lua.rst

LUA SCRIPTING

mpv can load Lua scripts. (See Script location.)

mpv provides the built-in module mp, which contains functions to send commands to the mpv core and to retrieve information about playback state, user settings, file information, and so on.

These scripts can be used to control mpv in a similar way to slave mode. Technically, the Lua code uses the client API internally.

Example

A script which leaves fullscreen mode when the player is paused:

function on_pause_change(name, value)
    if value == true then
        mp.set_property("fullscreen", "no")
    end
end
mp.observe_property("pause", "bool", on_pause_change)

Script location

Scripts can be passed to the --script option, and are automatically loaded from the scripts subdirectory of the mpv configuration directory (usually ~/.config/mpv/scripts/).

A script can be a single file. The file extension is used to select the scripting backend to use for it. For Lua, it is .lua. If the extension is not recognized, an error is printed. (If an error happens, the extension is either mistyped, or the backend was not compiled into your mpv binary.)

mpv internally loads the script's name by stripping the .lua extension and replacing all nonalphanumeric characters with _. E.g., my-tools.lua becomes my_tools. If there are several scripts with the same name, it is made unique by appending a number. This is the name returned by mp.get_script_name().

Entries with .disable extension are always ignored.

If a script is a directory (either if a directory is passed to --script, or any sub-directories in the script directory, such as for example ~/.config/mpv/scripts/something/), then the directory represents a single script. The player will try to load a file named main.x, where x is replaced with the file extension. For example, if main.lua exists, it is loaded with the Lua scripting backend.

You must not put any other files or directories that start with main. into the script's top level directory. If the script directory contains for example both main.lua and main.js, only one of them will be loaded (and which one depends on mpv internals that may change any time). Likewise, if there is for example main.foo, your script will break as soon as mpv adds a backend that uses the .foo file extension.

mpv also appends the top level directory of the script to the start of Lua's package path so you can import scripts from there too. Be aware that this will shadow Lua libraries that use the same package path. (Single file scripts do not include mpv specific directories in the Lua package path. This was silently changed in mpv 0.32.0.)

Using a script directory is the recommended way to package a script that consists of multiple source files, or requires other files (you can use mp.get_script_directory() to get the location and e.g. load data files).

Making a script a git repository, basically a repository which contains a main.lua file in the root directory, makes scripts easily updateable (without the dangers of auto-updates). Another suggestion is to use git submodules to share common files or libraries.

Details on the script initialization and lifecycle

Your script will be loaded by the player at program start from the scripts configuration subdirectory, or from a path specified with the --script option. Some scripts are loaded internally (like --osc). Each script runs in its own thread. Your script is first run "as is", and once that is done, the event loop is entered. This event loop will dispatch events received by mpv and call your own event handlers which you have registered with mp.register_event, or timers added with mp.add_timeout or similar. Note that since the script starts execution concurrently with player initialization, some properties may not be populated with meaningful values until the relevant subsystems have initialized.

When the player quits, all scripts will be asked to terminate. This happens via a shutdown event, which by default will make the event loop return. If your script got into an endless loop, mpv will probably behave fine during playback, but it won't terminate when quitting, because it's waiting on your script.

Internally, the C code will call the Lua function mp_event_loop after loading a Lua script. This function is normally defined by the default prelude loaded before your script (see player/lua/defaults.lua in the mpv sources). The event loop will wait for events and dispatch events registered with mp.register_event. It will also handle timers added with mp.add_timeout and similar (by waiting with a timeout).

Since mpv 0.6.0, the player will wait until the script is fully loaded before continuing normal operation. The player considers a script as fully loaded as soon as it starts waiting for mpv events (or it exits). In practice this means the player will more or less hang until the script returns from the main chunk (and mp_event_loop is called), or the script calls mp_event_loop or mp.dispatch_events directly. This is done to make it possible for a script to fully setup event handlers etc. before playback actually starts. In older mpv versions, this happened asynchronously. With mpv 0.29.0, this changes slightly, and it merely waits for scripts to be loaded in this manner before starting playback as part of the player initialization phase. Scripts run though initialization in parallel. This might change again.

mp functions

The mp module is preloaded, although it can be loaded manually with require 'mp'. It provides the core client API.

mp.command(string)

Run the given command. This is similar to the commands used in input.conf. See `List of Input Commands`_.

