COMMAND INTERFACE ================= The mpv core can be controlled with commands and properties. A number of ways to interact with the player use them: key bindings (``input.conf``), OSD (showing information with properties), JSON IPC, the client API (``libmpv``), and the classic slave mode. input.conf ---------- The input.conf file consists of a list of key bindings, for example:: s screenshot # take a screenshot with the s key LEFT seek 15 # map the left-arrow key to seeking forward by 15 seconds Each line maps a key to an input command. Keys are specified with their literal value (upper case if combined with ``Shift``), or a name for special keys. For example, ``a`` maps to the ``a`` key without shift, and ``A`` maps to ``a`` with shift. The file is located in the mpv configuration directory (normally at ``~/.config/mpv/input.conf`` depending on platform). The default bindings are defined here:: https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/etc/input.conf A list of special keys can be obtained with ``mpv --input-keylist`` In general, keys can be combined with ``Shift``, ``Ctrl`` and ``Alt``:: ctrl+q quit **mpv** can be started in input test mode, which displays key bindings and the commands they're bound to on the OSD, instead of executing the commands:: mpv --input-test --force-window --idle (Only closing the window will make **mpv** exit, pressing normal keys will merely display the binding, even if mapped to quit.) General Input Command Syntax ---------------------------- ``[Shift+][Ctrl+][Alt+][Meta+] [{
}] [] ()* [; ]`` Note that by default, the right Alt key can be used to create special characters, and thus does not register as a modifier. The option ``--no-input-right-alt-gr`` changes this behavior. Newlines always start a new binding. ``#`` starts a comment (outside of quoted string arguments). To bind commands to the ``#`` key, ``SHARP`` can be used. ```` is either the literal character the key produces (ASCII or Unicode character), or a symbolic name (as printed by ``--input-keylist``). ``
`` (braced with ``{`` and ``}``) is the input section for this command. Arguments are separated by whitespace. This applies even to string arguments. For this reason, string arguments should be quoted with ``"``. Inside quotes, C-style escaping can be used. You can bind multiple commands to one key. For example: | a show-text "command 1" ; show-text "command 2" It's also possible to bind a command to a sequence of keys: | a-b-c show-text "command run after a, b, c have been pressed" (This is not shown in the general command syntax.) If ``a`` or ``a-b`` or ``b`` are already bound, this will run the first command that matches, and the multi-key command will never be called. Intermediate keys can be remapped to ``ignore`` in order to avoid this issue. The maximum number of (non-modifier) keys for combinations is currently 4. List of Input Commands ---------------------- ``ignore`` Use this to "block" keys that should be unbound, and do nothing. Useful for disabling default bindings, without disabling all bindings with ``--no-input-default-bindings``. ``seek [relative|absolute|absolute-percent|relative-percent|exact|keyframes]`` Change the playback position. By default, seeks by a relative amount of seconds. The second argument consists of flags controlling the seek mode: relative (default) Seek relative to current position (a negative value seeks backwards). absolute Seek to a given time. absolute-percent Seek to a given percent position. relative-percent Seek relative to current position in percent. keyframes Always restart playback at keyframe boundaries (fast). exact Always do exact/hr/precise seeks (slow). Multiple flags can be combined, e.g.: ``absolute+keyframes``. By default, ``keyframes`` is used for relative seeks, and ``exact`` is used for absolute seeks. Before mpv 0.9, the ``keyframes`` and ``exact`` flags had to be passed as 3rd parameter (essentially using a space instead of ``+``). The 3rd parameter is still parsed, but is considered deprecated. ``revert-seek [mode]`` Undoes the ``seek`` command, and some other commands that seek (but not necessarily all of them). Calling this command once will jump to the playback position before the seek. Calling it a second time undoes the ``revert-seek`` command itself. This only works within a single file. The first argument is optional, and can change the behavior: mark Mark the current time position. The next normal ``revert-seek`` command will seek back to this point, no matter how many seeks happened since last time. Using it without any arguments gives you the default behavior. ``frame-step`` Play one frame, then pause. Does nothing with audio-only playback. ``frame-back-step`` Go back by one frame, then pause. Note that this can be very slow (it tries to be precise, not fast), and sometimes fails to behave as expected. How well this works depends on whether precise seeking works correctly (e.g. see the ``--hr-seek-demuxer-offset`` option). Video filters or other video post-processing that modifies timing of frames (e.g. deinterlacing) should usually work, but might make backstepping silently behave incorrectly in corner cases. Using ``--hr-seek-framedrop=no`` should help, although it might make precise seeking slower. This does not work with audio-only playback. ``set ""`` Set the given property to the given value. ``add []`` Add the given value to the property. On overflow or underflow, clamp the property to the maximum. If ```` is omitted, assume ``1``. ``cycle [up|down]`` Cycle the given property. ``up`` and ``down`` set the cycle direction. On overflow, set the property back to the minimum, on underflow set it to the maximum. If ``up`` or ``down`` is omitted, assume ``up``. ``multiply `` Multiplies the value of a property with the numeric factor. ``screenshot [subtitles|video|window|- [single|each-frame]]`` Take a screenshot. First argument: (default) Save the video image, in its original resolution, and with subtitles. Some video outputs may still include the OSD in the output under certain circumstances.