Configure pulseaudio output via command line
Changing the currently active audio output
List available audio devices
First, list all the available output devices like so:
pacmd list-cards
Or similarly:
pactl list cards
Card Index
Index of the card is found in the first couple lines:
$ pacmd list-cards
Welcome to PulseAudio! Use "help" for usage information.
>>> 1 card(s) available.
index: 0
name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
Profile name
And the profile name options can be found further below in the output:
---- clip ----
profiles:
input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 60, available: unknown)
output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6000, available: unknown)
output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6060, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5400, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5460, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown)
off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
---- clip ----
Print active audio device
Another section to look for in the output is the currently active device.
Or print it directly:
$ pacmd list-cards | grep "active profile"
active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo>
Change audio device
Next, use pactl to change the current audio device.
pacmd set-card-profile <cardindex> <profilename>
Examples
pactl set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-audio
For stereo:
pactl set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo
Surround sound:
pactl set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-surround
Changing the volume
It seems that alsamixer may still be the best option for changing the volume on the command line.
alsamixer