Ubuntu Manpage: mpc - Program for controlling Music Player Daemon (MPD)

NAME

       mpc - Program for controlling Music Player Daemon (MPD)

SYNOPSIS

       mpc [options] <command> [<arguments>]

DESCRIPTION

       mpc  is  a client for MPD, the Music Player Daemon.  mpc connects to a MPD and controls it
       according to commands and arguments passed to it.  If no command  is  given,  the  current
       status is printed (same as 'mpc status').

OPTIONS

-f,--format
Configure the format of song display for status and the playlist. The metadata
delimiters are:

%name% Unknown (doesn't produce output)
%artist% Artist file tag
%album% Album file tag
%albumartist% Album Artist file tag
%comment% Comment file tag (not enabled by default in mpd.conf's
metadata_to_use)
%composer% Composer file tag
%date% Date file tag
%disc% Disc file tag
%genre% Genre file tag
%performer% Performer file tag
%title% Title file tag
%track% Track file tag
%time% Duration of file
%file% Path of file, relative to mpd's `music_directory` variable
%position% Playlist track number
%mtime% Date and time of last file modification
%mdate% Date of last file modification

The [] operator is used to group output such that if no metadata delimiters are
found or matched between '[' and ']', then none of the characters between '[' and
']' are output. '&' and '|' are logical operators for and and or. '#' is used to
escape characters. Some useful examples for format are: "%file%" and "[[%artist% -
]%title%]|[%file%]". This command also takes the following defined escape
sequences:

\\ - backslash
\[ - left bracket
\] - right bracket
\a - alert
\b - backspace
\t - tab
\n - newline
\v - vertical tab
\f - form-feed
\r - carriage return

--wait
Wait for operation to finish (e.g. database update).

-q,--quiet,--no-status
Prevents the current song status from being printed on completion of some of the
commands.

-v,--verbose
Verbose output.

-h,--host
The host to connect to; if not given, the value of the environment variable
MPD_HOST is checked before defaulting to localhost. This default can be changed at
compile-time.

To use a password, provide a value of the form "password@host".

If you specify an absolute path, mpc attempts a connection via Unix Domain Socket.

-p,--port
The port to connect to; if not given, the value of the environment variable
MPD_PORT is checked before defaulting to 6600. This default can be changed at
compile-time.

COMMANDS

       Commands can be used from the least unambiguous prefix (e.g insert or ins)

       add <file>
              Adds  a  song  from  the  music  database to the playlist. Can also read input from
              pipes. Use "mpc ls | mpc add" to add all files to the playlist.

       insert <file>
              The insert command works  similarly  to  add  except  it  adds  song(s)  after  the
              currently  playing  one,  rather than at the end.  When random mode is enabled, the
              new song is queued after the current song.

       clear  Empties playlist.

       crop   Remove all songs except for the currently playing song.

       current [--wait]
              Show the currently playing song

              With  --wait,  mpc  waits  until  the  song   changes   (or   until   playback   is
              started/stopped) before it queries the current song from the server.

       crossfade [<seconds>]
              Gets  and  sets  the  current  amount  of  crossfading  between  songs  (0 disables
              crossfading).

       mixrampdb [<db>]
              Gets and sets the volume level at which songs with MIXRAMP tags will be overlapped.
              This disables the fading of the crossfade command and simply mixes the songs. -50.0
              will effectively remove any gaps, 0.0 will mash  tracks  together.  The  amount  of
              overlap is limited by the audio_buffer_size MPD configuration parameter.

       mixrampdelay [<seconds>]
              Gets  and  sets  the current amount of extra delay added to the value computed from
              the MIXRAMP tags. (A negative value disables  overlapping  with  MIXRAMP  tags  and
              restores the previous value of crossfade).

       del <songpos>
              Removes  a  playlist  number  from  the playlist. Can also read input from pipes (0
              deletes the current playing song).

       disable [only] <output # or name> [...]
              Disables the output(s); a list of one or more names  or  numbers  is  required.  If
              "only" is the first argument, all other outputs are enabled.

       enable [only] <output # or name> [...]
              Enables  the  output(s);  a  list  of  one or more names or numbers is required. If
              "only" is the first argument, all other outputs are disabled.

       idle [events]
              Waits until an event occurs.  Prints a list of event names, one per line.  See  the
              MPD protocol documentation for further information.

              If you specify a list of events, only these events are considered.

       idleloop [events]
              Similar to "idle", but re-enters "idle" state after events have been printed.

