How to read syntax
How to read syntax
in this tutorial, I will show how to read syntaxes
Example
how to use the + sign
expression:
%number% + %number%
returns:
a number that is the sum of 2 numbers
1+2
will return a number 3
How expressions work
you have +
its %number%+%number% and it returns a number
1+1+1
=
2+1
=
3
you have "name of"
it returns a string
broadcast name of player
you have "uuid of %player/entity%"
it returns a string
you have "y coordinate of %object%"
it returns a number
> y coordinate of player + y coordinate of player
= 124
its that simple
Full explanation
in the documentations, you will see things like these
these are hard to understand so I will break it down to 3 main components
text
square brackets []
parenthesis ()
they each mean
text - required text
() - required of 1 of the text inside(split by “|”)
[] - optional text
if the syntax is
on chat
then only “on chat” will be recognized by the parser
if the syntax is
on book (edit|change|write)
then
- on book edit
- on book change
- on book write
will be recognized by the parser
if the syntax is
on bucket fill[ing]
then both
- on bucket fill
- on bucket filling
will be recognized by the parser
text are made up of 2 categories
- plain text (plain text)
- % % (types)
plain text will never change
however, you need to type out the types your own
ex)
%item types% is an item type
one of the types that skript has
https://skriptlang.github.io/Skript/classes.html
and for the names of an object(in this case, an item), check out the github page.(or just type the thing you think it is. works 90% of the time. you can expand the item types you can use by using an aliases file)
so if i were to use a steak i need to type either of
- on eat of steak
- on player consuming steak
- on player eating steak
(you might ask, how about “on drink of steak”? it might be possible, or it might be not. my question is, why would you do that? skript is an english based language. on drink of steak defeats that purpose. so don’t do unexpectable things. but still curious? try it yourself)
%type% is a required field(is not optional)
so lets try and analyze the syntaxes I listed on the top of the page
grow [of (%tree type%|%item type%)]
“grow” is a required text
“[” the next is optional
“of ” is a required text
“(“ means it should pass one of the text
“%tree type%” a required tree type
“|” next option
“%item type%” a required item typr
“)” parenthesis close
“]” option close
so valid syntaxes would look like these
on grow
on grow of oak tree
on grow of carrot
invalid syntaxes will look like these
on grow oak tree
on oak tree
on grow carrot
on of carrot
lets try this
(food|hunger) (level|met(er|re)|bar) chang(e|ing)
need either “food” or “hunger”
need either “level”, “met(need either er or re)” or bar
need “chang”
need “e” or “ing”
valid syntaxes
on food bar change
on hunger metre changing
on food level change
invalid syntaxes
on foodbar change
on hunger change
on food changing
%players% means to put a player in there.
in most cases it will work with player or event-player
give 1 dirt to player
however, if you want a specific player, use a variable that is the player or
“<playername>” parsed as offline player
there you go, now you can read syntaxes!
Important notes:
- a(|b) and a are the same
a, ab || a, ab
but a(|b|c) and a[c] are different
a, ab,ac || a, ab, ac, abc
this might cause parsing problems in the future
- because it is both syntaxes are valid doesn’t mean they are the same
ex) on [block] (break[ing]|min(e|ing)) [[of] %itemtype%]
can have 2 different meanings
1. on [block] break[ing] [[of] %itemtype%]
2. on [block] min(e|ing) [[of] %itemtype%]
reas skript docs if you want to find out
- using an optional text means you need to use everything in the text
ex) [oh ]hi[ mark(rober|jukerberg)]
oh hi mark - invalid syntax
- the document syntaxes are not 100% accurate. they might miss a space or add 1 more space.
- sometimes the syntaxes contain plural expressions. be careful about the meaning of those since it might be different.
