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# docs.GL

OpenGL 4
OpenGL 3
OpenGL 2
OpenGL ES 3
OpenGL ES 2

# glHint

## Name

glHint — specify implementation-specific hints

## C Specification

`void glHint(` | GLenum target,
| GLenum mode`)`;

## Parameters

`target`

  Specifies a symbolic constant indicating the behavior to be controlled. `GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER_DERIVATIVE_HINT`, and `GL_GENERATE_MIPMAP_HINT` are accepted.

`mode`

  Specifies a symbolic constant indicating the desired behavior. `GL_FASTEST`, `GL_NICEST`, and `GL_DONT_CARE` are accepted.

## Description

Certain aspects of GL behavior, when there is room for interpretation, can be controlled with hints. A hint is specified with two arguments. `target` is a symbolic constant indicating the behavior to be controlled, and `mode` is another symbolic constant indicating the desired behavior. The initial value for each `target` is `GL_DONT_CARE`. `mode` can be one of the following:

`GL_FASTEST`

  The most efficient option should be chosen.

`GL_NICEST`

  The most correct, or highest quality, option should be chosen.

`GL_DONT_CARE`

  No preference.

Though the implementation aspects that can be hinted are well defined, the interpretation of the hints depends on the implementation. The hint aspects that can be specified with `target`, along with suggested semantics, are as follows:

`GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER_DERIVATIVE_HINT`

  Indicates the accuracy of the derivative calculation for the GL shading language fragment processing built-in functions: `dFdx`, `dFdy`, and `fwidth`.

`GL_GENERATE_MIPMAP_HINT`

  Indicates the quality of filtering when generating mipmap images with glGenerateMipmap.

## Notes

The interpretation of hints depends on the implementation. Some implementations ignore `glHint` settings.

## Errors

`GL_INVALID_ENUM` is generated if either `target` or `mode` is not an accepted value.

## API Version Support

| OpenGL ES API Version
--- | ---
Function Name | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.1
glHint | ✔ | ✔ | ✔

## Copyright

Copyright © 1991-2006 Silicon Graphics, Inc. Copyright © 2010-2014 Khronos Group. This document is licensed under the SGI Free Software B License. For details, see https://web.archive.org/web/20171022161616/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/FreeB/.

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