(This is the documentation for SDL3, which is the current stable version. SDL2 was the previous version!)

SDL_PeepEvents

Check the event queue for messages and optionally return them.

Header File

Syntax

int SDL_PeepEvents(SDL_Event *events, int numevents, SDL_EventAction action, Uint32 minType, Uint32 maxType);

Function Parameters

SDL_Event *	events	destination buffer for the retrieved events, may be NULL to leave the events in the queue and return the number of events that would have been stored.
int	numevents	if action is SDL_ADDEVENT, the number of events to add back to the event queue; if action is SDL_PEEKEVENT or SDL_GETEVENT, the maximum number of events to retrieve.
SDL_EventAction	action	action to take; see [[#action
Uint32	minType	minimum value of the event type to be considered; SDL_EVENT_FIRST is a safe choice.
Uint32	maxType	maximum value of the event type to be considered; SDL_EVENT_LAST is a safe choice.

Return Value

(int) Returns the number of events actually stored or -1 on failure; call SDL_GetError() for more information.

Remarks

action may be any of the following:

SDL_ADDEVENT: up to numevents events will be added to the back of the event queue.
SDL_PEEKEVENT: numevents events at the front of the event queue, within the specified minimum and maximum type, will be returned to the caller and will not be removed from the queue. If you pass NULL for events, then numevents is ignored and the total number of matching events will be returned.
SDL_GETEVENT: up to numevents events at the front of the event queue, within the specified minimum and maximum type, will be returned to the caller and will be removed from the queue.

You may have to call SDL_PumpEvents() before calling this function. Otherwise, the events may not be ready to be filtered when you call SDL_PeepEvents().

Thread Safety

It is safe to call this function from any thread.

Version

This function is available since SDL 3.1.3.