Products
  • Wolfram|One

    The definitive Wolfram Language and notebook experience

  • Mathematica

    The original technical computing environment

  • Notebook Assistant + LLM Kit

    All-in-one AI assistance for your Wolfram experience

  • Compute Services
  • System Modeler
  • Finance Platform
  • Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition
  • Application Server
  • Enterprise Private Cloud
  • Wolfram Engine
  • Wolfram Player
  • Wolfram Cloud App
  • Wolfram Player App

More mobile apps

Core Technologies of Wolfram Products

  • Wolfram Language
  • Computable Data
  • Wolfram Notebooks
  • AI & Linguistic Understanding

Deployment Options

  • Wolfram Cloud
  • wolframscript
  • Wolfram Engine Community Edition
  • Wolfram LLM API
  • WSTPServer
  • Wolfram|Alpha APIs

From the Community

  • Function Repository
  • Community Paclet Repository
  • Example Repository
  • Neural Net Repository
  • Prompt Repository
  • Wolfram Demonstrations
  • Data Repository
  • Group & Organizational Licensing
  • All Products
Consulting & Solutions

We deliver solutions for the AI era—combining symbolic computation, data-driven insights and deep technical expertise

  • Data & Computational Intelligence
  • Model-Based Design
  • Algorithm Development
  • Wolfram|Alpha for Business
  • Blockchain Technology
  • Education Technology
  • Quantum Computation

Wolfram Consulting

Wolfram Solutions

  • Data Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Biosciences
  • Healthcare Intelligence
  • Sustainable Energy
  • Control Systems
  • Enterprise Wolfram|Alpha
  • Blockchain Labs

More Wolfram Solutions

Wolfram Solutions For Education

  • Research Universities
  • Colleges & Teaching Universities
  • Junior & Community Colleges
  • High Schools
  • Educational Technology
  • Computer-Based Math

More Solutions for Education

  • Contact Us
Learning & Support

Get Started

  • Wolfram Language Introduction
  • Fast Intro for Programmers
  • Fast Intro for Math Students
  • Wolfram Language Documentation

More Learning

  • Highlighted Core Areas
  • Demonstrations
  • YouTube
  • Daily Study Groups
  • Wolfram Schools and Programs
  • Books

Grow Your Skills

  • Wolfram U

    Courses in computing, science, life and more

  • Community

    Learn, solve problems and share ideas.

  • Blog

    News, views and insights from Wolfram

  • Resources for

    Software Developers

Tech Support

  • Contact Us
  • Support FAQs
  • Support FAQs
  • Contact Us
Company
  • About Wolfram
  • Career Center
  • All Sites & Resources
  • Connect & Follow
  • Contact Us

Work with Us

  • Student Ambassador Initiative
  • Wolfram for Startups
  • Student Opportunities
  • Jobs Using Wolfram Language

Educational Programs for Adults

  • Summer School
  • Winter School

Educational Programs for Youth

  • Middle School Camp
  • High School Research Program
  • Computational Adventures

Read

  • Stephen Wolfram's Writings
  • Wolfram Blog
  • Wolfram Tech | Books
  • Wolfram Media
  • Complex Systems

Educational Resources

  • Wolfram MathWorld
  • Wolfram in STEM/STEAM
  • Wolfram Challenges
  • Wolfram Problem Generator

Wolfram Initiatives

  • Wolfram Science
  • Wolfram Foundation
  • History of Mathematics Project

Events

  • Stephen Wolfram Livestreams
  • Online & In-Person Events
  • Contact Us
  • Connect & Follow
Wolfram|Alpha
  • Your Account
  • User Portal
  • Wolfram Cloud
  • Products
    • Wolfram|One
    • Mathematica
    • Notebook Assistant + LLM Kit
    • Compute Services
    • System Modeler
    • Finance Platform
    • Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition
    • Application Server
    • Enterprise Private Cloud
    • Wolfram Engine
    • Wolfram Player
    • Wolfram Cloud App
    • Wolfram Player App

    More mobile apps

    • Core Technologies
      • Wolfram Language
      • Computable Data
      • Wolfram Notebooks
      • AI & Linguistic Understanding
    • Deployment Options
      • Wolfram Cloud
      • wolframscript
      • Wolfram Engine Community Edition
      • Wolfram LLM API
      • WSTPServer
      • Wolfram|Alpha APIs
    • From the Community
      • Function Repository
      • Community Paclet Repository
      • Example Repository
      • Neural Net Repository
      • Prompt Repository
      • Wolfram Demonstrations
      • Data Repository
    • Group & Organizational Licensing
    • All Products
  • Consulting & Solutions

    We deliver solutions for the AI era—combining symbolic computation, data-driven insights and deep technical expertise

    WolframConsulting.com

    Wolfram Solutions

    • Data Science
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Biosciences
    • Healthcare Intelligence
    • Sustainable Energy
    • Control Systems
    • Enterprise Wolfram|Alpha
    • Blockchain Labs

    More Wolfram Solutions

    Wolfram Solutions For Education

    • Research Universities
    • Colleges & Teaching Universities
    • Junior & Community Colleges
    • High Schools
    • Educational Technology
    • Computer-Based Math

    More Solutions for Education

    • Contact Us
  • Learning & Support

    Get Started

    • Wolfram Language Introduction
    • Fast Intro for Programmers
    • Fast Intro for Math Students
    • Wolfram Language Documentation

    Grow Your Skills

    • Wolfram U

      Courses in computing, science, life and more

    • Community

      Learn, solve problems and share ideas.