- sometimes, addons will include their addon names as an optional text.
ex) [bungeecord ]
if you use 2 similar addons it is recommended to add the optional text inorder to avoid conflicts/confusion
edit 19/11/07
changed documents to documentations, fixed some formats
edit 20/2/25
added titles and formatting.
in this tutorial, I will show how to read syntaxes
Example
how to use the + sign
expression:
%number% + %number%
returns:
a number that is the sum of 2 numbers
1+2
will return a number 3
How expressions work
you have +
its %number%+%number% and it returns a number
1+1+1
=
2+1
=
3
you have "name of"
it returns a string
broadcast name of player
you have "uuid of %player/entity%"
it returns a string
you have "y coordinate of %object%"
it returns a number
> y coordinate of player + y coordinate of player
= 124
its that simple
Full explanation
in the documentations, you will see things like these
- grow [of (%tree type%|%item type%)]
- (food|hunger) (level|met(er|re)|bar) chang(e|ing)
these are hard to understand so I will break it down to 3 main components
text
square brackets []
parenthesis ()
they each mean
text - required text
() - required of 1 of the text inside(split by “|”)
[] - optional text
if the syntax is
on chat
then only “on chat” will be recognized by the parser
if the syntax is
on book (edit|change|write)
then
- on book edit
- on book change
- on book write
will be recognized by the parser
if the syntax is
on bucket fill[ing]
then both
- on bucket fill
- on bucket filling
will be recognized by the parser
text are made up of 2 categories
- plain text (plain text)
- % % (types)
plain text will never change
however, you need to type out the types your own
ex)
- [player] ((eat|drink)[ing]|consum(e|ing)) [[of] %item type%]
%item types% is an item type
one of the types that skript has
https://skriptlang.github.io/Skript/classes.html
and for the names of an object(in this case, an item), check out the github page.(or just type the thing you think it is. works 90% of the time. you can expand the item types you can use by using an aliases file)
so if i were to use a steak i need to type either of
- on eat of steak
- on player consuming steak
- on player eating steak
(you might ask, how about “on drink of steak”? it might be possible, or it might be not. my question is, why would you do that? skript is an english based language. on drink of steak defeats that purpose. so don’t do unexpectable things. but still curious? try it yourself)
%type% is a required field(is not optional)
so lets try and analyze the syntaxes I listed on the top of the page
grow [of (%tree type%|%item type%)]
“grow” is a required text
“[” the next is optional
“of ” is a required text
“(“ means it should pass one of the text
“%tree type%” a required tree type
“|” next option
“%item type%” a required item typr
“)” parenthesis close
“]” option close
so valid syntaxes would look like these
on grow
on grow of oak tree
on grow of carrot
invalid syntaxes will look like these
on grow oak tree
on oak tree
on grow carrot
on of carrot
lets try this
(food|hunger) (level|met(er|re)|bar) chang(e|ing)
need either “food” or “hunger”
need either “level”, “met(need either er or re)” or bar
need “chang”
need “e” or “ing”
valid syntaxes
on food bar change
on hunger metre changing
on food level change
invalid syntaxes
on foodbar change
on hunger change
on food changing
%players% means to put a player in there.
in most cases it will work with player or event-player
give 1 dirt to player
however, if you want a specific player, use a variable that is the player or
“<playername>” parsed as offline player
there you go, now you can read syntaxes!
Important notes:
- a(|b) and a are the same
a, ab || a, ab
but a(|b|c) and a[c] are different
a, ab,ac || a, ab, ac, abc
this might cause parsing problems in the future
- because it is both syntaxes are valid doesn’t mean they are the same
ex) on [block] (break[ing]|min(e|ing)) [[of] %itemtype%]
can have 2 different meanings
1. on [block] break[ing] [[of] %itemtype%]
2. on [block] min(e|ing) [[of] %itemtype%]
reas skript docs if you want to find out
- using an optional text means you need to use everything in the text
ex) [oh ]hi[ mark(rober|jukerberg)]
oh hi mark - invalid syntax
- the document syntaxes are not 100% accurate. they might miss a space or add 1 more space.
- sometimes the syntaxes contain plural expressions. be careful about the meaning of those since it might be different.
- sometimes, addons will include their addon names as an optional text.
ex) [bungeecord ]
if you use 2 similar addons it is recommended to add the optional text inorder to avoid conflicts/confusion
edit 19/11/07
changed documents to documentations, fixed some formats
edit 20/2/25
added titles and formatting.