2010

Table Of Contents
Entering commands in Maya
There are several ways to explicitly enter scripting commands in Maya.
To enter single line MEL and Python commands, use the Command Line.
To show the Command Line if it is hidden, select Display > UI Elements.
The Command Line is located near the bottom edge of the Maya interface.
To enter multi-line MEL and Python commands, use the Script Editor. The
Script Editor displays a history of executed commands, as well as the results
and outputs of commands. To open the Script Editor, select Window >
General Editors > Script Editor.
As well, the Expression Editor uses a subset of MEL commands to create
animation in the scene. MEL commands in the Expression Editor are
evaluated for every frame in the animation. The Expression Editor does
not support Python commands. To open the Expression Editor, select
Window > Animation Editors > Expression Editor.
You can also load external MEL and Python files and run them using the Script
Editor. For more information, see
Loading a script file on page 691.
What MEL looks like
Invoking commands in MEL has the basic structure of a command followed
by a combination of flags and arguments. Flags are prefaced by the hyphen
character in MEL.
All MEL commands are case-sensitive; SPHERE is not the same as sphere (and
returns an error message).
If no flags are provided, the command executes with default arguments. The
command fails if it requires arguments that it did not get.
Some basic concepts | 653