Returns the symbolic name of the default sink.</p></optdesc>
173    </option>
174
175    <option>
176      <p><opt>set-default-sink</opt> <arg>SINK</arg></p>
177      <optdesc><p>Make the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) the default sink.</p></optdesc>
178    </option>
179
180    <option>
181      <p><opt>set-sink-port</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>PORT</arg></p>
182      <optdesc><p>Set the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) to the specified port (identified by its symbolic name).</p></optdesc>
183    </option>
184
185    <option>
186      <p><opt>get-default-source</opt></p>
187      <optdesc><p>Returns the symbolic name of the default source.</p></optdesc>
188    </option>
189
190    <option>
191      <p><opt>set-default-source</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg></p>
192      <optdesc><p>Make the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) the default source.</p></optdesc>
193    </option>
194
195    <option>
196      <p><opt>set-source-port</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg> <arg>PORT</arg></p>
197      <optdesc><p>Set the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) to the specified port (identified by its symbolic name).</p></optdesc>
198    </option>
199
200    <option>
201      <p><opt>set-port-latency-offset</opt> <arg>CARD</arg> <arg>PORT</arg> <arg>OFFSET</arg></p>
202      <optdesc><p>Set a latency offset to a specified port (identified by its symbolic name) that belongs to a card (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).
203      <arg>OFFSET</arg> is a number which represents the latency offset in microseconds</p></optdesc>
204    </option>
205
206    <option>
207      <p><opt>get-sink-volume</opt> <arg>SINK</arg></p>
208      <optdesc><p>Get the volume of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) displayed in the same format as the `info` command.</p></optdesc>
209    </option>
210
211    <option>
212      <p><opt>set-sink-volume</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
213      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).
214      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
215      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
216      adjustment will be relative to the current sink volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
217      volume values are given their number has to match the sink's number of channels.</p></optdesc>
218    </option>
219
220    <option>
221      <p><opt>get-source-volume</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg></p>
222```
223      <optdesc><p>Get the volume of the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) displayed in the same format as the `info` command.</p></optdesc>
224    </option>
225
226    <option>
227      <p><opt>set-source-volume</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
228      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).
229      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
230      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
231      adjustment will be relative to the current source volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
232      volume values are given their number has to match the source's number of channels.</p></optdesc> </option>
233
234    <option>
235      <p><opt>set-sink-input-volume</opt> <arg>INPUT</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
236      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified sink input (identified by its numerical index).
237      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
238      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
239      adjustment will be relative to the current sink input volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
240      volume values are given their number has to match the sink input's number of channels.</p></optdesc> </option>
241
242    <option>
243      <p><opt>set-source-output-volume</opt> <arg>OUTPUT</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
244      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified source output (identified by its numerical index).
245      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
246      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
247      adjustment will be relative to the current source output volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
248      volume values are given their number has to match the source output's number of channels.</p></optdesc>
249    </option>
250
251    <option>
252      <p><opt>get-sink-mute</opt> <arg>SINK</arg></p>
253      <optdesc><p>Get the mute status of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
254    </option>
255
256    <option>
257      <p><opt>set-sink-mute</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
258      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
259    </option>
260
261    <option>
262      <p><opt>get-source-mute</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg></p>
263      <optdesc><p>Get the mute status of the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
264    </option>
265
266    <option>
267      <p><opt>set-source-mute</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
268      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
269    </option>
270
271    <option>
272      <p><opt>set-sink-input-mute</opt> <arg>INPUT</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
273      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified sink input (identified by its numerical index).</p></optdesc>
274    </option>
275
276    <option>
277      <p><opt>set-source-output-mute</opt> <arg>OUTPUT</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
278      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified source output (identified by its numerical index).</p></optdesc>
279    </option>
280
281    <option>
282      <p><opt>set-sink-formats</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>FORMATS</arg></p>
283      <optdesc><p>Set the supported formats of the specified sink (identified
284      by its numerical index) if supported by the sink. <arg>FORMATS</arg> is
285      specified as a semi-colon (;) separated list of formats in the form
286      'encoding[, key1=value1, key2=value2, ...]' (for example, AC3 at 32000,
287      44100 and 48000 Hz would be specified as
288      'ac3-iec61937, format.rate = "[ 32000, 44100, 48000 ]"'). See
289      https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/SupportedAudioFormats/
290      for possible encodings. </p></optdesc>
291    </option>
292
293    <option>
294      <p><opt>send-message</opt> <arg>RECIPIENT</arg> <arg>MESSAGE</arg> <arg>MESSAGE_PARAMETERS</arg></p>
295      <optdesc><p>Send a message to the specified recipient object. If applicable an additional string containing
296      message parameters can be specified. A string is returned as a response to the message. For available messages
297      see https://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/doc/messaging_api.txt.</p></optdesc>
298    </option>
299
300    <option>
301      <p><opt>subscribe</opt></p>
302      <optdesc><p>Subscribe to events, pactl does not exit by itself, but keeps waiting for new events.</p></optdesc>
303    </option>
304
305  </section>
306
307  <section name="Authors">
308    <p>The PulseAudio Developers &lt;@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@&gt;; PulseAudio is available from <url href="@PACKAGE_URL@"/></p>
309  </section>
310
311  <seealso>
312    <p>
313      <manref name="pulseaudio" section="1"/>,
314      <manref name="pacmd" section="1"/>
315    </p>
316  </seealso>
317
318</manpage>
319