By default, this will show something on the OSD (depending on the command), as if it was used in input.conf. See `Input Command Prefixes`_ how to influence OSD usage per command.

Returns true on success, or nil, error on error.

mp.commandv(arg1, arg2, ...)

Similar to mp.command, but pass each command argument as separate parameter. This has the advantage that you don't have to care about quoting and escaping in some cases.

Example:

mp.command("loadfile " .. filename .. " append")
mp.commandv("loadfile", filename, "append")

These two commands are equivalent, except that the first version breaks if the filename contains spaces or certain special characters.

Note that properties are not expanded. You can use either mp.command, the expand-properties prefix, or the mp.get_property family of functions.

Unlike mp.command, this will not use OSD by default either (except for some OSD-specific commands).

mp.command_native(table [,def])

Similar to mp.commandv, but pass the argument list as table. This has the advantage that in at least some cases, arguments can be passed as native types. It also allows you to use named argument.

If the table is an array, each array item is like an argument in mp.commandv() (but can be a native type instead of a string).

If the table contains string keys, it's interpreted as command with named arguments. This requires at least an entry with the key name to be present, which must be a string, and contains the command name. The special entry _flags is optional, and if present, must be an array of `Input Command Prefixes`_ to apply. All other entries are interpreted as arguments.

Returns a result table on success (usually empty), or def, error on error. def is the second parameter provided to the function, and is nil if it's missing.

mp.command_native_async(table [,fn])

Like mp.command_native(), but the command is ran asynchronously (as far as possible), and upon completion, fn is called. fn has three arguments: fn(success, result, error):

success

Always a Boolean and is true if the command was successful, otherwise false.

result

The result value (can be nil) in case of success, nil otherwise (as returned by mp.command_native()).

error

The error string in case of an error, nil otherwise.

Returns a table with undefined contents, which can be used as argument for mp.abort_async_command.

If starting the command failed for some reason, nil, error is returned, and fn is called indicating failure, using the same error value.

fn is always called asynchronously, even if the command failed to start.

mp.abort_async_command(t)

Abort a mp.command_native_async call. The argument is the return value of that command (which starts asynchronous execution of the command). Whether this works and how long it takes depends on the command and the situation. The abort call itself is asynchronous. Does not return anything.

mp.del_property(name)

Delete the given property. See mp.get_property and `Properties`_ for more information about properties. Most properties cannot be deleted.

Returns true on success, or nil, error on error.

mp.get_property(name [,def])

Return the value of the given property as string. These are the same properties as used in input.conf. See `Properties`_ for a list of properties. The returned string is formatted similar to ${=name} (see `Property Expansion`_).

Returns the string on success, or def, error on error. def is the second parameter provided to the function, and is nil if it's missing.

mp.get_property_osd(name [,def])

Similar to mp.get_property, but return the property value formatted for OSD. This is the same string as printed with ${name} when used in input.conf.

Returns the string on success, or def, error on error. def is the second parameter provided to the function, and is an empty string if it's missing. Unlike get_property(), assigning the return value to a variable will always result in a string.

mp.get_property_bool(name [,def])

Similar to mp.get_property, but return the property value as Boolean.

Returns a Boolean on success, or def, error on error.

mp.get_property_number(name [,def])

Similar to mp.get_property, but return the property value as number.

Note that while Lua does not distinguish between integers and floats, mpv internals do. This function simply request a double float from mpv, and mpv will usually convert integer property values to float.

Returns a number on success, or def, error on error.

mp.get_property_native(name [,def])

Similar to mp.get_property, but return the property value using the best Lua type for the property. Most time, this will return a string, Boolean, or number. Some properties (for example chapter-list) are returned as tables.

Returns a value on success, or def, error on error. Note that nil might be a possible, valid value too in some corner cases.

mp.set_property(name, value)

Set the given property to the given string value. See mp.get_property and `Properties`_ for more information about properties.

Returns true on success, or nil, error on error.

mp.set_property_bool(name, value)

Similar to mp.set_property, but set the given property to the given Boolean value.

mp.set_property_number(name, value)

Similar to mp.set_property, but set the given property to the given numeric value.

Note that while Lua does not distinguish between integers and floats, mpv internals do. This function will test whether the number can be represented as integer, and if so, it will pass an integer value to mpv, otherwise a double float.

mp.set_property_native(name, value)

Similar to mp.set_property, but set the given property using its native type.

