Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man audioplay

User Commands                                        audioplay(1)



NAME
     audioplay - play audio files

SYNOPSIS
     audioplay [-iV] [-v vol] [-d dev] [file]...


DESCRIPTION
     The audioplay utility copies the named audio files  (or  the
     standard  input  if  no  filenames are present) to the audio
     device. If no input file is specified and standard input  is
     a tty, the program exits with an error message.


     The input files must contain a valid audio file header.  The
     encoding  information  in this header is matched against the
     capabilities of the audio device and, if  the  data  formats
     are  incompatible,  an error message is printed and the file
     is skipped. Compressed ADPCM (G.721) monaural audio data  is
     automatically uncompressed before playing.


     Minor deviations in sampling frequency (that is,  less  than
     1%)  are ordinarily ignored. This allows, for instance, data
     sampled at 8012 Hz to be played on an audio device that only
     supports  8000  Hz. If the -V option is present, such devia-
     tions are flagged with warning messages.

OPTIONS
     The following options are supported:

     -d dev     Device: The dev argument specifies  an  alternate
                audio  device to which output should be directed.
                If the -d option is not specified,  the  AUDIODEV
                environment  variable  is  consulted (see below).
                Otherwise, /dev/audio  is  used  as  the  default
                audio device.


     -i         Immediate: If the  audio  device  is  unavailable
                (that  is,  another  process  currently has write
                access), audioplay ordinarily waits until it  can
                obtain  access  to the device. When the -i option
                is present, audioplay prints an error message and
                exits immediately if the device is busy.


     -v vol     Volume: The output volume is set to the specified
                value  before playing begins, and is reset to its
                previous level  when  audioplay  exits.  The  vol
                argument  is  an integer value between 0 and 100,
                inclusive. If this argument is not specified, the



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User Commands                                        audioplay(1)



                output  volume remains at the level most recently
                set by any process.


     -V         Verbose: Prints messages on  the  standard  error
                when  waiting  for  access to the audio device or
                when sample rate deviations are detected.


     -\?        Help: Prints a command line usage message.


OPERANDS
     file    File Specification: Audio files named on the command
             line  are  played  sequentially. If no filenames are
             present, the standard input stream (if it is  not  a
             tty)  is played (it, too, must contain an audio file
             header). The special filename - can be used to  read
             the  standard  input  stream instead of a file. If a
             relative  path  name  is  supplied,  the   AUDIOPATH
             environment variable is consulted (see below).


USAGE
     See largefile(5) for the  description  of  the  behavior  of
     audioplay when encountering files greater than or equal to 2
     Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     AUDIODEV     The full path name of the audio device to write
                  to,  if  no  -d  argument  is  supplied. If the
                  AUDIODEV variable is  not  set,  /dev/audio  is
                  used.


     AUDIOPATH    A colon-separated list of directories in  which
                  to search for audio files whose names are given
                  by relative pathnames.  The  current  directory
                  (.)  can  be specified explicitly in the search
                  path. If the AUDIOPATH  variable  is  not  set,
                  only the current directory is searched.


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:









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User Commands                                        audioplay(1)



     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Architecture                | SPARC, x86                  |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | audio/audio-utilities       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Committed                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO
     audioconvert(1), audioctl(1), audiorecord(1), attributes(5),
     largefile(5), audio(7I)

BUGS
     audioplay currently supports a limited set of  audio  format
     conversions.  If the audio file is not in a format supported
     by the audio device, it must first be converted.  For  exam-
     ple, to convert to voice format on the fly, use the command:

       example% audioconvert -f voice myfile | audioplay




     The format conversion is not always be able to keep up  with
     the audio output. If this is the case, you should convert to
     a temporary file before playing the data.


























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