# Operators (bpy.ops)

## Calling Operators

Provides python access to calling operators, this includes operators written in C, Python or macros.

Only keyword arguments can be used to pass operator properties.

Operators don’t have return values as you might expect, instead they return a set() which is made up of: `{'RUNNING_MODAL', 'CANCELLED', 'FINISHED', 'PASS_THROUGH'}`. Common return values are `{'FINISHED'}` and `{'CANCELLED'}`.

Calling an operator in the wrong context will raise a `RuntimeError`, there is a poll() method to avoid this problem.

Note that the operator ID (bl_idname) in this example is `mesh.subdivide`, `bpy.ops` is just the access path for python.

### Keywords and Positional Arguments

For calling operators keywords are used for operator properties and positional arguments are used to define how the operator is called.

There are 3 optional positional arguments (documented in detail below).

    bpy.ops.test.operator(override_context, execution_context, undo)

- override_context - `dict` type.
- execution_context - `str` (enum).
- undo - `bool` type.

Each of these arguments is optional, but must be given in the order above.

    import bpy

    # calling an operator
    bpy.ops.mesh.subdivide(number_cuts=3, smoothness=0.5)

    # check poll() to avoid exception.
    if bpy.ops.object.mode_set.poll():
        bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')

## Overriding Context

It is possible to override context members that the operator sees, so that they act on specified rather than the selected or active data, or to execute an operator in the different part of the user interface.

The context overrides are passed as a dictionary, with keys matching the context member names in bpy.context. For example to override `bpy.context.active_object`, you would pass `{'active_object': object}`.

Note

You will nearly always want to use a copy of the actual current context as basis (otherwise, you’ll have to find and gather all needed data yourself).

    # remove all objects in scene rather than the selected ones
    import bpy
    override = bpy.context.copy()
    override['selected_objects'] = list(bpy.context.scene.objects)
    bpy.ops.object.delete(override)

## Execution Context

When calling an operator you may want to pass the execution context.

This determines the context that is given for the operator to run in, and whether invoke() is called or only execute().

‘EXEC_DEFAULT’ is used by default, running only the execute() method, but you may want the operator to take user interaction with ‘INVOKE_DEFAULT’ which will also call invoke() if existing.

The execution context is one of: (‘INVOKE_DEFAULT’, ‘INVOKE_REGION_WIN’, ‘INVOKE_REGION_CHANNELS’, ‘INVOKE_REGION_PREVIEW’, ‘INVOKE_AREA’, ‘INVOKE_SCREEN’, ‘EXEC_DEFAULT’, ‘EXEC_REGION_WIN’, ‘EXEC_REGION_CHANNELS’, ‘EXEC_REGION_PREVIEW’, ‘EXEC_AREA’, ‘EXEC_SCREEN’)

    # collection add popup
    import bpy
    bpy.ops.object.collection_instance_add('INVOKE_DEFAULT')

It is also possible to run an operator in a particular part of the user interface. For this we need to pass the window, screen, area and sometimes a region.

    # maximize 3d view in all windows
    import bpy

    for window in bpy.context.window_manager.windows:
        screen = window.screen

        for area in screen.areas:
            if area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
                override = {'window': window, 'screen': screen, 'area': area}
                bpy.ops.screen.screen_full_area(override)
                break

- Action Operators
- Anim Operators
- Armature Operators
- Boid Operators
- Brush Operators
- Buttons Operators
- Cachefile Operators
- Camera Operators
- Clip Operators
- Cloth Operators
- Collection Operators
- Console Operators
- Constraint Operators
- Curve Operators
- Cycles Operators
- Dpaint Operators
- Ed Operators
- Export Anim Operators
- Export Mesh Operators
- Export Scene Operators
- File Operators
- Fluid Operators
- Font Operators
- Gizmogroup Operators
- Gpencil Operators
- Graph Operators
- Image Operators
- Import Anim Operators
- Import Curve Operators
- Import Mesh Operators
- Import Scene Operators
- Info Operators
- Lattice Operators
- Marker Operators
- Mask Operators
- Material Operators
- Mball Operators
- Mesh Operators
- Nla Operators
- Node Operators
- Object Operators
- Outliner Operators
- Paint Operators
- Paintcurve Operators
- Palette Operators
- Particle Operators
- Pose Operators
- Poselib Operators
- Preferences Operators
- Ptcache Operators
- Render Operators
- Rigidbody Operators
- Safe Areas Operators
- Scene Operators
- Screen Operators
- Script Operators
- Sculpt Operators
- Sequencer Operators
- Sound Operators
- Surface Operators
- Text Operators
- Texture Operators
- Transform Operators
- Ui Operators
- Uv Operators
- View2D Operators
- View3D Operators
- Wm Operators
- Workspace Operators
- World Operators