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Synopsis

connectAttr( attribute attribute , [force=boolean], [lock=boolean], [nextAvailable=boolean], [referenceDest=string])

Note: Strings representing object names and arguments must be separated by commas. This is not depicted in the synopsis.

connectAttr is undoable, NOT queryable, and NOT editable.

Connect the attributes of two dependency nodes and return the names of the two connected attributes. The connected attributes must be be of compatible types. First argument is the source attribute, second one is the destination.

Refer to dependency node documentation.

Return value

stringA phrase containing the names of the connected attributes.

Related

connectionInfo, isConnected, listConnections

Flags

force, lock, nextAvailable, referenceDest
Long name (short name) Argument types Properties
force(f) boolean create
Forces the connection. If the destination is already connected, the old connection is broken and the new one made.
lock(l) boolean create
If the argument is true, the destination attribute is locked after making the connection. If the argument is false, the connection is unlocked before making the connection.
nextAvailable(na) boolean create
If the destination multi-attribute has set the indexMatters to be false with this flag specified, a connection is made to the next available index. No index need be specified.
referenceDest(rd) string create
This flag is used for file io only. The flag indicates that the connection replaces a connection made in a referenced file, and the flag argument indicates the original destination from the referenced file. This flag is used so that if the reference file is modified, maya can still attempt to make the appropriate connections in the main scene to the referenced object.

Flag can appear in Create mode of command Flag can appear in Edit mode of command
Flag can appear in Query mode of command Flag can have multiple arguments, passed either as a tuple or a list.

Python examples

import maya.cmds as cmds

cmds.createNode( 'transform', n='firstGuy' )
cmds.createNode( 'transform', n='secondGuy' )

# Connect the translation of two nodes together
cmds.connectAttr( 'firstGuy.t', 'secondGuy.translate' )

# Connect the rotation of one node to the override colour
# of a second node.
cmds.connectAttr( 'firstGuy.rotate', 'secondGuy.overrideColor' )