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Object

Inherited By: AudioServer, CameraServer, ClassDB, DisplayServer, EditorFileSystemDirectory, EditorInterface, EditorPaths, EditorSelection, EditorUndoRedoManager, EditorVCSInterface, Engine, EngineDebugger, GDExtensionManager, Geometry2D, Geometry3D, GodotSharp, Input, InputMap, IP, JavaClassWrapper, JavaScriptBridge, JNISingleton, JSONRPC, MainLoop, Marshalls, MovieWriter, NavigationMeshGenerator, NavigationServer2D, NavigationServer3D, Node, OpenXRExtensionWrapperExtension, OpenXRInteractionProfileMetadata, OS, Performance, PhysicsDirectBodyState2D, PhysicsDirectBodyState3D, PhysicsDirectSpaceState2D, PhysicsDirectSpaceState3D, PhysicsServer2D, PhysicsServer2DManager, PhysicsServer3D, PhysicsServer3DManager, PhysicsServer3DRenderingServerHandler, ProjectSettings, RefCounted, RenderingDevice, RenderingServer, ResourceLoader, ResourceSaver, ResourceUID, ScriptLanguage, TextServerManager, ThemeDB, TileData, Time, TranslationServer, TreeItem, UndoRedo, WorkerThreadPool, XRServer

Base class for all other classes in the engine.

Description

An advanced Variant type. All classes in the engine inherit from Object. Each class may define new properties, methods or signals, which are available to all inheriting classes. For example, a Sprite2D instance is able to call Node.add_child because it inherits from Node.

You can create new instances, using Object.new() in GDScript, or new GodotObject in C#.

To delete an Object instance, call free. This is necessary for most classes inheriting Object, because they do not manage memory on their own, and will otherwise cause memory leaks when no longer in use. There are a few classes that perform memory management. For example, RefCounted (and by extension Resource) deletes itself when no longer referenced, and Node deletes its children when freed.

Objects can have a Script attached to them. Once the Script is instantiated, it effectively acts as an extension to the base class, allowing it to define and inherit new properties, methods and signals.

Inside a Script, _get_property_list may be overridden to customize properties in several ways. This allows them to be available to the editor, display as lists of options, sub-divide into groups, save on disk, etc. Scripting languages offer easier ways to customize properties, such as with the @GDScript.@export annotation.

Godot is very dynamic. An object's script, and therefore its properties, methods and signals, can be changed at run-time. Because of this, there can be occasions where, for example, a property required by a method may not exist. To prevent run-time errors, see methods such as set, get, call, has_method, has_signal, etc. Note that these methods are much slower than direct references.

In GDScript, you can also check if a given property, method, or signal name exists in an object with the in operator:

var node = Node.new()
print("name" in node)         # Prints true
print("get_parent" in node)   # Prints true
print("tree_entered" in node) # Prints true
print("unknown" in node)      # Prints false

Notifications are int constants commonly sent and received by objects. For example, on every rendered frame, the SceneTree notifies nodes inside the tree with a Node.NOTIFICATION_PROCESS. The nodes receive it and may call Node._process to update. To make use of notifications, see notification and _notification.

Lastly, every object can also contain metadata (data about data). set_meta can be useful to store information that the object itself does not depend on. To keep your code clean, making excessive use of metadata is discouraged.

Note: Unlike references to a RefCounted, references to an object stored in a variable can become invalid without being set to null. To check if an object has been deleted, do not compare it against null. Instead, use @GlobalScope.is_instance_valid. It's also recommended to inherit from RefCounted for classes storing data instead of Object.

Note: The script is not exposed like most properties. To set or get an object's Script in code, use set_script and get_script, respectively.

Tutorials

• Object class introduction

• When and how to avoid using nodes for everything

• Object notifications

Methods

Variant	_get ( StringName property ) virtual
Dictionary[]	_get_property_list ( ) virtual
void	_init ( ) virtual
void	_notification ( int what ) virtual
bool	_property_can_revert ( StringName property ) virtual
Variant	_property_get_revert ( StringName property ) virtual
bool	_set ( StringName property, Variant value ) virtual
String	_to_string ( ) virtual
void	_validate_property ( Dictionary property ) virtual
void	add_user_signal ( String signal, Array arguments=[] )
Variant	call ( StringName method, ... ) vararg
Variant	call_deferred ( StringName method, ... ) vararg
Variant	callv ( StringName method, Array arg_array )
bool	can_translate_messages ( ) const
void	cancel_free ( )
Error	connect ( StringName signal, Callable callable, int flags=0 )
void	disconnect ( StringName signal, Callable callable )
Error	emit_signal ( StringName signal, ... ) vararg
void	free ( )
Variant	get ( StringName property ) const
String	get_class ( ) const
Dictionary[]	get_incoming_connections ( ) const
Variant	get_indexed ( NodePath property_path ) const
int	get_instance_id ( ) const
Variant	get_meta ( StringName name, Variant default=null ) const
StringName[]	get_meta_list (