Python: how to get name of active render layer

Question

Using Python, how do I get the name of the active render layer?

I have three render layers. All three are enabled. But only 1 can be "active." (highlighted in blue when I select it)

I would like to write a script that gets the active render layer name, appends it to the render Output filename, and only renders this layer.

Thank you.

Answer 1

bpy.context.scene.render.layers.active.name gets the name of the active render layer.

Answer 2

Short Answer

Use the following snippet to get the active render layer's name

bpy.context.scene.render.layers.active.name

Long Answer

Note: These steps build on each other; the complete code is shown at the end.

1. Get the scene

scene = bpy.data.scenes['SceneName']

• gets the scene "SceneName"

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scene = bpy.data.scenes[0]

• gets the scene at index 0

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scene = bpy.context.scene

• gets the current scene

2. Get the render layers

layers = scene.render.layers

• gets the render layers of the current scene (context.scene)

3. Get the active layer

active = layers.active

4. Get its name

name = active.name

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Summary:

scene = bpy.context.scene  # get the scene
layers = scene.render.layers  # get the list of layers
active = layers.active  # get the active layer from the list
name = active.name  # get the name of the active layer