How to render text in SDL2?

SDL_ttf minimal runnable example

Not super efficient, but easy to integrate. For efficiency see: How to render fonts and text with SDL2 efficiently?

Kept in a separate repo than the main SDL source, but hosted on the same official server, so should be fine: http://hg.libsdl.org/SDL_ttf/

Newlines won't work. You have to work with line heights.

Compile and run:

sudo apt-get install -y libsdl2-dev
gcc -lSDL2 -lSDL2_ttf -o ttf ttf.c
./ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont/FreeMonoOblique.ttf

You must pass the path of a TTF font file to the program.

ttf.c

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
#include <SDL2/SDL_ttf.h>

#define WINDOW_WIDTH 300
#define WINDOW_HEIGHT (WINDOW_WIDTH)

/*
- x, y: upper left corner.
- texture, rect: outputs.
*/
void get_text_and_rect(SDL_Renderer *renderer, int x, int y, char *text,
        TTF_Font *font, SDL_Texture **texture, SDL_Rect *rect) {
    int text_width;
    int text_height;
    SDL_Surface *surface;
    SDL_Color textColor = {255, 255, 255, 0};

    surface = TTF_RenderText_Solid(font, text, textColor);
    *texture = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, surface);
    text_width = surface->w;
    text_height = surface->h;
    SDL_FreeSurface(surface);
    rect->x = x;
    rect->y = y;
    rect->w = text_width;
    rect->h = text_height;
}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    SDL_Event event;
    SDL_Rect rect1, rect2;
    SDL_Renderer *renderer;
    SDL_Texture *texture1, *texture2;
    SDL_Window *window;
    char *font_path;
    int quit;

    if (argc == 1) {
        font_path = "FreeSans.ttf";
    } else if (argc == 2) {
        font_path = argv[1];
    } else {
        fprintf(stderr, "error: too many arguments\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Inint TTF. */
    SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_TIMER | SDL_INIT_VIDEO);
    SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer(WINDOW_WIDTH, WINDOW_WIDTH, 0, &window, &renderer);
    TTF_Init();
    TTF_Font *font = TTF_OpenFont(font_path, 24);
    if (font == NULL) {
        fprintf(stderr, "error: font not found\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    get_text_and_rect(renderer, 0, 0, "hello", font, &texture1, &rect1);
    get_text_and_rect(renderer, 0, rect1.y + rect1.h, "world", font, &texture2, &rect2);

    quit = 0;
    while (!quit) {
        while (SDL_PollEvent(&event) == 1) {
            if (event.type == SDL_QUIT) {
                quit = 1;
            }
        }
        SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(renderer, 0, 0, 0, 0);
        SDL_RenderClear(renderer);

        /* Use TTF textures. */
        SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, texture1, NULL, &rect1);
        SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, texture2, NULL, &rect2);

        SDL_RenderPresent(renderer);
    }

    /* Deinit TTF. */
    SDL_DestroyTexture(texture1);
    SDL_DestroyTexture(texture2);
    TTF_Quit();

    SDL_DestroyRenderer(renderer);
    SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
    SDL_Quit();
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

GitHub upstream.

Tested in Ubuntu 16.04, SDL 2.0.4.

Yep, it is possible, given that you have a renderer and a window plus you don't really have any thoughts on dabbling with surfaces then you might want to mind on creating texture, here is a sample code

//this opens a font style and sets a size
TTF_Font* Sans = TTF_OpenFont("Sans.ttf", 24);

// this is the color in rgb format,
// maxing out all would give you the color white,
// and it will be your text's color
SDL_Color White = {255, 255, 255};

// as TTF_RenderText_Solid could only be used on
// SDL_Surface then you have to create the surface first
SDL_Surface* surfaceMessage =
    TTF_RenderText_Solid(Sans, "put your text here", White); 

// now you can convert it into a texture
SDL_Texture* Message = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, surfaceMessage);

SDL_Rect Message_rect; //create a rect
Message_rect.x = 0;  //controls the rect's x coordinate 
Message_rect.y = 0; // controls the rect's y coordinte
Message_rect.w = 100; // controls the width of the rect
Message_rect.h = 100; // controls the height of the rect

// (0,0) is on the top left of the window/screen,
// think a rect as the text's box,
// that way it would be very simple to understand

// Now since it's a texture, you have to put RenderCopy
// in your game loop area, the area where the whole code executes

// you put the renderer's name first, the Message,
// the crop size (you can ignore this if you don't want
// to dabble with cropping), and the rect which is the size
// and coordinate of your texture
SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, Message, NULL, &Message_rect);

// Don't forget to free your surface and texture
SDL_FreeSurface(surfaceMessage);
SDL_DestroyTexture(Message);

I tried to explain the code line by line, you don't see any window right there since I already assumed that you knew how to initialize a renderer which would give me an idea that you also know how to initialize a window, then all you need is the idea on how to initialize a texture.

Minor questions here, did your window open? was it colored black? if so then my thoughts were right, if not, then you can just ask me and I could change this code to implement the whole section which consists of a renderer and a window.