SDL_GETAUDIOSTREAMOUTPUTCHANNELMAP(3)

💖 SDL_GetAudioStreamOutputChannelMap 💖

okay so bestie, this is a page from the SDL3 FUNCTIONS manual — and today's main character is SDL_GetAudioStreamOutputChannelMap. no cap, it's shorter than you'd think but every crumb matters, so let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

SDL_GetAudioStreamOutputChannelMap — get the current output channel map of an audio stream. that's it, that's the whole vibe. 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <SDL3/SDL_audio.h>

int * SDL_GetAudioStreamOutputChannelMap(SDL_AudioStream *stream, int *count);

look at her. iconic signature. 💖

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea, bestie: channel maps are optional. like, genuinely optional. most things do not need them at all — instead you just pass your data in the [order that SDL expects](CategoryAudio#channel-layouts). that's the normal path, that's the low-effort slay. 🌈

audio streams default to no remapping applied. how do you even see that from the outside? they return NULL for it. and listen — NULL here does NOT mean something went wrong. it's not an error, it's just the default state doing its little default dance. do not panic. 🙈

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✨ FUNCTION PARAMETERS ✨

• stream — the SDL_AudioStream you're querying. the one you wanna interrogate. 🎀
• count — on output, this gets set to the number of channels in the map. it can be NULL, if you literally do not care about the count. optional queen. 💅

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✨ RETURN VALUE ✨

you get back an array of the current channel mapping, and it has exactly as many elements as the current output spec's channels. 🦋

OR you get NULL if it's the default. and remember: default ≠ error, bestie, we been over this. 😭

⚠️ heads up: when you're done with that array, free it with SDL_free(). do not just walk away from it. free your girl. 🫶

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✨ THREAD SAFETY ✨

good news!! it is safe to call this function from any thread — because it holds a stream-specific mutex while it's running. 🔒✨ she locks, she looks, she leaves. no drama. 👑

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✨ AVAILABILITY ✨

this function has been available since SDL 3.2.0. so if you're on anything older… sorry bestie, no map for you. 💀

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• SDL_SetAudioStreamInputChannelMap(3) — the input-side sibling. the other half of the duo. go read her too. 💜

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and that's the whole page!! slay, you now know how to get an audio stream's output channel map without losing your mind. 🎀✨🦋

this came from the Simple Directmedia Layer docs, SDL 3.4.18 era — mwah, mwah, bye bestie!! 💖🌸👑