SDL_PumpEvents(3)

✨ SDL_PumpEvents ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the SDL3 FUNCTIONS corner of the manual, where we talk about SDL_PumpEvents — the little function that keeps the event loop hydrated 💧

---

💖 NAME 💖

SDL_PumpEvents — pump the event loop, gathering events from the input devices 🎮⌨️🖱️

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <SDL3/SDL_events.h>

void SDL_PumpEvents(void);

like… that's it. that's the whole thing. no args, no return value, just vibes ✨

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so what does it actually do? this function updates the event queue and the internal input device state. two for one, slay 💅

SDL_PumpEvents() goes around gathering all the pending input info from your devices and drops it into the event queue. and here's the thing — without calls to SDL_PumpEvents(), no events would ever get placed on the queue. literally none. the queue would just sit there empty, rotting, unbothered 😭

now, most of the time you don't even have to think about it, because the need for calling SDL_PumpEvents() is hidden from you — SDL_PollEvent() and SDL_WaitEvent() implicitly call SDL_PumpEvents() for you. they're the ones doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes, main character energy fr fr 👑

but — and this is the part that matters — if you are not polling or waiting for events (e.g. you are filtering them), then you must call SDL_PumpEvents() yourself to force an event queue update. no shortcuts, no autopilot, you gotta do it manually bestie 🫶

---

🔥 THREAD SAFETY 🔥

this function should only be called on the main thread. do not try it anywhere else, it's not giving multitasking, it's giving chaos 💀

---

⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

this function is available since SDL 3.2.0 🎀 so if you're on anything older… yeah no, upgrade babes.

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• SDL_PollEvent(3)
• SDL_WaitEvent(3)

---

and that's the whole page, bestie!! brought to you by Simple Directmedia Layer — SDL 3.4.18 edition, the SDL_PumpEvents(3) era 💖 go forth and pump those events, ily, mwah 🧚✨