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GDScript reference¶

GDScript is a high-level, object-oriented, imperative, and gradually typed programming language built for Godot.

GDScript is a high-level, dynamically typed programming language used to create content. It uses an indentation-based syntax similar to languages like Python. Its goal is to be optimized for and tightly integrated with Godot Engine, allowing great flexibility for content creation and integration.

GDScript is entirely independent from Python and is not based on it.

History¶

Note

Documentation about GDScript's history has been moved to the Frequently Asked Questions.

Example of GDScript¶

Some people can learn better by taking a look at the syntax, so here's an example of how GDScript looks.

# Everything after "#" is a comment.
# A file is a class!

# (optional) icon to show in the editor dialogs:
@icon("res://path/to/optional/icon.svg")

# (optional) class definition:
class_name MyClass

# Inheritance:
extends BaseClass


# Member variables.
var a = 5
var s = "Hello"
var arr = [1, 2, 3]
var dict = {"key": "value", 2: 3}
var other_dict = {key = "value", other_key = 2}
var typed_var: int
var inferred_type := "String"

# Constants.
const ANSWER = 42
const THE_NAME = "Charly"

# Enums.
enum {UNIT_NEUTRAL, UNIT_ENEMY, UNIT_ALLY}
enum Named {THING_1, THING_2, ANOTHER_THING = -1}

# Built-in vector types.
var v2 = Vector2(1, 2)
var v3 = Vector3(1, 2, 3)


# Functions.
func some_function(param1, param2, param3):
    const local_const = 5

    if param1 < local_const:
        print(param1)
    elif param2 > 5:
        print(param2)
    else:
        print("Fail!")

    for i in range(20):
        print(i)

    while param2 != 0:
        param2 -= 1

    match param3:
        3:
            print("param3 is 3!")
        _:
            print("param3 is not 3!")

    var local_var = param1 + 3
    return local_var


# Functions override functions with the same name on the base/super class.
# If you still want to call them, use "super":
func something(p1, p2):
    super(p1, p2)


# It's also possible to call another function in the super class:
func other_something(p1, p2):
    super.something(p1, p2)


# Inner class
class Something:
    var a = 10


# Constructor
func _init():
    print("Constructed!")
    var lv = Something.new()
    print(lv.a)

If you have previous experience with statically typed languages such as C, C++, or C# but never used a dynamically typed one before, it is advised you read this tutorial: GDScript: An introduction to dynamic languages.

Language¶

In the following, an overview is given to GDScript. Details, such as which methods are available to arrays or other objects, should be looked up in the linked class descriptions.

Identifiers¶

Any string that restricts itself to alphabetic characters (a to z and A to Z), digits (0 to 9) and _ qualifies as an identifier. Additionally, identifiers must not begin with a digit. Identifiers are case-sensitive (foo is different from FOO).

Identifiers may also contain most Unicode characters part of UAX#31. This allows you to use identifier names written in languages other than English. Unicode characters that are considered "confusable" for ASCII characters and emoji are not allowed in identifiers.

Keywords¶

The following is the list of keywords supported by the language. Since keywords are reserved words (tokens), they can't be used as identifiers. Operators (like in, not, and or or) and names of built-in types as listed in the following sections are also reserved.

Keywords are defined in the GDScript tokenizer in case you want to take a look under the hood.

Keyword	Description
if	See if/else/elif.
elif	See if/else/elif.
else	See if/else/elif.
for	See for.
while	See while.
match	See match.
break	Exits the execution of the current `for` or `while` loop.
continue	Immediately skips to the next iteration of the `for` or `while` loop.
pass	Used where a statement is required syntactically but execution of code is undesired, e.g. in empty functions.
return	Returns a value from a function.
class	Defines a class.
class_name	Defines the script as a globally accessible class with the specified name.
extends	Defines what class to extend with the current class.
is	Tests whether a variable extends a given class, or is of a given built-in type.
in	Tests whether a value is within a string, list, range, dictionary, or node. When used with `for`, it iterates through them instead of testing.
as	Cast the value to a given type if possible.
self	Refers to current class instance.
signal	Defines a signal.
func	Defines a function.
static	Defines a static function. Static member variables are not allowed.
const	Defines a constant.
enum	Defines an enum.
var	Defines a variable.
breakpoint	Editor helper for debugger breakpoints.
preload	Preloads a class or variable. See Classes as resources.
await	Waits for a signal or a coroutine to finish. See Awaiting for signals.
yield	Previously used for coroutines. Kept as keyword for transition.
assert	Asserts a condition, logs error on failure. Ignored in non-debug builds. See Assert keyword.
void	Used to represent that a function does not return any value.
PI	PI constant.
TAU	TAU constant.
INF	Infinity constant. Used for comparisons and as result of calculations.
NAN	NAN (not a number) constant. Used as impossible result from calculations.

Operators¶

The following is the list of supported operators and their precedence.

Operator	Description
`x[index]`	Subscription (highest priority)
`x.attribute`	Attribute reference
`foo()`	Function call
`is`	Instance type checker
`**`	Power operator Multiplies value by itself `x` times, similar to calling `pow` built-in function
`~`	Bitwise NOT
`-x`	Negative / Unary negation
`*` `/` `%`	Multiplication / Division / Remainder These operators have the same behavior as C++. Integer division is truncated rather than returning a fractional number, and the % operator is only available for ints (`fmod` for floats), and is additionally used for Format Strings
`+`	Addition / Concatenation of arrays
`-`	Subtraction
`<<` `>>`	Bit shifting
`&`	Bitwise AND
`^`	Bitwise XOR
`\|`	Bitwise OR
`<` `>` `==` `!=` `>=` `<=`	Comparisons
`in`	Inclusion checker (when used with control flow keywords or in a standalone expression) Content iterator (when used with the for keyword)
`not` `!`	Boolean NOT and its aliases
`and` `&&`	Boolean AND and its aliases
`or` `\|\|`	Boolean OR and its aliases
`if x else`	Ternary if/else
`as`	Type casting
`=` `+=` `-=` `=` `/=` `%=` `*=` `&=` `^=` `\|=` `<<=` `>>=`	Assignment (lowest priority)

Literals¶

Literal	Type
`45`	Base 10 integer
`0x8f51`	Base 16 (hexadecimal) integer
`0b101010`	Base 2 (binary) integer
`3.14`, `58.1e-10`	Floating-point number (real)
`"Hello"`, `'Hi'`	Strings
`"""Hello"""`	Multiline string
`&"name"`	StringName
`^"Node/Label"`	NodePath
`$NodePath`	Shorthand for `get_node("NodePath")`
`%UniqueNode`	Shorthand for `get_node("%UniqueNode")`

Integers and floats can have their numbers separated with _ to make them more readable. The following ways to write numbers are all valid:

12_345_678  # Equal to 12345678.
3.141_592_7  # Equal to 3.1415927.
0x8080_0000_ffff  # Equal to 0x80800000ffff.
0b11_00_11_00  # Equal to 0b11001100.

Annotations¶

There are some special tokens in GDScript that act like keywords but are not, they are annotations instead. Every annotation start with the @ character and is specified by a name. A detailed description and example for each annotation can be found inside the GDScript class reference.

Annotations affect how the script is treated by external tools and usually don't change the behavior.

For instance, you can use it to export a value to the editor: