The play command starts playing a device. Without any flags, the play command starts playing from the current position and plays until the command is halted or until the end of the media or file is reached. For example, “play cdaudio” starts playing an audio disc from the position where it was stopped.
Most devices that support the play command also support the from and to. These flags indicate the position at which the device should start and stop playing. For example, “play cdaudio from 0” plays the audio disc from the beginning of the first track. The units assigned to the position value depend on the device. For example, the position is normally specified in frames for CAV videodiscs, and in milliseconds for digital audio.
As an extended command, devices add flags to use the capabilities of a particular device. For example, the play command for videodisc devices adds the flags fast, slow, reverse, and scan.