{"name":"action","title":"action","type":"command","url":"https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/action","revid":378568,"updated":"2026-05-08T21:16:17Z","groups":["Interaction"],"status":"ok","games":{"ofp":"1.00","ofpe":"1.00","arma1":"1.00","arma2":"1.00","arma2oa":"1.50","tkoh":"1.00","arma3":"0.50"},"since":"ofp 1.00","arma3_since":"0.50","locality":{"effect":"global"},"description":"Make a unit perform an action. See Category:Actions for action names and syntaxes.\n\n> [!NOTE]\n> **Arma 3:** Since Arma 3 2.18 it is possible to use actionNow to perform some actions immediately without any animation.\n> However, note that some actions do require animations (for example, opening inventory while on foot), otherwise they will get cancelled.\n\n> [!NOTE]\n> - in singleplayer, when user Alt-Tabs the simulation is paused and so the action will also halt until user returns to the game. For example, `player action [\"GetInDriver\", car];` executed while user is Alt-Tabbed will result in the user seeing the action happening when he returns to the game screen. This does not happen in Multiplayer.\n> - the alternative syntax creates a temporary Logic entity in place of *unit*.","syntaxes":[{"syntax":"unit action actionArray","params":[{"name":"unit","type":"Object","type_expr":"Object"},{"name":"actionArray","type":"Array","type_expr":"Array"}],"returns":{"type":"Nothing","type_expr":"Nothing"},"form":"binary","left":{"text":"unit"},"right":{"text":"actionArray"}},{"syntax":"action actionArray","since":"arma3 2.10","params":[{"name":"actionArray","type":"Array","type_expr":"Array"}],"returns":{"type":"Nothing","type_expr":"Nothing"},"form":"unary","right":{"text":"actionArray"}}],"examples":[{"code":["player action [\"SitDown\", player];"]},{"code":["_soldier action [\"Eject\", vehicle _soldier];"]},{"code":["player action [\"UseWeapon\", player, player, 7]; // plays pick up animation before throwing grenade\naction [\"UseWeapon\", player, player, 7]; // normal grenade throw"]}],"multiplayer":"> [!IMPORTANT]\n> The argument's locality is **usually** local, but some actions can take a global argument (e.g \"Eject\", \"GetOut\", \"GetInXXXX\", \"MoveToXXXX\").\n> See Category:Actions for more details.","see_also":["actionNow","actionIDs","actionParams","addAction","setUserActionText","inGameUISetEventHandler","showHUD","inputAction","removeAction","removeAllActions","weaponsInfo","shownAction"],"notes":[{"user":"Tom_48_97","date":"2009-08-28T09:26:00Z","text":"In Arma 2, you can place a unique unit (for example a boat, far of all combats) and use it for all command lines with action."},{"user":"DreadedEntity","date":"2015-03-27T17:57:00Z","text":"This command has no effect when a dead unit is used as input."},{"user":"DrSova","date":"2017-06-27T02:15:00Z","text":"```sqf\nplayer action [\"SWITCHWEAPON\", player, player, -1]\n```\n\nSwitching weapon to the back."},{"user":"Yuval","date":"2017-07-20T12:22:00Z","text":"Some of the actions (such as \"DropWeapon\") do not always execute, and there should be a set of conditions for them to run.\nThe unit must be able to perform the dropping animation in order for the action to properly execute.\nSo, if for example we spawn a unit at [0,0,0] and make it perform a \"DropWeapon\" action - it won't work if [0,0,0] is water (which it is, if the current map is an island) because the unit will be swimming.\n\nAlso, you cannot stack up actions right after the other. If you run a \"DropWeapon\" action when the current action animation is still going - it will not perform.\nThere are a few more conditions for an action to perform, but relying on a hundred percent success of the action is not a good practice."}]}