Unity Script Reference – Component.GetComponent

Component.GetComponent

function GetComponent (type : Type) : Component

Description

Returns the component of Type type if the game object has one attached, null if it doesn't.

JavaScript

// Equivalent to: Transform curTransform = transform;
var curTransform : Transform;
curTransform = GetComponent (Transform);
 
// You can access script components in the same way as other components.
function Start () {
    var someScript : ExampleScript;
    someScript = GetComponent (ExampleScript);
    someScript.DoSomething ();
}

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class example : MonoBehaviour {
    public Transform curTransform;
    void Start() {
        ExampleScript someScript;
        someScript = GetComponent<ExampleScript>();
        someScript.DoSomething();
    }
    void Example() {
        curTransform = GetComponent<Transform>();
    }
}

import UnityEngine
import System.Collections

class example(MonoBehaviour):

    public curTransform as Transform

    def Start():
        someScript as ExampleScript
        someScript = GetComponent[of ExampleScript]()
        someScript.DoSomething()

    def Example():
        curTransform = GetComponent[of Transform]()

function GetComponent.<T> () : T

Description

Generic version. See the Generic Functions page for more details.

function GetComponent (type : String) : Component

Description

Returns the component with name type if the game object has one attached, null if it doesn't.

It is better to use GetComponent with a Type instead of a string for performance reasons. Sometimes you might not be able to get to the type however, for example when trying to access a C# script from Javascript. In that case you can simply access the component by name instead of type. Example:

JavaScript

// To access public variables and functions 
// in another script attached to the same game object.
var script : ScriptName;
script = GetComponent("ScriptName");
script.DoSomething ();

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class example : MonoBehaviour {
    public ScriptName script;
    void Example() {
        script = GetComponent("ScriptName") as ScriptName;
        script.DoSomething();
    }
}

import UnityEngine
import System.Collections

class example(MonoBehaviour):

    public script as ScriptName

    def Example():
        script = (GetComponent('ScriptName') as ScriptName)
        script.DoSomething()