SDL_GetTicks(3)

💖 SDL_GetTicks 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the SDL3 FUNCTIONS manual — yes, that SDL, the Simple Directmedia Layer one, the icon of cross-platform multimedia 💅. And this particular little diva is all about counting milliseconds. Let's get into it.

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✨ NAME ✨

SDL_GetTicks — get the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since the SDL library initialization. that's it. that's the whole job. she's a stopwatch and she's booked and busy 🕰️

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <SDL3/SDL_timer.h>

Uint64 SDL_GetTicks(void);

no arguments, no drama, no parameters. she takes nothing and gives you a whole Uint64. main character energy fr fr 👑

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🎀 RETURN VALUE 🎀

she hands back an unsigned 64-bit integer — that's Uint64, keep up 😌 — and that number represents the count of milliseconds that have elapsed since the SDL library got initialized. and like, initialized how? typically via a call to SDL_Init, iykyk.

so: milliseconds since SDL woke up and chose violence. periodt.

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🧚 THREAD SAFETY 🧚

good news bestie: it is safe to call this function from any thread. any. thread. she does not care. she is unbothered, moisturized, in her lane 🌈✨

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⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

this one has been available since SDL 3.2.0. so if you're on anything older, sorry babe, she's not there yet 😭

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• SDL_GetTicksNS(3) — the nanosecond girlie, if milliseconds aren't precise enough for your little heart 🫶

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💀 quick reminder: every single fact above came straight from the official page — I just gave it a makeover. don't come for me, come for the source.

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and that's the whole thing, no cap 🍓 this cutie lives in the Simple Directmedia Layer docs, version SDL 3.4.18 — and yeah, the footer situation has no date on it, so we're just repping the source and the version and calling it iconic 👑💜 bye bestie, go measure some ticks!