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pactl — Control a running PulseAudio sound server. More information: <https://manned.org/pactl>.

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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pactlsoundserverpulseaudiocommandclirunningcontrol

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How to use the pactl command: Control a running PulseAudio sound server. More information: <https://manned.org/pactl>.

pactl — Control a running PulseAudio sound server. More information: <https://manned.org/pactl>.

Show information about the sound server:

pactl info

List all sinks (or other types - sinks are outputs and sink-inputs are active audio streams):

pactl list {{sinks}} short

Change the default sink (output) to 1 (the number can be retrieved via the list subcommand):

pactl set-default-sink {{1}}

Move sink-input 627 to sink 1:

pactl move-sink-input {{627}} {{1}}

Set the volume of sink 1 to 75%:

pactl set-sink-volume {{1}} {{0.75}}

Toggle mute on the default sink (using the special name @DEFAULT_SINK@):

pactl set-sink-mute {{@DEFAULT_SINK@}} toggle

Show information about the sound server

pactl info

List all sinks (or other types - sinks are outputs and sink-inputs are active audio streams)

pactl list {{sinks}} short

Change the default sink (output) to 1 (the number can be retrieved via the `list` subcommand)

pactl set-default-sink {{1}}

Move sink-input 627 to sink 1

pactl move-sink-input {{627}} {{1}}

Set the volume of sink 1 to 75%

pactl set-sink-volume {{1}} {{0.75}}

tldr-pages: common/pactl

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