(This is the legacy documentation for SDL2, the previous stable version; SDL3 is the current stable version.)

SDL_CreateCursor

Create a cursor using the specified bitmap data and mask (in MSB format).

Header File

Syntax

SDL_Cursor* SDL_CreateCursor(const Uint8 * data,
                             const Uint8 * mask,
                             int w, int h, int hot_x,
                             int hot_y);

Function Parameters

const Uint8 *	data	the color value for each pixel of the cursor.
const Uint8 *	mask	the mask value for each pixel of the cursor.
int	w	the width of the cursor.
int	h	the height of the cursor.
int	hot_x	the X-axis location of the upper left corner of the cursor relative to the actual mouse position.
int	hot_y	the Y-axis location of the upper left corner of the cursor relative to the actual mouse position.

Return Value

(SDL_Cursor *) Returns a new cursor with the specified parameters on success or NULL on failure; call SDL_GetError() for more information.

Remarks

mask has to be in MSB (Most Significant Bit) format.

The cursor width (w) must be a multiple of 8 bits.

The cursor is created in black and white according to the following:

data=0, mask=1: white
data=1, mask=1: black
data=0, mask=0: transparent
data=1, mask=0: inverted color if possible, black if not.

Cursors created with this function must be freed with SDL_FreeCursor().

If you want to have a color cursor, or create your cursor from an SDL_Surface, you should use SDL_CreateColorCursor(). Alternately, you can hide the cursor and draw your own as part of your game's rendering, but it will be bound to the framerate.

Also, since SDL 2.0.0, SDL_CreateSystemCursor() is available, which provides twelve readily available system cursors to pick from.

Version

This function is available since SDL 2.0.0.