---
name: "SDL_EnableUNICODE"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libsdl1.2-dev"
version: "1.2.15+dfsg2-8"
release: "Debian 12 (Bookworm)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/SDL_EnableUNICODE"
---

# SDL\_EnableUNICODE(3)

Enable UNICODE translation

## NAME

SDL\_EnableUNICODE - Enable UNICODE translation

## SYNOPSIS

**#include "SDL.h"**

**int SDL\_EnableUNICODE**(**int enable**);

## DESCRIPTION

Enables/Disables Unicode keyboard translation.

To obtain the character codes corresponding to received keyboard events, Unicode translation must first be turned on using this function. The translation incurs a slight overhead for each keyboard event and is therefore disabled by default. For each subsequently received key down event, the **unicode** member of the **SDL\_keysym** structure will then contain the corresponding character code, or zero for keysyms that do not correspond to any character code.

A value of 1 for **enable** enables Unicode translation; 0 disables it, and -1 leaves it unchanged (useful for querying the current translation mode).

Note that only key press events will be translated, not release events.

## RETURN VALUE

Returns the previous translation mode (**0** or **1**).

## SEE ALSO

**SDL\_keysym**