    • Blog

      News, views and insights from Wolfram

    • Resources for

      Software Developers
    • Tech Support
      • Contact Us
      • Support FAQs
    • More Learning
      • Highlighted Core Areas
      • Demonstrations
      • YouTube
      • Daily Study Groups
      • Wolfram Schools and Programs
      • Books
    • Support FAQs
    • Contact Us
  • Company
    • About Wolfram
    • Career Center
    • All Sites & Resources
    • Connect & Follow
    • Contact Us

    Work with Us

    • Student Ambassador Initiative
    • Wolfram for Startups
    • Student Opportunities
    • Jobs Using Wolfram Language

    Educational Programs for Adults

    • Summer School
    • Winter School

    Educational Programs for Youth

    • Middle School Camp
    • High School Research Program
    • Computational Adventures

    Read

    • Stephen Wolfram's Writings
    • Wolfram Blog
    • Wolfram Tech | Books
    • Wolfram Media
    • Complex Systems
    • Educational Resources
      • Wolfram MathWorld
      • Wolfram in STEM/STEAM
      • Wolfram Challenges
      • Wolfram Problem Generator
    • Wolfram Initiatives
      • Wolfram Science
      • Wolfram Foundation
      • History of Mathematics Project
    • Events
      • Stephen Wolfram Livestreams
      • Online & In-Person Events
    • Contact Us
    • Connect & Follow
  • Wolfram|Alpha
  • Wolfram Cloud
  • Your Account
  • User Portal
Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
ControllerState
  • See Also
    • ControllerInformation
    • MousePosition
    • ControllerManipulate
    • Manipulate
    • CurrentValue
  • Related Guides
    • Low-Level Interface Control
    • Gamepad & Device Interface
    • External Operations
    • Control Objects
    • Custom Interface Construction
    • Standalone Interfaces
    • Dynamic Visualization
    • Click-Interactive Panels
  • Workflows
    • Control Interactive Content with a Gamepad
  • Tech Notes
    • Introduction to Dynamic
    • Advanced Dynamic Functionality
    • See Also
      • ControllerInformation
      • MousePosition
      • ControllerManipulate
      • Manipulate
      • CurrentValue
    • Related Guides
      • Low-Level Interface Control
      • Gamepad & Device Interface
      • External Operations
      • Control Objects
      • Custom Interface Construction
      • Standalone Interfaces
      • Dynamic Visualization
      • Click-Interactive Panels
    • Workflows
      • Control Interactive Content with a Gamepad
    • Tech Notes
      • Introduction to Dynamic
      • Advanced Dynamic Functionality

ControllerState["c"]

gives the state of the control c for the first connected controller device on which it is supported.

ControllerState[{"c1","c2",…}]

gives the states of several controls.

ControllerState[id,"c"]

gives the state of control c for controller devices with the specified identifier.

ControllerState[id,{"c1","c2",…}]

gives the states of several controls for several controller devices.

Details and Options
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Options  
ControllerPath  
Properties & Relations  
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
Related Workflows
History
Cite this Page
BUILT-IN SYMBOL
  • See Also
    • ControllerInformation
    • MousePosition
    • ControllerManipulate
    • Manipulate
    • CurrentValue
  • Related Guides
    • Low-Level Interface Control
    • Gamepad & Device Interface
    • External Operations
    • Control Objects
    • Custom Interface Construction
    • Standalone Interfaces
    • Dynamic Visualization
    • Click-Interactive Panels
  • Workflows
    • Control Interactive Content with a Gamepad
  • Tech Notes
    • Introduction to Dynamic
    • Advanced Dynamic Functionality
    • See Also
      • ControllerInformation
      • MousePosition
      • ControllerManipulate
      • Manipulate
      • CurrentValue
    • Related Guides
      • Low-Level Interface Control
      • Gamepad & Device Interface
      • External Operations
      • Control Objects
      • Custom Interface Construction
      • Standalone Interfaces
      • Dynamic Visualization
      • Click-Interactive Panels
    • Workflows
      • Control Interactive Content with a Gamepad
    • Tech Notes
      • Introduction to Dynamic
      • Advanced Dynamic Functionality

ControllerState

ControllerState["c"]

gives the state of the control c for the first connected controller device on which it is supported.

ControllerState[{"c1","c2",…}]

gives the states of several controls.

ControllerState[id,"c"]

gives the state of control c for controller devices with the specified identifier.

ControllerState[id,{"c1","c2",…}]

gives the states of several controls for several controller devices.

