EntityQuery overview

An EntityQuery finds archetypes that have a specified set of component types. It then gathers the archetype's chunks into an array which a system can process.

For example, if a query matches component types A and B, then the query gathers the chunks of all the archetypes that have those two component types, regardless of whatever other component types those archetypes might have. Therefore, an archetype with component types A, B, and C would match the query.

You can use EntityQuery to do the following:

• Run a job to process the selected entities and components
• Get a NativeArray that contains all the selected entities
• Get a NativeArray of the selected entities by component type

The entity and component arrays that EntityQuery returns are parallel. This means that the same index value always applies to the same entity in any array.

Queries in the Editor

In the Editor, the following icon represents a query: . You’ll see this when you use the specific Entities windows and Inspectors. You can also use the Query window to see the Components and Entities that match the selected query.