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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.
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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.
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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.
178         Use the special name \@NONE@ to unset the user defined default sink. This will make pulseaudio return to the default
179         sink selection based on sink priority.</p></optdesc>
180    </option>
181
182    <option>
183      <p><opt>set-sink-port</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>PORT</arg></p>
184      <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>
185    </option>
186
187    <option>
188      <p><opt>get-default-source</opt></p>
189      <optdesc><p>Returns the symbolic name of the default source.</p></optdesc>
190    </option>
191
192    <option>
193      <p><opt>set-default-source</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg></p>
194      <optdesc><p>Make the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index) the default source.
195         Use the special name \@NONE@ to unset the user defined default source. This will make pulseaudio return to the default
196         source selection based on source priority.</p></optdesc>
197    </option>
198
199    <option>
200      <p><opt>set-source-port</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg> <arg>PORT</arg></p>
201      <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>
202    </option>
203
204    <option>
205      <p><opt>set-port-latency-offset</opt> <arg>CARD</arg> <arg>PORT</arg> <arg>OFFSET</arg></p>
206      <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).
207      <arg>OFFSET</arg> is a number which represents the latency offset in microseconds</p></optdesc>
208    </option>
209
210    <option>
211      <p><opt>get-sink-volume</opt> <arg>SINK</arg></p>
212      <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>
213    </option>
214
215    <option>
216      <p><opt>set-sink-volume</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
217      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).
218      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
219      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
220      adjustment will be relative to the current sink volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
221      volume values are given their number has to match the sink's number of channels.</p></optdesc>
222    </option>
223
224    <option>
225      <p><opt>get-source-volume</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg></p>
226```
227      <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>
228    </option>
229
230    <option>
231      <p><opt>set-source-volume</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
232      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).
233      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
234      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
235      adjustment will be relative to the current source volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
236      volume values are given their number has to match the source's number of channels.</p></optdesc> </option>
237
238    <option>
239      <p><opt>set-sink-input-volume</opt> <arg>INPUT</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
240      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified sink input (identified by its numerical index).
241      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
242      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
243      adjustment will be relative to the current sink input volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
244      volume values are given their number has to match the sink input's number of channels.</p></optdesc> </option>
245
246    <option>
247      <p><opt>set-source-output-volume</opt> <arg>OUTPUT</arg> <arg>VOLUME [VOLUME ...]</arg></p>
248      <optdesc><p>Set the volume of the specified source output (identified by its numerical index).
249      <arg>VOLUME</arg> can be specified as an integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
250      (e.g.  10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).  If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
251      adjustment will be relative to the current source output volume.  A single volume value affects all channels; if multiple
252      volume values are given their number has to match the source output's number of channels.</p></optdesc>
253    </option>
254
255    <option>
256      <p><opt>get-sink-mute</opt> <arg>SINK</arg></p>
257      <optdesc><p>Get the mute status of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
258    </option>
259
260    <option>
261      <p><opt>set-sink-mute</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
262      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
263    </option>
264
265    <option>
266      <p><opt>get-source-mute</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg></p>
267      <optdesc><p>Get the mute status of the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
268    </option>
269
270    <option>
271      <p><opt>set-source-mute</opt> <arg>SOURCE</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
272      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).</p></optdesc>
273    </option>
274
275    <option>
276      <p><opt>set-sink-input-mute</opt> <arg>INPUT</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
277      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified sink input (identified by its numerical index).</p></optdesc>
278    </option>
279
280    <option>
281      <p><opt>set-source-output-mute</opt> <arg>OUTPUT</arg> <arg>1|0|toggle</arg></p>
282      <optdesc><p>Set the mute status of the specified source output (identified by its numerical index).</p></optdesc>
283    </option>
284
285    <option>
286      <p><opt>set-sink-formats</opt> <arg>SINK</arg> <arg>FORMATS</arg></p>
287      <optdesc><p>Set the supported formats of the specified sink (identified
288      by its numerical index) if supported by the sink. <arg>FORMATS</arg> is
289      specified as a semi-colon (;) separated list of formats in the form
290      'encoding[, key1=value1, key2=value2, ...]' (for example, AC3 at 32000,
291      44100 and 48000 Hz would be specified as
292      'ac3-iec61937, format.rate = "[ 32000, 44100, 48000 ]"'). See
293      https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/SupportedAudioFormats/
294      for possible encodings. </p></optdesc>
295    </option>
296
297    <option>
298      <p><opt>send-message</opt> <arg>RECIPIENT</arg> <arg>MESSAGE</arg> <arg>MESSAGE_PARAMETERS</arg></p>
299      <optdesc><p>Send a message to the specified recipient object. If applicable an additional string containing
300      message parameters can be specified. A string is returned as a response to the message. For available messages
301      see https://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/doc/messaging_api.txt.</p></optdesc>
302    </option>
303
304    <option>
305      <p><opt>subscribe</opt></p>
306      <optdesc><p>Subscribe to events, pactl does not exit by itself, but keeps waiting for new events.</p></optdesc>
307    </option>
308
309  </section>
310
311  <section name="Authors">
312    <p>The PulseAudio Developers &lt;@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@&gt;; PulseAudio is available from <url href="@PACKAGE_URL@"/></p>
313  </section>
314
315  <seealso>
316    <p>
317      <manref name="pulseaudio" section="1"/>,
318      <manref name="pacmd" section="1"/>
319    </p>
320  </seealso>
321
322</manpage>
323