TTF_MeasureString(3)

📦 version 3.2.2, in debian trixie, fedora 43, fedora 44, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 TTF_MeasureString(3) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the SDL_ttf3 FUNCTIONS corner of the manual, we're talking about TTF_MeasureString today and honestly? it's giving "math but make it cute" 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

TTF_MeasureString — calculate how much of a UTF-8 string will fit in a given width. no rendering, just vibes and arithmetic 🧮💅

📁 HEADER FILE 📁

it lives in SDL3_ttf/SDL_ttf.h, so that's where you go looking when your compiler starts yelling 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include "SDL3_ttf/SDL_ttf.h"

bool TTF_MeasureString(TTF_Font *font, const char *text, size_t length, int max_width, int *measured_width, size_t *measured_length);

💫 DESCRIPTION 💫

so like. this function reports the number of characters that can be rendered before reaching max_width. that's it, that's the whole job, and she does it flawlessly ✨

and the iconic part? this does not need to render the string to do this calculation. no pixels harmed, no glyphs rasterized, just pure measurement. lowkey a genius move, no cap 🧠💅

🎀 FUNCTION PARAMETERS 🎀

  • font — the font to query. your main character, the one doing all the work 💖
  • text — the text to calculate, in UTF-8 encoding. yes, UTF-8, we're not doing anything weird here 🦋
  • length — the length of the text, in bytes, or 0 for null terminated text. so if you've got a null-terminated string already, just pass 0 and let her figure it out 🙈
  • max_width — maximum width, in pixels, available for the string, or 0 for unbounded width. 0 means "no limits bestie, go off" 👑
  • measured_width — a pointer filled in with the width, in pixels, of the string that will fit. may be NULL. totally optional, she doesn't mind 🍓
  • measured_length — a pointer filled in with the length, in bytes, of the string that will fit. may be NULL. also optional, also unbothered 💜

🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

returns true on success or false on failure. and if it fails? call SDL_GetError() for more information, because she's not gonna explain herself unprompted 😭✨

🧵 THREAD SAFETY 🧵

this function should be called on the thread that created the font. yes, that thread. the one that birthed her. don't be out here crossing threads, it's not that kind of party 💀

⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

this function is available since SDL_ttf 3.0.0. old enough to be trusted, young enough to still be iconic 🌈

and that's the whole page, bestie!! mwah 💅 this little masterpiece comes to you from the SDL_ttf manual, version SDL_ttf 3.2.2 — go forth and measure responsibly, ily 🫶💖✨

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