FAQ: Scripts

Question: how do I do something to all the files in a directory?

Answer: look at `fileNames$#` () or Create Strings as file list....

Question: why doesn't the editor window react to my commands?

Your commands are probably something like:

`Read from file: “hello.wav”
` `View & Edit
` `Zoom: 0.3, 0.5
`

Answer: Praat doesn’t know it has to send the Zoom command to the editor window called 14. Sound hello. There could be several Sound editor windows on your screen. According to Scripting 7.1. Scripting an editor from a shell script, you will have to say this explicitly:

`Read from file: “hello.wav”
` `View & Edit
` `editor: “Sound hello”
` `Zoom: 0.3, 0.5
`

Problem: a line like “`Number = 1`” does not work.

Solution: names of variables should start with a lower-case letter.

Question: why do names of variables have to start with a lower-case letter? I would like to do things like “`F0 = Get mean pitch`”.

Answer: Praat scripts combine button commands with things that only occur in scripts. Button commands always start with a capital letter, e.g. `Play` (there is a button Play). Script commands always start with lower case, e.g. `writeInfoLine: “Hello”` (`writeInfoLine` is a built-in function). A minimal pair is “`select`”, which simulates a mouse click in the object list, versus “`Select...`”, which sets the selection in editor windows. If we allowed initial capitals, variable names would become rather ambiguous in assignments, as in “`x = Get`”, where “`Get`” would be a variable, versus “`x = Get mean`”, where Get mean is a button command. To prevent this confusion, Praat enforces a rigorous lower-case/upper-case distinction.

Question: how do I convert a number into a string?

Answer: `a$ = string$ (a)`

Question: how do I convert a string into a number?

Answer: `a = number (a$)`

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- FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)