Since there are several data types which cannot represented natively in Lua, this might not always work as expected. For example, while the Lua wrapper can do some guesswork to decide whether a Lua table is an array or a map, this would fail with empty tables. Also, there are not many properties for which it makes sense to use this, instead of set_property, set_property_bool, set_property_number. For these reasons, this function should probably be avoided for now, except for properties that use tables natively.

mp.get_time()

Return the current mpv internal time in seconds as a number. This is basically the system time, with an arbitrary offset.

mp.add_key_binding(key, name|fn [,fn [,flags]])

Register callback to be run on a key binding. The binding will be mapped to the given key, which is a string describing the physical key. This uses the same key names as in input.conf, and also allows combinations (e.g. ctrl+a). If the key is empty or nil, no physical key is registered, but the user still can create own bindings (see below).

After calling this function, key presses will cause the function fn to be called (unless the user remapped the key with another binding). However, if the key binding is canceled , the function will not be called, unless complex flag is set to true, where the function will be called with the canceled entry set to true.

For example, a canceled key binding can happen in the following situations:

• If key A is pressed while key B is being held down, key B is logically released ("canceled" by key A), which stops the current autorepeat action key B has.
• If key A is pressed while a mouse button is being held down, the mouse button is logically released, but the mouse button's action will not be called, unless complex flag is set to true.

The name argument should be a short symbolic string. It allows the user to remap the key binding via input.conf using the script-message command, and the name of the key binding (see below for an example). The name should be unique across other bindings in the same script - if not, the previous binding with the same name will be overwritten. You can omit the name, in which case a random name is generated internally. (Omitting works as follows: either pass nil for name, or pass the fn argument in place of the name. The latter is not recommended and is handled for compatibility only.)

The last argument is used for optional flags. This is a table, which can have the following entries:

repeatable

If set to true, enables key repeat for this specific binding. This option only makes sense when complex is not set to true.

complex

If set to true, then fn is called on key down, repeat and up events, with the first argument being a table. This table has the following entries (and may contain undocumented ones):

event

Set to one of the strings down, repeat, up or press (the latter if key up/down/repeat can't be tracked), which indicates the key's logical state.

is_mouse

Boolean: Whether the event was caused by a mouse button.

canceled

Boolean: Whether the event was canceled. Not all types of cancellations set this flag.

key_name

The name of they key that triggered this, or nil if invoked artificially. If the key name is unknown, it's an empty string.

key_text

Text if triggered by a text key, otherwise nil. See description of script-binding command for details (this field is equivalent to the 5th argument).

Internally, key bindings are dispatched via the script-message-to or script-binding input commands and mp.register_script_message.

Trying to map multiple commands to a key will essentially prefer a random binding, while the other bindings are not called. It is guaranteed that user defined bindings in the central input.conf are preferred over bindings added with this function (but see mp.add_forced_key_binding).

Example:

function something_handler()
    print("the key was pressed")
end
mp.add_key_binding("x", "something", something_handler)

This will print the message the key was pressed when x was pressed.

The user can remap these key bindings. Then the user has to put the following into their input.conf to remap the command to the y key:

y script-binding something

This will print the message when the key y is pressed. (x will still work, unless the user remaps it.)

You can also explicitly send a message to a named script only. Assume the above script was using the filename fooscript.lua:

y script-binding fooscript/something

mp.add_forced_key_binding(...)

This works almost the same as mp.add_key_binding, but registers the key binding in a way that will overwrite the user's custom bindings in their input.conf. (mp.add_key_binding overwrites default key bindings only, but not those by the user's input.conf.)

mp.remove_key_binding(name)

Remove a key binding added with mp.add_key_binding or mp.add_forced_key_binding. Use the same name as you used when adding the bindings. It's not possible to remove bindings for which you omitted the name.

mp.register_event(name, fn)

Call a specific function when an event happens. The event name is a string, and the function fn is a Lua function value.

Some events have associated data. This is put into a Lua table and passed as argument to fn. The Lua table by default contains a name field, which is a string containing the event name. If the event has an error associated, the error field is set to a string describing the error, on success it's not set.

If multiple functions are registered for the same event, they are run in registration order, which the first registered function running before all the other ones.

Returns true if such an event exists, false otherwise.

