Running Scripts

To run an existing script file, press the "Run Script" button on the MAXScript utility rollout, File > Run Script in the Listener menu bar, or MAXScript > Run Script in the 3ds Max menu bar. This opens a common File Open dialog for choosing the script. MAXScript then reads and executes the selected script. Any output is printed to the Listener output pane.

You can also run a script from Listener or from within other scripts using fileIn() or executeScriptFile().

fileIn

fileIn <filename_string> [ quiet:<boolean> ]

where <filename_string> is a string literal or an expression that evaluates to a string, and specifies the name of the script file whose content is executed. The script file content is executed one expression at a time, and halts processing if an error is encountered at any point. By default, the file is not listed as it is loaded; use quiet:false to have the file contents printed to the Listener.

See File Access Function Search Behavior for a list of directories the filename_string is searched for if the full path is not specified.

EXAMPLE USAGES ARE:

fileIn "my_script.ms"

or

scriptfile="my_script.ms"
fileIn scriptfile

The script file content is compiled in a global scope context, as opposed to the scope in effect when the filein() method is executed. For more information, see Scope_of_Variables.

The fileIn() method looks for scripts in the specified directory if <filename_string> contains a path as part of the file name. If no matching file is found, it then looks in the following locations, in order:

• The current MZP package (if applicable)
• The directory where the currently running script is located.
• The user scripts directory
• The 3ds Max system scripts directory

executeScriptFile

<boolean>executeScriptFile <filename_string> [errormessage:<&variable>]

The executeScriptFile() function is similar to fileIn(), and takes the following parameters: Available in 3ds Max 2021.1 Update and higher.

• filename_string: a fully qualified file path and filename. This function does not search in 3ds Max and system directories for a file, the filename cannot be relative.
• errormessage: specifies an optional by-reference parameter that will contain any errors generated by the script, or undefined if there are none.