Details and Options

  • Dynamic[ControllerState[…]] gives continually updated current controller states.
  • Typical control names include:
  • "X" or "X1"xprimary value
    "Y" or "Y1"yprimary value
    "Z" or "Z1"zprimary value
    "XY" or "XY1"{x,y}primary 2-axis controller value
    "XYZ" or "XYZ1"{x,y,z}primary 3-axis controller value
    "X2", "Y2", "XY2", etc.x, y, {x,y}, etc.values from a secondary controller
    "B1", "B2", etc.b1, b2, etc.button states
  • The following special control names are also possible:
  • "Axes"a list of all supported axis-like controls
    "Buttons"a list of all supported button-like controls
    "Controls"a list of all supported controls
    "Hardware"information on the controller device hardware
    "Mapping"rules for Wolfram System mappings of controls
    "Rules"rules for the settings of all controls
  • ControllerState always gives absolute instantaneous control states; it does not give relative or cyclic control states of the type available in Manipulate.
  • If no explicit controller identifier id is given, the controller used will be the first one found on the list specified by the option ControllerPath that supports all the controls "ci" requested.
  • Identifiers for controllers can be the following:
  • "name"device name from ControllerInformation
    "class"device class specifier
    nraw device index from ControllerInformation
    Allall devices supporting the requested controls
  • Possible device class identifiers include:
  • "Gamepad"controller typically including two analog controls
    "Joystick"controller typically including one primary analog control
    "Detachable"controller not built into a computer
    "BuiltIn"controller built into a computer
  • If a requested control value is not available, ControllerState returns $Failed for that value.

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (1)

Check the state of button 1:

Check multiple values at once:

Scope  (3)

Acquire a list of all button controls supported by the device:

Specify which controller type should be used:

If no device of that type is attached, $Failed is returned:

Get multiple values at once for a given controller type:

Options  (1)

ControllerPath  (1)

If multiple controllers are attached, specify the order of control sampling:

By default, controls are sampled in the following order:

Properties & Relations  (3)

The controls for Manipulate are automatically linked to a controller:

Bind x to the X controller when your selection contains the output:

ControllerInformation can be used to find a device name:

See Also

ControllerInformation  MousePosition  ControllerManipulate  Manipulate  CurrentValue

Tech Notes

    ▪
  • Introduction to Dynamic
  • ▪
  • Advanced Dynamic Functionality

Related Guides

    ▪
  • Low-Level Interface Control
  • ▪
  • Gamepad & Device Interface
  • ▪
  • External Operations
  • ▪
  • Control Objects
  • ▪
  • Custom Interface Construction
  • ▪
  • Standalone Interfaces
  • ▪
  • Dynamic Visualization
  • ▪
  • Click-Interactive Panels

Related Workflows

    Related Workflows
    ▪
  • Control Interactive Content with a Gamepad

History

Introduced in 2007 (6.0)

Wolfram Research (2007), ControllerState, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ControllerState.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2007), ControllerState, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ControllerState.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2007. "ControllerState." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ControllerState.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2007). ControllerState. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ControllerState.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_controllerstate, author="Wolfram Research", title="{ControllerState}", year="2007", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ControllerState.html}", note=[Accessed: 01-February-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_controllerstate, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={ControllerState}, year={2007}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ControllerState.html}, note=[Accessed: 01-February-2026]}

Top
Introduction for Programmers
Introductory Book
Wolfram Function Repository | Wolfram Data Repository | Wolfram Data Drop | Wolfram Language Products
Top
  • Products
  • Wolfram|One
  • Mathematica
  • Notebook Assistant + LLM Kit
  • Compute Services
  • System Modeler

  • Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition
  • Wolfram|Alpha Pro
  • Mobile Apps

  • Wolfram Engine
  • Wolfram Player

  • Volume & Site Licensing
  • Server Deployment Options
  • Consulting
  • Wolfram Consulting
  • Repositories
  • Data Repository
  • Function Repository
  • Community Paclet Repository
  • Neural Net Repository
  • Prompt Repository

  • Wolfram Language Example Repository
  • Notebook Archive
  • Wolfram GitHub
  • Learning
  • Wolfram U
  • Wolfram Language Documentation
  • Webinars & Training
  • Educational Programs

  • Wolfram Language Introduction
  • Fast Introduction for Programmers
  • Fast Introduction for Math Students
  • Books

  • Wolfram Community
  • Wolfram Blog
  • Public Resources
  • Wolfram|Alpha
  • Wolfram Problem Generator
  • Wolfram Challenges

  • Computer-Based Math
  • Computational Thinking
  • Computational Adventures

  • Demonstrations Project
  • Wolfram Data Drop
  • MathWorld
  • Wolfram Science
  • Wolfram Media Publishing
  • Customer Resources
  • Store
  • Product Downloads
  • User Portal
  • Your Account
  • Organization Access

  • Support FAQ
  • Contact Support
  • Company
  • About Wolfram
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Events
Wolfram Community Wolfram Blog
Legal & Privacy Policy
WolframAlpha.com | WolframCloud.com
© 2026 Wolfram
© 2026 Wolfram | Legal & Privacy Policy |
English