SDL_LoadSurface(3)

💖 SDL_LoadSurface — the manual page, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, so you're in the SDL3 FUNCTIONS section of the manual and you found SDL_LoadSurface(3) and honestly? iconic. let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

SDL_LoadSurface — loads a BMP or PNG image from a file. that's it, that's the girl 🎀

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <SDL3/SDL_surface.h>

SDL_Surface * SDL_LoadSurface(const char *file);

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so this function hands you a shiny new surface, and the way that you HAVE to free it after — with SDL_DestroySurface() — is not optional, it's a lifestyle.

⚠️ no cap: if you don't free it with SDL_DestroySurface(), you get a memory leak. your RAM will simply be sitting there, unwell. 😭

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🍓 FUNCTION PARAMETERS 🍓

• file — the file to load. that's the one, the only, the path you're handing over 💖

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✨ RETURN VALUE ✨

it returns a pointer to a brand new SDL_Surface structure — slay — or NULL if it failed, which is giving 💀.

if you get NULL? call SDL_GetError() for more info, she'll tell you what went wrong 🫶

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🧚 THREAD SAFETY 🧚

it is safe to call this function from any thread. go off, multi-threaded queen 👑

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🌈 AVAILABILITY 🌈

this function has been available since SDL 3.4.0 — so if you're on anything older, bestie, you're out of luck 🙈

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• SDL_DestroySurface(3) — the one you MUST call, remember? periodt.
• SDL_LoadSurface_IO(3)

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and that's the whole page, you ate that 🎀 Simple Directmedia Layer is the source, this is SDL 3.4.18, and yes the footer also says SDL_LoadSurface(3) because we're keeping it consistent, mwah 💋