See Events and `List of events`_ for details.

mp.unregister_event(fn)

Undo mp.register_event(..., fn). This removes all event handlers that are equal to the fn parameter. This uses normal Lua == comparison, so be careful when dealing with closures.

mp.observe_property(name, type, fn)

Watch a property for changes. If the property name is changed, then the function fn(name) will be called. type can be nil, or be set to one of none, native, bool, string, or number. none is the same as nil. For all other values, the new value of the property will be passed as second argument to fn, using mp.get_property_<type> to retrieve it. This means if type is for example string, fn is roughly called as in fn(name, mp.get_property_string(name)).

If possible, change events are coalesced. If a property is changed a bunch of times in a row, only the last change triggers the change function. (The exact behavior depends on timing and other things.)

If a property is unavailable, or on error, the value argument to fn is nil. (The observe_property() call always succeeds, even if a property does not exist.)

In some cases the function is not called even if the property changes. This depends on the property, and it's a valid feature request to ask for better update handling of a specific property.

If the type is none or nil, the change function fn will be called sporadically even if the property doesn't actually change. You should therefore avoid using these types.

You always get an initial change notification. This is meant to initialize the user's state to the current value of the property.

mp.unobserve_property(fn)

Undo mp.observe_property(..., fn). This removes all property handlers that are equal to the fn parameter. This uses normal Lua == comparison, so be careful when dealing with closures.

mp.add_timeout(seconds, fn [, disabled])

Call the given function fn when the given number of seconds has elapsed. Note that the number of seconds can be fractional. For now, the timer's resolution may be as low as 50 ms, although this will be improved in the future.

If the disabled argument is set to true or a truthy value, the timer will wait to be manually started with a call to its resume() method.

This is a one-shot timer: it will be removed when it's fired.

Returns a timer object. See mp.add_periodic_timer for details.

mp.add_periodic_timer(seconds, fn [, disabled])

Call the given function periodically. This is like mp.add_timeout, but the timer is re-added after the function fn is run.

Returns a timer object. The timer object provides the following methods:

stop()

Disable the timer. Does nothing if the timer is already disabled. This will remember the current elapsed time when stopping, so that resume() essentially unpauses the timer.

kill()

Disable the timer. Resets the elapsed time. resume() will restart the timer.

resume()

Restart the timer. If the timer was disabled with stop(), this will resume at the time it was stopped. If the timer was disabled with kill(), or if it's a previously fired one-shot timer (added with add_timeout()), this starts the timer from the beginning, using the initially configured timeout.

is_enabled()

Whether the timer is currently enabled or was previously disabled (e.g. by stop() or kill()).

timeout (RW)

This field contains the current timeout period. This value is not updated as time progresses. It's only used to calculate when the timer should fire next when the timer expires.

If you write this, you can call t:kill() ; t:resume() to reset the current timeout to the new one. (t:stop() won't use the new timeout.)

oneshot (RW)

Whether the timer is periodic (false) or fires just once (true). This value is used when the timer expires (but before the timer callback function fn is run).

Note that these are methods, and you have to call them using : instead of . (Refer to https://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html#3.4.9 .)

Example:

seconds = 0
timer = mp.add_periodic_timer(1, function()
    print("called every second")
    # stop it after 10 seconds
    seconds = seconds + 1
    if seconds >= 10 then
        timer:kill()
    end
end)

mp.get_opt(key)

Return a setting from the --script-opts option. It's up to the user and the script how this mechanism is used. Currently, all scripts can access this equally, so you should be careful about collisions.

mp.get_script_name()

Return the name of the current script. The name is usually made of the filename of the script, with directory and file extension removed. If there are several scripts which would have the same name, it's made unique by appending a number. Any nonalphanumeric characters are replaced with _.

Example

The script /path/to/foo-script.lua becomes foo_script.

mp.get_script_directory()

Return the directory if this is a script packaged as directory (see Script location for a description). Return nothing if this is a single file script.

mp.osd_message(text [,duration])

Show an OSD message on the screen. duration is in seconds, and is optional (uses --osd-duration by default).

Advanced mp functions

These also live in the mp module, but are documented separately as they are useful only in special situations.

mp.get_wakeup_pipe()

Calls mpv_get_wakeup_pipe() and returns the read end of the wakeup pipe. This is deprecated, but still works. (See client.h for details.)

mp.get_next_timeout()

Return the relative time in seconds when the next timer (mp.add_timeout and similar) expires. If there is no timer, return nil.

mp.dispatch_events([allow_wait])

This can be used to run custom event loops. If you want to have direct control what the Lua script does (instead of being called by the default event loop), you can set the global variable mp_event_loop to your own function running the event loop. From your event loop, you should call mp.dispatch_events() to dequeue and dispatch mpv events.

