pactl

pactl − Control a running PulseAudio sound server

pactl [options] stat

pactl [options] list

pactl [options] exit

pactl [options] upload-sample FILENAME [NAME]

pactl [options] play-sample NAME [SINK]

pactl [options] remove-sample NAME

pactl [options] move-sink-input ID SINK

pactl [options] move-source-input ID SOURCE

pactl [options] load-module NAME [ARGUMENTS ...]

pactl [options] unload-module ID

pactl [options] suspend-sink [SINK] 1|0

pactl [options] suspend-source [SOURCE] 1|0

pactl --help

pactl --version

pactl can be used to issue control commands to the PulseAudio sound server.

pactl only exposes a subset of the available operations. For the full set use the pacmd(1).

-h | --help

Show help.

--version

Show version information.

-s | --server=SERVER

Choose the server to connect to.

-n | --client-name=NAME

Specify the client name pactl shall pass to the server when connecting.

stat

Dump a few statistics about the PulseAudio daemon.

list

Dump all currently loaded modules, available sinks, sources, streams and clients.

exit

Asks the PulseAudio server to terminate.

upload-sample FILENAME [NAME]

Upload a sound from the specified audio file into the sample cache. The file types supported are those understood by libsndfile. The sample in the cache is named after the audio file, unless the name is explicitly specified.

play-sample NAME [SINK]

Play the specified sample from the sample cache. It is played on the default sink, unless the symbolic name or the numerical index of the sink to play it on is specified.

remove-sample NAME

Remove the specified sample from the sample cache.

move-sink-input ID SINK

Move the specified playback stream (identified by its numerical index) to the specified sink (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).

move-source-output ID SOURCE

Move the specified recording stream (identified by its numerical index) to the specified source (identified by its symbolic name or numerical index).

load-module NAME [ARGUMENTS ...]

Load the specified module with the specified arguments into the running sound server. Prints the numeric index of the module just loaded to STDOUT. You can use it to unload the module later.

unload-module ID

Unload the module instance identified by the specified numeric index.

unload-module ID

Unload the module instance identified by the specified numeric index.

suspend-sink SINK 1|0

Suspend or resume the specified sink (which my be specified either by its symbolic name, or by its numeric index), depending whether 1 (suspend) or 0 (resume) is passed as last argument. Suspending a sink will pause all playback. Depending on the module implementing the sink 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.

suspend-source SOURCE 1|0

Suspend or resume the specified source (which my be specified either by its symbolic name, or by its numeric index), depending whether 1 (suspend) or 0 (resume) is passed as last argument. Suspending a source will pause all capturing. Depending on the module implementing the 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.

The PulseAudio Developers <mzchyfrnhqvb (at) 0pointer (dot) net>; PulseAudio is available from http://pulseaudio.org/

pulseaudio(1), pacmd(1)