pacmd

command-line tool for reconfiguring PulseAudio at runtime

TLDR

List sinks (outputs)

$ pacmd list-sinks

List sources (inputs)

$ pacmd list-sources

Set default sink

$ pacmd set-default-sink [sink_name]

Set sink volume

$ pacmd set-sink-volume [sink_name] [65536]

Move stream to sink

$ pacmd move-sink-input [index] [sink_name]

Interactive mode

$ pacmd

pacmd is a command-line tool for reconfiguring PulseAudio at runtime. It provides full access to PulseAudio's internal configuration and state.Running without arguments enters interactive mode with tab completion.

PARAMETERS

list-sinks

List output devices.

list-sources

List input devices.

list-sink-inputs

List playback streams.

list-source-outputs

List recording streams.

list-modules

List loaded PulseAudio modules.

set-default-sink name

Set default output.

set-default-source name

Set default input.

set-sink-volume name vol

Set sink volume (0-65536 linear).

set-source-volume name vol

Set source volume.

set-sink-mute name 0|1

Mute/unmute a sink.

set-source-mute name 0|1

Mute/unmute a source.

move-sink-input idx sink

Move a playback stream to another sink.

move-source-output idx source

Move a recording stream to another source.

load-module name [args]

Load a PulseAudio module.

unload-module id

Unload a module by index or name.

help

Show all supported commands.

exit

Terminate the PulseAudio daemon (in interactive mode, use Ctrl+D to quit).

VOLUME SCALE

$ 0 = 0% (muted)
32768 = 50%
65536 = 100% (normal)
98304 = 150% (amplified)

INSTALL

sudo apt install pulseaudio-utils

sudo dnf install pulseaudio-utils

sudo apk add pulseaudio-utils

sudo zypper install pulseaudio-utils

CAVEATS

PulseAudio specific. Use pactl for simpler operations. Changes may not persist across restarts. Consider PipeWire migration.

HISTORY

pacmd is part of PulseAudio, developed by Lennart Poettering starting in 2004 as a next-generation sound server.