If the allow_wait parameter is set to true, the function will block until the next event is received or the next timer expires. Otherwise (and this is the default behavior), it returns as soon as the event loop is emptied. It's strongly recommended to use mp.get_next_timeout() and mp.get_wakeup_pipe() if you're interested in properly working notification of new events and working timers.

mp.register_idle(fn)

Register an event loop idle handler. Idle handlers are called before the script goes to sleep after handling all new events. This can be used for example to delay processing of property change events: if you're observing multiple properties at once, you might not want to act on each property change, but only when all change notifications have been received.

mp.unregister_idle(fn)

Undo mp.register_idle(fn). This removes all idle handlers that are equal to the fn parameter. This uses normal Lua == comparison, so be careful when dealing with closures.

mp.enable_messages(level)

Set the minimum log level of which mpv message output to receive. These messages are normally printed to the terminal. By calling this function, you can set the minimum log level of messages which should be received with the log-message event. See the description of this event for details. The level is a string, see msg.log for allowed log levels.

mp.register_script_message(name, fn)

This is a helper to dispatch script-message or script-message-to invocations to Lua functions. fn is called if script-message or script-message-to (with this script as destination) is run with name as first parameter. The other parameters are passed to fn. If a message with the given name is already registered, it's overwritten.

Used by mp.add_key_binding, so be careful about name collisions.

mp.unregister_script_message(name)

Undo a previous registration with mp.register_script_message. Does nothing if the name wasn't registered.

mp.create_osd_overlay(format)

Create an OSD overlay. This is a very thin wrapper around the osd-overlay command. The function returns a table, which mostly contains fields that will be passed to osd-overlay. The format parameter is used to initialize the format field. The data field contains the text to be used as overlay. For details, see the osd-overlay command.

In addition, it provides the following methods:

update()

Commit the OSD overlay to the screen, or in other words, run the osd-overlay command with the current fields of the overlay table. Returns the result of the osd-overlay command itself.

remove()

Remove the overlay from the screen. A update() call will add it again.

Example:

ov = mp.create_osd_overlay("ass-events")
ov.data = "{\\an5}{\\b1}hello world!"
ov:update()

The advantage of using this wrapper (as opposed to running osd-overlay directly) is that the id field is allocated automatically.

mp.get_osd_size()

Returns a tuple of osd_width, osd_height, osd_par. The first two give the size of the OSD in pixels (for video outputs like --vo=xv, this may be "scaled" pixels). The third is the display pixel aspect ratio.

May return invalid/nonsense values if OSD is not initialized yet.

mp.msg functions

This module allows outputting messages to the terminal, and can be loaded with require 'mp.msg'.

msg.log(level, ...)

The level parameter is the message priority. It's a string and one of fatal, error, warn, info, v, debug, trace. The user's settings will determine which of these messages will be visible. Normally, all messages are visible, except v, debug and trace.

The parameters after that are all converted to strings. Spaces are inserted to separate multiple parameters.

You don't need to add newlines.

msg.fatal(...), msg.error(...), msg.warn(...), msg.info(...), msg.verbose(...), msg.debug(...), msg.trace(...)

All of these are shortcuts and equivalent to the corresponding msg.log(level, ...) call.

mp.options functions

mpv comes with a built-in module to manage options from config-files and the command-line. All you have to do is to supply a table with default options to the read_options function. The function will overwrite the default values with values found in the config-file and the command-line (in that order).

options.read_options(table [, identifier [, on_update]])

A table with key-value pairs. The type of the default values is important for converting the values read from the config file or command-line back. Do not use nil as a default value!

The identifier is used to identify the config-file and the command-line options. These needs to unique to avoid collisions with other scripts. Defaults to mp.get_script_name() if the parameter is nil or missing.

The on_update parameter enables run-time updates of all matching option values via the script-opts option/property. If any of the matching options changes, the values in the table (which was originally passed to the function) are changed, and on_update(list) is called. list is a table where each updated option has a list[option_name] = true entry. There is no initial on_update() call. This never re-reads the config file. script-opts is always applied on the original config file, ignoring previous script-opts values (for example, if an option is removed from script-opts at runtime, the option will have the value in the config file). table entries are only written for option values whose values effectively change (this is important if the script changes table entries independently).

