SDL_Init(3)

SDL_Init3

Initialize the sdl library.

Usage

#include "SDL3/SDL.h"

bool SDL_Init(SDL_InitFlags flags);

Header file

Defined in SDL3/SDL_init.h

Overview

SDL_Init () simply forwards to calling

SDL_InitSubSystem (). Therefore, the two may be used interchangeably. Though for readability of your code

SDL_InitSubSystem () might be preferred.

The file I/O (for example: SDL_IOFromFile ) and threading ( SDL_CreateThread ) subsystems are initialized by default. Message boxes ( SDL_ShowSimpleMessageBox ) also attempt to work without initializing the video subsystem, in hopes of being useful in showing an error dialog when SDL_Init
fails. You must specifically initialize other subsystems if you use them in your application.

Logging (such as SDL_Log ) works without initialization, too. flags may be any of the following OR'd together:

• SDL_INIT_AUDIO : audio subsystem; automatically
initializes the events subsystem

• SDL_INIT_VIDEO : video subsystem; automatically
initializes the events subsystem, should be initialized on the main
thread.

• SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK : joystick subsystem;
automatically initializes the events subsystem

• SDL_INIT_HAPTIC : haptic (force feedback) subsystem

• SDL_INIT_GAMEPAD : gamepad subsystem; automatically
initializes the joystick subsystem

• SDL_INIT_EVENTS : events subsystem

• SDL_INIT_SENSOR : sensor subsystem; automatically
initializes the events subsystem

• SDL_INIT_CAMERA : camera subsystem; automatically
initializes the events subsystem

Subsystem initialization is ref-counted, you must call

SDL_QuitSubSystem () for each

SDL_InitSubSystem () to correctly shutdown a subsystem manually (or call SDL_Quit () to force shutdown). If a subsystem is already loaded then this call will increase the ref-count and return.

Consider reporting some basic metadata about your application before calling SDL_Init , using either

SDL_SetAppMetadata () or

SDL_SetAppMetadataProperty ().

Function parameters

flags

subsystem initialization flags.

Return value

Returns true on success or false on failure; call

SDL_GetError () for more information.

Releases

12 releases since Debian 3.0 (Woody); the text changed 2 times.

  1. 3.0–5.0
  2. 6.0–12
  3. 13

Availability

This function is available since SDL 3.2.0.

From libsdl3-doc 3.2.10+ds-1 in Debian 13 (Trixie). Parsed by carta from the page's man source.