Description

TheNodePath built-inVariant type represents a path to a node or property in a hierarchy of nodes. It is designed to be efficiently passed into many built-in methods (such asNode.get_node(),Object.set_indexed(),Tween.tween_property(), etc.) without a hard dependence on the node or property they point to.

A node path is represented as aString composed of slash-separated (/) node names and colon-separated (:) property names (also called "subnames"). Similar to a filesystem path,".." and"." are special node names. They refer to the parent node and the current node, respectively.

The following examples are paths relative to the current node:

^"A"# Points to the direct child A.^"A/B"# Points to A's child B.^"."# Points to the current node.^".."# Points to the parent node.^"../C"# Points to the sibling node C.^"../.."# Points to the grandparent node.

A leading slash means the path is absolute, and begins from theSceneTree:

^"/root"# Points to the SceneTree's root Window.^"/root/Title"# May point to the main scene's root node named "Title".^"/root/Global"# May point to an autoloaded node or scene named "Global".

Despite their name, node paths may also point to a property:

^":position"# Points to this object's position.^":position:x"# Points to this object's position in the x axis.^"Camera3D:rotation:y"# Points to the child Camera3D and its y rotation.^"/root:size:x"# Points to the root Window and its width.

In some situations, it's possible to omit the leading: when pointing to an object's property. As an example, this is the case withObject.set_indexed() andTween.tween_property(), as those methods callget_as_property_path() under the hood. However, it's generally recommended to keep the: prefix.

Node paths cannot check whether they are valid and may point to nodes or properties that do not exist. Their meaning depends entirely on the context in which they're used.

You usually do not have to worry about theNodePath type, as strings are automatically converted to the type when necessary. There are still times when defining node paths is useful. For example, exportedNodePath properties allow you to easily select any node within the currently edited scene. They are also automatically updated when moving, renaming or deleting nodes in the scene tree editor. See also@GDScript.@export_node_path.

See alsoStringName, which is a similar type designed for optimized strings.

Note: In a boolean context, aNodePath will evaluate tofalse if it is empty (NodePath("")). Otherwise, aNodePath will always evaluate totrue.

Tutorials

• 2D Role Playing Game (RPG) Demo

Constructors

Methods

Operators

Constructor Descriptions

NodePathNodePath()🔗

Constructs an emptyNodePath.

NodePathNodePath(from:NodePath)

Constructs aNodePath as a copy of the givenNodePath.

NodePathNodePath(from:String)

Constructs aNodePath from aString. The created path is absolute if prefixed with a slash (seeis_absolute()).

The "subnames" optionally included after the path to the target node can point to properties, and can also be nested.

The following strings can be valid node paths:

# Points to the Sprite2D node."Level/RigidBody2D/Sprite2D"# Points to the Sprite2D node and its "texture" resource.# get_node() would retrieve the Sprite2D, while get_node_and_resource()# would retrieve both the Sprite2D node and the "texture" resource."Level/RigidBody2D/Sprite2D:texture"# Points to the Sprite2D node and its "position" property."Level/RigidBody2D/Sprite2D:position"# Points to the Sprite2D node and the "x" component of its "position" property."Level/RigidBody2D/Sprite2D:position:x"# Points to the RigidBody2D node as an absolute path beginning from the SceneTree."/root/Level/RigidBody2D"

Note: In GDScript, it's also possible to convert a constant string into a node path by prefixing it with^.^"path/to/node" is equivalent toNodePath("path/to/node").

Method Descriptions

NodePathget_as_property_path()const🔗

Returns a copy of this node path with a colon character (:) prefixed, transforming it to a pure property path with no node names (relative to the current node).

