1pactl(1) General Commands Manual pactl(1)
2
6 pactl - Control a running PulseAudio sound server
7
9 pactl [options] COMMAND [ARGS ...]
10 pactl --help
12 pactl --version
14
16 pactl can be used to issue control commands to the PulseAudio sound
17 server.
18 pactl only exposes a subset of the available operations. For the full
20 set use the pacmd(1).
21
23 -h | --help
24 Show help.
25 --version
27 Show version information.
28 -s | --server=SERVER
30 Choose the server to connect to.
31 -n | --client-name=NAME
33 Specify the client name pactl shall pass to the server when con‐
34 necting.
35
37 stat Dump a few statistics about the memory usage of the PulseAudio
38 daemon.
39 info Dump some info about the PulseAudio daemon.
41 list [short] [TYPE]
43 Dump all currently loaded modules, available sinks, sources,
44 streams, etc. TYPE must be one of: modules, sinks, sources,
45 sink-inputs, source-outputs, clients, samples, cards. If not
46 specified, all info is listed. If short is given, output is in a
47 tabular format, for easy parsing by scripts.
48 exit Asks the PulseAudio server to terminate.
50 upload-sample FILENAME [NAME]
52 Upload a sound from the specified audio file into the sample
53 cache. The file types supported are those understood by libsnd‐
54 file. The sample in the cache is named after the audio file,
55 unless the name is explicitly specified.
56 play-sample NAME [SINK]
58 Play the specified sample from the sample cache. It is played on
59 the default sink, unless the symbolic name or the numerical
60 index of the sink to play it on is specified.
61 remove-sample NAME
63 Remove the specified sample from the sample cache.
64 load-module NAME [ARGUMENTS ...]
66 Load the specified module with the specified arguments into the
67 running sound server. Prints the numeric index of the module
68 just loaded to STDOUT. You can use it to unload the module
69 later.
70 unload-module ID|NAME
72 Unload the module instance identified by the specified numeric
73 index or unload all modules by the specified name.
74 move-sink-input ID SINK
76 Move the specified playback stream (identified by its numerical
77 index) to the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or
78 numerical index).
79 move-source-output ID SOURCE
81 Move the specified recording stream (identified by its numerical
82 index) to the specified source (identified by its symbolic name
83 or numerical index).
84 suspend-sink SINK true|false
86 Suspend or resume the specified sink (which may be specified
87 either by its name or index), depending whether true (suspend)
88 or false (resume) is passed as last argument. Suspending a sink
89 will pause all playback. Depending on the module implementing
90 the sink this might have the effect that the underlying device
91 is closed, making it available for other applications to use.
92 The exact behaviour depends on the module.
93 suspend-source SOURCE true|false
95 Suspend or resume the specified source (which may be specified
96 either by its name or index), depending whether true (suspend)
97 or false (resume) is passed as last argument. Suspending a
98 source will pause all capturing. Depending on the module imple‐
99 menting the source this might have the effect that the underly‐
100 ing device is closed, making it available for other applications
101 to use. The exact behaviour depends on the module.
102 set-card-profile CARD PROFILE
104 Set the specified card (identified by its symbolic name or
105 numerical index) to the specified profile (identified by its
106 symbolic name).
107 set-default-sink SINK
109 Make the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name) the
110 default sink.
111 set-sink-port SINK PORT
113 Set the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or
114 numerical index) to the specified port (identified by its sym‐
115 bolic name).
116 set-default-source SOURCE
118 Make the specified source (identified by its symbolic name) the
119 default source.
120 set-source-port SOURCE PORT
122 Set the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or
123 numerical index) to the specified port (identified by its sym‐
124 bolic name).
125 set-port-latency-offset CARD PORT OFFSET
127 Set a latency offset to a specified port (identified by its sym‐
128 bolic name) that belongs to a card (identified by its symbolic
129 name or numerical index). OFFSET is a number which represents
130 the latency offset in microseconds
131 set-sink-volume SINK VOLUME [VOLUME ...]
133 Set the volume of the specified sink (identified by its symbolic
134 name or numerical index). VOLUME can be specified as an integer
135 (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a per‐
136 centage (e.g. 10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB). If
137 the volume specification start with a + or - the volume adjust‐
138 ment will be relative to the current sink volume. A single vol‐
139 ume value affects all channels; if multiple volume values are
140 given their number has to match the sink's number of channels.
141 set-source-volume SOURCE VOLUME [VOLUME ...]
143 Set the volume of the specified source (identified by its sym‐
144 bolic name or numerical index). VOLUME can be specified as an
145 integer (e.g. 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a
146 percentage (e.g. 10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB).
147 If the volume specification start with a + or - the volume
148 adjustment will be relative to the current source volume. A sin‐
149 gle volume value affects all channels; if multiple volume values
150 are given their number has to match the source's number of chan‐
151 nels.
152 set-sink-input-volume INPUT VOLUME [VOLUME ...]
154 Set the volume of the specified sink input (identified by its
155 numerical index). VOLUME can be specified as an integer (e.g.
156 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
157 (e.g. 10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB). If the
158 volume specification start with a + or - the volume adjustment
159 will be relative to the current sink input volume. A single vol‐
160 ume value affects all channels; if multiple volume values are
161 given their number has to match the sink input's number of chan‐
162 nels.
163 set-source-output-volume OUTPUT VOLUME [VOLUME ...]
165 Set the volume of the specified source output (identified by its
166 numerical index). VOLUME can be specified as an integer (e.g.
167 2000, 16384), a linear factor (e.g. 0.4, 1.100), a percentage
168 (e.g. 10%, 100%) or a decibel value (e.g. 0dB, 20dB). If the
169 volume specification start with a + or - the volume adjustment
170 will be relative to the current source output volume. A single
171 volume value affects all channels; if multiple volume values are
172 given their number has to match the source output's number of
173 channels.
174 set-sink-mute SINK 1|0|toggle
176 Set the mute status of the specified sink (identified by its
177 symbolic name or numerical index).
178 set-source-mute SOURCE 1|0|toggle
180 Set the mute status of the specified source (identified by its
181 symbolic name or numerical index).
182 set-sink-input-mute INPUT 1|0|toggle
184 Set the mute status of the specified sink input (identified by
185 its numerical index).
186 set-source-output-mute OUTPUT 1|0|toggle
188 Set the mute status of the specified source output (identified
189 by its numerical index).
190 set-sink-formats SINK FORMATS
192 Set the supported formats of the specified sink (identified by
193 its numerical index) if supported by the sink. FORMATS is speci‐
194 fied as a semi-colon (;) separated list of formats in the form
195 'encoding[, key1=value1, key2=value2, ...]' (for example, AC3 at
196 32000, 44100 and 48000 Hz would be specified as 'ac3-iec61937,
197 format.rate = "[ 32000, 44100, 48000 ]"').
198 subscribe
200 Subscribe to events, pactl does not exit by itself, but keeps
201 waiting for new events.
202
204 The PulseAudio Developers <pulseaudio-discuss (at) lists (dot)
205 freedesktop (dot) org>; PulseAudio is available from http://pulseau‐
206 dio.org/
207
209 pulseaudio(1), pacmd(1)
210Manuals User pactl(1)