| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_INVALID-1 | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_SOUTH | < Bottom face button (e.g. Xbox A button) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_EAST | < Right face button (e.g. Xbox B button) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_WEST | < Left face button (e.g. Xbox X button) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_NORTH | < Top face button (e.g. Xbox Y button) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_BACK | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_GUIDE | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_START | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_STICK | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_STICK | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_SHOULDER | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_SHOULDER | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_UP | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_DOWN | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_LEFT | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_RIGHT | |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MISC1 | < Additional button (e.g. Xbox Series X share button, PS5 microphone button, Nintendo Switch Pro capture button, Amazon Luna microphone button, Google Stadia capture button) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_PADDLE1 | < Upper or primary paddle, under your right hand (e.g. Xbox Elite paddle P1) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_PADDLE1 | < Upper or primary paddle, under your left hand (e.g. Xbox Elite paddle P3) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_PADDLE2 | < Lower or secondary paddle, under your right hand (e.g. Xbox Elite paddle P2) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_PADDLE2 | < Lower or secondary paddle, under your left hand (e.g. Xbox Elite paddle P4) |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_TOUCHPAD | < PS4/PS5 touchpad button |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MISC2 | < Additional button |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MISC3 | < Additional button |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MISC4 | < Additional button |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MISC5 | < Additional button |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MISC6 | < Additional button |
| SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_COUNT |
The list of buttons available on a gamepad
For controllers that use a diamond pattern for the face buttons, the south/east/west/north buttons below correspond to the locations in the diamond pattern. For Xbox controllers, this would be A/B/X/Y, for Nintendo Switch controllers, this would be B/A/Y/X, for PlayStation controllers this would be Cross/Circle/Square/Triangle.
For controllers that don't use a diamond pattern for the face buttons, the south/east/west/north buttons indicate the buttons labeled A, B, C, D, or 1, 2, 3, 4, or for controllers that aren't labeled, they are the primary, secondary, etc. buttons.
The activate action is often the south button and the cancel action is often the east button, but in some regions this is reversed, so your game should allow remapping actions based on user preferences.
You can query the labels for the face buttons using SDL_GetGamepadButtonLabel()