What's the difference between class and class_name in Godot?

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

When you’re writing scripts in Godot, you might have noticed that some scripts use class and others use class_name. What’s the difference between these two keywords? Let’s find out.

`class_name` keyword

You may have noticed that so many GDScript scripts in Godot start with extends Node or extends Resource. This is because Godot uses a common programming feature called class inheritance.

extends Node
var str = "Hello, World!"

So when you use extends, you are telling GDScript that your class inherits from an existing class. So when we write extends Node, we are creating a new class that inherits from the Node class.

Game Development on Daniel Lyons

What's the difference between class and class_name in Godot?

class_name keyword

`class_name` keyword