A pre-parsed relative or absolute path in a scene tree, for use with [method Node.get_node] and similar functions. It can reference a node, a resource within a node, or a property of a node or resource. For instance, [code]"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:texture:size"[/code] would refer to the [code]size[/code] property of the [code]texture[/code] resource on the node named [code]"Sprite"[/code] which is a child of the other named nodes in the path.
You will usually just pass a string to [method Node.get_node] and it will be automatically converted, but you may occasionally want to parse a path ahead of time with [NodePath] or the literal syntax [code]@"path"[/code]. Exporting a [NodePath] variable will give you a node selection widget in the properties panel of the editor, which can often be useful.
A [NodePath] is composed of a list of slash-separated node names (like a filesystem path) and an optional colon-separated list of "subnames" which can be resources or properties.
Some examples of NodePaths include the following:
[codeblock]
# No leading slash means it is relative to the current node.
@"A" # Immediate child A
@"A/B" # A's child B
@"." # The current node.
@".." # The parent node.
@"../C" # A sibling node C.
# A leading slash means it is absolute from the SceneTree.
@"/root" # Equivalent to get_tree().get_root().
@"/root/Main" # If your main scene's root node were named "Main".
@"/root/MyAutoload" # If you have an autoloaded node or scene.
[/codeblock]
[b]Note:[/b] In the editor, [NodePath] properties are automatically updated when moving, renaming or deleting a node in the scene tree, but they are never updated at runtime.
</description>
<tutorials>
<linktitle="2D Role Playing Game Demo">https://godotengine.org/asset-library/asset/520</link>
</tutorials>
<methods>
<methodname="NodePath">
<returntype="NodePath"/>
<argumentindex="0"name="from"type="String"/>
<description>
Creates a NodePath from a string, e.g. [code]"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:texture:size"[/code]. A path is absolute if it starts with a slash. Absolute paths are only valid in the global scene tree, not within individual scenes. In a relative path, [code]"."[/code] and [code]".."[/code] indicate the current node and its parent.
The "subnames" optionally included after the path to the target node can point to resources or properties, and can also be nested.
Examples of valid NodePaths (assuming that those nodes exist and have the referenced resources or properties):
[codeblock]
# Points to the Sprite node
"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite"
# Points to the Sprite node and its "texture" resource.
# get_node() would retrieve "Sprite", while get_node_and_resource()
# would retrieve both the Sprite node and the "texture" resource.
"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:texture"
# Points to the Sprite node and its "position" property.
"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:position"
# Points to the Sprite node and the "x" component of its "position" property.
"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:position:x"
# Absolute path (from "root")
"/root/Level/Path2D"
[/codeblock]
</description>
</method>
<methodname="get_as_property_path">
<returntype="NodePath"/>
<description>
Returns a node path with a colon character ([code]:[/code]) prepended, transforming it to a pure property path with no node name (defaults to resolving from the current node).
[codeblock]
# This will be parsed as a node path to the "x" property in the "position" node
var node_path = NodePath("position:x")
# This will be parsed as a node path to the "x" component of the "position" property in the current node
var property_path = node_path.get_as_property_path()
print(property_path) # :position:x
[/codeblock]
</description>
</method>
<methodname="get_concatenated_subnames">
<returntype="String"/>
<description>
Returns all subnames concatenated with a colon character ([code]:[/code]) as separator, i.e. the right side of the first colon in a node path.
[codeblock]
var nodepath = NodePath("Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:texture:load_path")
Gets the node name indicated by [code]idx[/code] (0 to [method get_name_count]).
[codeblock]
var node_path = NodePath("Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite")
print(node_path.get_name(0)) # Path2D
print(node_path.get_name(1)) # PathFollow2D
print(node_path.get_name(2)) # Sprite
[/codeblock]
</description>
</method>
<methodname="get_name_count">
<returntype="int"/>
<description>
Gets the number of node names which make up the path. Subnames (see [method get_subname_count]) are not included.
For example, [code]"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite"[/code] has 3 names.
</description>
</method>
<methodname="get_subname">
<returntype="String"/>
<argumentindex="0"name="idx"type="int"/>
<description>
Gets the resource or property name indicated by [code]idx[/code] (0 to [method get_subname_count]).
[codeblock]
var node_path = NodePath("Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:texture:load_path")
print(node_path.get_subname(0)) # texture
print(node_path.get_subname(1)) # load_path
[/codeblock]
</description>
</method>
<methodname="get_subname_count">
<returntype="int"/>
<description>
Gets the number of resource or property names ("subnames") in the path. Each subname is listed after a colon character ([code]:[/code]) in the node path.
For example, [code]"Path2D/PathFollow2D/Sprite:texture:load_path"[/code] has 2 subnames.
</description>
</method>
<methodname="is_absolute">
<returntype="bool"/>
<description>
Returns [code]true[/code] if the node path is absolute (as opposed to relative), which means that it starts with a slash character ([code]/[/code]). Absolute node paths can be used to access the root node ([code]"/root"[/code]) or autoloads (e.g. [code]"/global"[/code] if a "global" autoload was registered).
</description>
</method>
<methodname="is_empty">
<returntype="bool"/>
<description>
Returns [code]true[/code] if the node path is empty.