# node_path points to the "x" property of the child node named "position".varnode_path=^"position:x"# property_path points to the "position" in the "x" axis of this node.varproperty_path=node_path.get_as_property_path()print(property_path)# Prints ":position:x"

// nodePath points to the "x" property of the child node named "position".varnodePath=newNodePath("position:x");// propertyPath points to the "position" in the "x" axis of this node.NodePathpropertyPath=nodePath.GetAsPropertyPath();GD.Print(propertyPath);// Prints ":position:x"

StringNameget_concatenated_names()const🔗

Returns all node names concatenated with a slash character (/) as a singleStringName.

StringNameget_concatenated_subnames()const🔗

Returns all property subnames concatenated with a colon character (:) as a singleStringName.

varnode_path=^"Sprite2D:texture:resource_name"print(node_path.get_concatenated_subnames())# Prints "texture:resource_name"

varnodePath=newNodePath("Sprite2D:texture:resource_name");GD.Print(nodePath.GetConcatenatedSubnames());// Prints "texture:resource_name"

StringNameget_name(idx:int)const🔗

Returns the node name indicated byidx, starting from 0. Ifidx is out of bounds, an error is generated. See alsoget_subname_count() andget_name_count().

varsprite_path=NodePath("../RigidBody2D/Sprite2D")print(sprite_path.get_name(0))# Prints ".."print(sprite_path.get_name(1))# Prints "RigidBody2D"print(sprite_path.get_name(2))# Prints "Sprite"

varspritePath=newNodePath("../RigidBody2D/Sprite2D");GD.Print(spritePath.GetName(0));// Prints ".."GD.Print(spritePath.GetName(1));// Prints "PathFollow2D"GD.Print(spritePath.GetName(2));// Prints "Sprite"

intget_name_count()const🔗

Returns the number of node names in the path. Property subnames are not included.

For example,"../RigidBody2D/Sprite2D:texture" contains 3 node names.

StringNameget_subname(idx:int)const🔗

Returns the property name indicated byidx, starting from 0. Ifidx is out of bounds, an error is generated. See alsoget_subname_count().

varpath_to_name=NodePath("Sprite2D:texture:resource_name")print(path_to_name.get_subname(0))# Prints "texture"print(path_to_name.get_subname(1))# Prints "resource_name"

varpathToName=newNodePath("Sprite2D:texture:resource_name");GD.Print(pathToName.GetSubname(0));// Prints "texture"GD.Print(pathToName.GetSubname(1));// Prints "resource_name"

intget_subname_count()const🔗

Returns the number of property names ("subnames") in the path. Each subname in the node path is listed after a colon character (:).

For example,"Level/RigidBody2D/Sprite2D:texture:resource_name" contains 2 subnames.

inthash()const🔗

Returns the 32-bit hash value representing the node path's contents.

Note: Node paths with equal hash values arenot guaranteed to be the same, as a result of hash collisions. Node paths with different hash values are guaranteed to be different.

boolis_absolute()const🔗

Returnstrue if the node path is absolute. Unlike a relative path, an absolute path is represented by a leading slash character (/) and always begins from theSceneTree. It can be used to reliably access nodes from the root node (e.g."/root/Global" if an autoload named "Global" exists).

boolis_empty()const🔗

Returnstrue if the node path has been constructed from an emptyString ("").

NodePathslice(begin:int, end:int = 2147483647)const🔗

Returns the slice of theNodePath, frombegin (inclusive) toend (exclusive), as a newNodePath.

The absolute value ofbegin andend will be clamped to the sum ofget_name_count() andget_subname_count(), so the default value forend makes it slice to the end of theNodePath by default (i.e.path.slice(1) is a shorthand forpath.slice(1,path.get_name_count()+path.get_subname_count())).

If eitherbegin orend are negative, they will be relative to the end of theNodePath (i.e.path.slice(0,-2) is a shorthand forpath.slice(0,path.get_name_count()+path.get_subname_count()-2)).

Operator Descriptions

booloperator !=(right:NodePath)🔗

Returnstrue if two node paths are not equal.

booloperator ==(right:NodePath)🔗

Returnstrue if two node paths are equal, that is, they are composed of the same node names and subnames in the same order.