how to get all nodes that its Z index = x

TheDiavolo

Hello, in GDscript is there a function to get all nodes with a specific z index? something like get_nodes_in_group ()

TwistedTwigleg

I don't think there is anything built in to do this, unfortunately. You could write a script to do this though, where it goes through the scene and returns all nodes with a specific Z index.

Perodactyl

Here's a simple program for you:

func getNodesWithZIndex(z, rootNode):
	var output = []
	for node in rootNode.get_children():
		if node.z_index == z:
			output.append(node)
	return output

I haven't tested it.

DaveTheCoder

That will only see the top-level children. Recursion is needed to traverse the entire tree.

TwistedTwigleg

Recursive version (untested but should work):

func getNodesWithZIndex(z, rootNode, doRecursive=true):
	var output = []
	var process_list = []
	process_list.append(rootNode)
	while process_list.size() > 0:
		var current_node = process_list[0]
		process_list.remove(0)
		
		if current_node is Node2D:
			if current_node.z_index == z:
				output.append(current_node)
			if doRecursive == true:
				for child in current_node.get_children():
					process_list.append(child)
	return output

DaveTheCoder

Here's another approach:

class NodesByZIndex:
	var nodes: Array = []
	func get_nodes(z: int, root: Node) -> void:
		if root is Node2D and root.z_index == z:
			nodes.append(root)
		for child in root.get_children():
			get_nodes(z, child)
    

# Test NodesByZIndex.
var nbzi = NodesByZIndex.new()
nbzi.get_nodes(0, $"/root")
print("Nodes with z_index 0:")
for node in nbzi.nodes:
	prints(node, node.name, node.z_index)