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TwiML™ Voice: <Pause>


The <Pause> verb waits silently for a specific number of seconds. If <Pause> is the first verb in a TwiML document, Twilio will wait the specified number of seconds before picking up the call.


Verb Attributes

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The <Pause> verb supports the following attributes that modify its behavior:

Attribute NameAllowed ValuesDefault Value
lengthinteger > 01 second

length

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The 'length' attribute specifies how many seconds Twilio will wait silently before continuing on.


You can't nest any verbs within <Pause>, but you can nest the <Pause> verb within the following verbs:

  • <Gather>

Example 1: Simple pause

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This example demonstrates using <Pause> to wait between two <Say> verbs.

Simple pause

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Node.js
Python
C#
Java
PHP
Ruby

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const VoiceResponse = require('twilio').twiml.VoiceResponse;
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const response = new VoiceResponse();
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response.say('I will pause 10 seconds starting now!');
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response.pause({
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length: 10
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});
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response.say('I just paused 10 seconds');
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console.log(response.toString());

Output

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<Response>
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<Say>I will pause 10 seconds starting now!</Say>
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<Pause length="10"/>
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<Say>I just paused 10 seconds</Say>
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</Response>

Example 2: Delayed pickup

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This example demonstrates using <Pause> to delay Twilio for 5 seconds before accepting a call.

Node.js
Python
C#
Java
PHP
Ruby

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const VoiceResponse = require('twilio').twiml.VoiceResponse;
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const response = new VoiceResponse();
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response.pause({
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length: 5
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});
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response.say('Hi there.');
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console.log(response.toString());

Output

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<Response>
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<Pause length="5"/>
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<Say>Hi there.</Say>
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</Response>


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