Automated updating of API pages at this location, to reflect patch changes, has ceased from 10.1.7 onwards.

Returns information about the spell currently being cast by the specified unit.

name, text, texture, startTimeMS, endTimeMS, isTradeSkill, castID, notInterruptible, spellId = UnitCastingInfo(unit)

Arguments

unit

string : UnitId

Returns

name

string - The name of the spell, or nil if no spell is being cast.

text

string - The name to be displayed.

texture

string - The texture path associated with the spell icon.

startTimeMS

number - Specifies when casting began in milliseconds (corresponds to GetTime()*1000).

endTimeMS

number - Specifies when casting will end in milliseconds (corresponds to GetTime()*1000).

isTradeSkill

boolean - Specifies if the cast is a tradeskill

castID

string : GUID - The unique identifier for this spell cast, for example Cast-3-3890-1159-21205-8936-00014B7E7F.

notInterruptible

boolean - if true, indicates that this cast cannot be interrupted with abilities like [Kick] or [Pummel]. In default UI those spells have shield frame around their icons on enemy cast bars. Always returns nil in Classic .

spellId

number - The spell's unique identifier. (Added in 7.2.5)

Details

• For channeled spells, displayName is "Channeling". So far displayName is observed to be the same as name in any other contexts.
• This function may not return anything when the target is channeling spell post it warm-up period, you should use UnitChannelInfo in that case. It takes the same arguments and returns similar values specific to channeling spells.
• In Classic, the alternative CastingInfo() is similar to UnitCastingInfo("player")

Example

The following snippet prints the amount of time remaining before the player's current spell finishes casting.

local spell, _, _, _, endTime = UnitCastingInfo("player")
if spell then 
    local finish = endTimeMS/1000 - GetTime()
    print(spell .. " will be finished casting in " .. finish .. " seconds.")
end

Patch changes

Retail

Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Removed the second parameter, "nameSubtext". Second parameter is now "text" (former third parameter).
Patch 7.2.5 (2017-06-13): The castID return value is now a GUID. Previously it represented the number of spell casts since the game was started.
Patch 2.0.1 (2006-12-05): Added.^[1]

Classic

Patch 2.5.3 (2022-01-18): Added notInterruptible (nil) for api consistency.

References