              If you specify a list of events, only these events are considered.

       listall [<file>]
              Lists <file> from playlist. If no <file> is specified, lists all songs.

       load <file>
              Loads <file> as playlist.

       ls [<directory>]
              Lists  all  files/folders in <directory>. If no <directory> is specified, lists all
              files in music directory.

       lsplaylists
              Lists available playlists.

       mv, move <from> <to>
              Moves song at position <from> to the position <to> in the playlist.

       next   Starts playing next song on playlist.

       outputs
              Lists all available outputs

       pause  Pauses playing.

       play <position>
              Starts playing the song-number specified. If none is specified, plays number 1.

       playlist [<playlist>]
              Lists all songs in <playlist>. If no <playlist> is specified, lists  all  songs  in
              the current playlist.

       prev   Starts playing previous song.

       random <on|off>
              Toggle random mode if state ("on" or "off") is not specified.

       repeat <on|off>
              Toggle repeat mode if state ("on" or "off") is not specified.

       replaygain [<off|track|album>]
              Sets the replay gain mode.  Without arguments, it prints the replay gain mode.

       single <on|off>
              Toggle single mode if state ("on" or "off") is not specified.

       consume <on|off>
              Toggle consume mode if state ("on" or "off") is not specified.

       rm <file>
              Deletes a specific playlist.

       save <file>
              Saves playlist as <file>.

       search <type> <query> [<type> <query>]...
              Searches  for  substrings  in  song  tags.   Any  number  of  tag  type  and  query
              combinations can be specified.  Possible  tag  types  are:  artist,  album,  title,
              track,  name, genre, date, composer, performer, comment, disc, filename, or any (to
              match any tag).

       find <type> <query> [<type> <query>]...
              Same as search, but tag values must match  <query>s  exactly  instead  of  doing  a
              substring match.

       findadd <type> <query> [<type> <query>]...
              Same as find, but add the result to the current playlist instead of printing them.

       list <type> [<type> <query>]...
              Return  a  list  of all tags of given tag <type>.  Optional search <type>s/<query>s
              limit results in a way similar to search.

       seek [+-][<HH:MM:SS>] or <[+-]<0-100>%>
              Seeks by hour, minute or seconds, hours or minutes can be omitted.  If  seeking  by
              percentage, seeks within the current song in the specified manner.  If a "+" or "-"
              is used, the seek is done relative to the current song position.  Absolute  seeking
              by default.

       shuffle
              Shuffles all songs on the playlist.

       stats  Displays statistics about MPD.

       stop   Stops playing.

       toggle Toggles  between  play and pause. If stopped starts playing. Does not support start
              playing at song number (use play).

       update [--wait] [<path>]
              Scans for updated files in the music  directory.   The  optional  parameter  <path>
              (relative to the music directory) may limit the scope of the update.

              With --wait, mpc waits until MPD has finished the update.

       version
              Reports the version of MPD.

       volume [+-]<num>
              Sets  the  volume  to  <num>  (0-100).   If "+" or "-" is used, then it adjusts the
              volume relative to the current volume.

       channels
              List the channels that other clients have subscribed to.

       sendmessage <channel> <message>
              Send a message to the specified channel.

       waitmessage <channel>
              Wait for at least one message on the specified channel.

       subscribe <channel>
              Subscribe to the specified channel and continuously receive messages.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       All environment variables  are  overridden  by  any  values  specified  via  command  line
       switches.

       MPD_HOST
              Specifies the hostname of the mpd server.  This can be a hostname, IP address or an
              absolute path.  If it is an absolute path, mpc will use Unix Domain Sockets instead
              of TCP/IP.

              If  the  server requires a password, it can be specified using password@host in the
              MPD_HOST variable.

       MPD_PORT
              Specifies the port the mpd server is listening on.

EXAMPLES

       For  useful  examples  of  mpc  use  in  playlist  parsing,  see  mpd-m3u-playlist.sh  and
       mpd-pls-playlist.sh.

BUGS

       Report bugs on http://bugs.musicpd.org/

NOTE

       Since  MPD  uses  UTF-8,  mpc needs to convert characters to the charset used by the local
       system. If you get character conversion errors when you're running mpc you  probably  need
       to  set  up  your  locale.  This  is  done  by setting any of the LC_CTYPE, LANG or LC_ALL
       environment variables (LC_CTYPE only affects character handling).

AUTHOR

       See http://git.musicpd.org/cgit/master/mpc.git/plain/AUTHORS

                                                                          Music Player Command(1)