###### (This is the legacy documentation for SDL2, the previous stable version; [SDL3](https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL3/) is the current stable version.)
# SDL_LockTexture

Lock a portion of the texture for **write-only** pixel access.

## Header File

Defined in [SDL_render.h](https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/blob/SDL2/include/SDL_render.h)

## Syntax

```c
int SDL_LockTexture(SDL_Texture * texture,
                    const SDL_Rect * rect,
                    void **pixels, int *pitch);
```

## Function Parameters

|                              |             |                                                                                                                      |
| ---------------------------- | ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [SDL_Texture](SDL_Texture) * | **texture** | the texture to lock for access, which was created with [`SDL_TEXTUREACCESS_STREAMING`](SDL_TEXTUREACCESS_STREAMING). |
| const [SDL_Rect](SDL_Rect) * | **rect**    | an [SDL_Rect](SDL_Rect) structure representing the area to lock for access; NULL to lock the entire texture.         |
| void **                      | **pixels**  | this is filled in with a pointer to the locked pixels, appropriately offset by the locked area.                      |
| int *                        | **pitch**   | this is filled in with the pitch of the locked pixels; the pitch is the length of one row in bytes.                  |

## Return Value

(int) Returns 0 on success or a negative error code if the texture is not
valid or was not created with
[`SDL_TEXTUREACCESS_STREAMING`](SDL_TEXTUREACCESS_STREAMING); call
[SDL_GetError](SDL_GetError)() for more information.

## Remarks

As an optimization, the pixels made available for editing don't necessarily
contain the old texture data. This is a write-only operation, and if you
need to keep a copy of the texture data you should do that at the
application level.

You must use [SDL_UnlockTexture](SDL_UnlockTexture)() to unlock the pixels
and apply any changes.

## Version

This function is available since SDL 2.0.0.

## See Also

- [SDL_UnlockTexture](SDL_UnlockTexture)

----
[CategoryAPI](CategoryAPI), [CategoryAPIFunction](CategoryAPIFunction), [CategoryRender](CategoryRender)