Example implementation:

local options = {
    optionA = "defaultvalueA",
    optionB = -0.5,
    optionC = true,
}

require "mp.options".read_options(options, "myscript")
print(options.optionA)

The config file will be stored in script-opts/identifier.conf in mpv's user folder. Comment lines can be started with # and stray spaces are not removed. Boolean values will be represented with yes/no.

Example config:

# comment
optionA=Hello World
optionB=9999
optionC=no

Command-line options are read from the --script-opts parameter. To avoid collisions, all keys have to be prefixed with identifier-.

Example command-line:

--script-opts=myscript-optionA=TEST,myscript-optionB=0,myscript-optionC=yes

mp.utils functions

This built-in module provides generic helper functions for Lua, and have strictly speaking nothing to do with mpv or video/audio playback. They are provided for convenience. Most compensate for Lua's scarce standard library.

Be warned that any of these functions might disappear any time. They are not strictly part of the guaranteed API.

utils.getcwd()

Returns the directory that mpv was launched from. On error, nil, error is returned.

utils.readdir(path [, filter])

Enumerate all entries at the given path on the filesystem, and return them as array. Each entry is a directory entry (without the path). The list is unsorted (in whatever order the operating system returns it).

If the filter argument is given, it must be one of the following strings:

files

List regular files only. This excludes directories, special files (like UNIX device files or FIFOs), and dead symlinks. It includes UNIX symlinks to regular files.

dirs

List directories only, or symlinks to directories. . and .. are not included.

normal

Include the results of both files and dirs. (This is the default.)

all

List all entries, even device files, dead symlinks, FIFOs, and the . and .. entries.

On error, nil, error is returned.

utils.file_info(path)

Stats the given path for information and returns a table with the following entries:

mode

protection bits (on Windows, always 755 (octal) for directories and 644 (octal) for files)

size

size in bytes

atime

time of last access

mtime

time of last modification

ctime

time of last metadata change

is_file

Whether path is a regular file (boolean)

is_dir

Whether path is a directory (boolean)

mode and size are integers. Timestamps (atime, mtime and ctime) are integer seconds since the Unix epoch (Unix time). The booleans is_file and is_dir are provided as a convenience; they can be and are derived from mode.

On error (e.g. path does not exist), nil, error is returned.

utils.split_path(path)

Split a path into directory component and filename component, and return them. The first return value is always the directory. The second return value is the trailing part of the path, the directory entry.

utils.join_path(p1, p2)

Return the concatenation of the 2 paths. Tries to be clever. For example, if p2 is an absolute path, p2 is returned without change.

utils.subprocess(t)

Runs an external process and waits until it exits. Returns process status and the captured output. This is a legacy wrapper around calling the subprocess command with mp.command_native. It does the following things:

• copy the table t
• rename cancellable field to playback_only
• rename max_size to capture_size
• set capture_stdout field to true if unset
• set name field to subprocess
• call mp.command_native(copied_t)
• if the command failed, create a dummy result table
• copy error_string to error field if the string is non-empty
• return the result table

It is recommended to use mp.command_native or mp.command_native_async directly, instead of calling this legacy wrapper. It is for compatibility only.

See the subprocess documentation for semantics and further parameters.

utils.subprocess_detached(t)

Runs an external process and detaches it from mpv's control.

The parameter t is a table. The function reads the following entries:

args

Array of strings of the same semantics as the args used in the subprocess function.

The function returns nil.

This is a legacy wrapper around calling the run command with mp.commandv and other functions.

utils.getpid()

Returns the process ID of the running mpv process. This can be used to identify the calling mpv when launching (detached) subprocesses.

utils.get_env_list()

Returns the C environment as a list of strings. (Do not confuse this with the Lua "environment", which is an unrelated concept.)

utils.parse_json(str [, trail])

Parses the given string argument as JSON, and returns it as a Lua table. On error, returns nil, error. (Currently, error is just a string reading error, because there is no fine-grained error reporting of any kind.)

The returned value uses similar conventions as mp.get_property_native() to distinguish empty objects and arrays.

If the trail parameter is true (or any value equal to true), then trailing non-whitespace text is tolerated by the function, and the trailing text is returned as 3rd return value. (The 3rd return value is always there, but with trail set, no error is raised.)

utils.format_json(v)

Format the given Lua table (or value) as a JSON string and return it. On error, returns nil, error. (Errors usually only happen on value types incompatible with JSON.)

The argument value uses similar conventions as mp.set_property_native() to distinguish empty objects and arrays.

utils.to_string(v)

Turn the given value into a string. Formats tables and their contents. This doesn't do anything special; it is only needed because Lua is terrible.

mp.input functions

This module lets scripts get textual input from the user using the console REPL.

input.get(table)

Show the console to let the user enter text.

The following entries of table are read:

prompt

The string to be displayed before the input field.

submit

A callback invoked when the user presses Enter. The first argument is the text in the console. You can close the console from within the callback by calling input.terminate(). If you don't, the console stays open and the user can input more text.

opened

A callback invoked when the console is shown. This can be used to present a list of options with input.set_log().

edited

A callback invoked when the text changes. The first argument is the text in the console.

complete

A callback invoked when the user presses TAB. The first argument is the text before the cursor. The callback should return a table of the string candidate completion values and the 1-based cursor position from which the completion starts. console.lua will filter the suggestions beginning with the the text between this position and the cursor, sort them alphabetically, insert their longest common prefix, and show them when there are multiple ones.

closed

A callback invoked when the console is hidden, either because input.terminate() was invoked from the other callbacks, or because the user closed it with a key binding. The first argument is the text in the console, and the second argument is the cursor position.

default_text

A string to pre-fill the input field with.

cursor_position

The initial cursor position, starting from 1.

id

An identifier that determines which input history and log buffer to use among the ones stored for input.get() calls. The input histories and logs are stored in memory and do not persist across different mpv invocations. Defaults to the calling script name with prompt appended.

input.terminate()

Close the console.

input.log(message, style, terminal_style)

Add a line to the log buffer. style can contain additional ASS tags to apply to message, and terminal_style can contain escape sequences that are used when the console is displayed in the terminal.

input.log_error(message)

Helper to add a line to the log buffer with the same color as the one the console uses for errors. Useful when the user submits invalid input.

input.set_log(log)

Replace the entire log buffer.

log is a table of strings, or tables with text, style and terminal_style keys.

Example:

input.set_log({
    "regular text",
    {
        text = "error text",
        style = "{\\c&H7a77f2&}",
        terminal_style = "\027[31m",
    }
})

input.select(table)

Specify a list of items that are presented to the user for selection. The user can type part of the desired item and/or navigate them with keybindings: Down and Ctrl+n go down, Up and Ctrl+p go up, Page down and Ctrl+f scroll down one page, and Page up and Ctrl+b scroll up one page.

The following entries of table are read:

prompt

The string to be displayed before the input field.

items

The table of the entries to choose from.

default_item

The 1-based integer index of the preselected item.

submit

The callback invoked when the user presses Enter. The first argument is the 1-based index of the selected item. Unlike with input.get(), the console is automatically closed on submit without having to call input.terminate().

Example:

input.select({
    items = {
        "First playlist entry",
        "Second playlist entry",
    },
    submit = function (id)
        mp.commandv("playlist-play-index", id - 1)
    end,
})

Events

Events are notifications from player core to scripts. You can register an event handler with mp.register_event.

Note that all scripts (and other parts of the player) receive events equally, and there's no such thing as blocking other scripts from receiving events.

Example:

function my_fn(event)
    print("start of playback!")
end

mp.register_event("file-loaded", my_fn)

For the existing event types, see `List of events`_.

Extras

This documents experimental features, or features that are "too special" to guarantee a stable interface.

mp.add_hook(type, priority, fn)

Add a hook callback for type (a string identifying a certain kind of hook). These hooks allow the player to call script functions and wait for their result (normally, the Lua scripting interface is asynchronous from the point of view of the player core). priority is an arbitrary integer that allows ordering among hooks of the same kind. Using the value 50 is recommended as neutral default value.

fn(hook) is the function that will be called during execution of the hook. The parameter passed to it (hook) is a Lua object that can control further aspects about the currently invoked hook. It provides the following methods:

defer()

Returning from the hook function should not automatically continue the hook. Instead, the API user wants to call hook:cont() on its own at a later point in time (before or after the function has returned).

cont()

Continue the hook. Doesn't need to be called unless defer() was called.

See `Hooks`_ for currently existing hooks and what they do - only the hook list is interesting; handling hook execution is done by the Lua script function automatically.