QMK has a GPIO control abstraction layer which is microcontroller agnostic. This is done to allow easy access to pin control across different platforms.
## Functions :id=functions
The following functions can provide basic control of GPIOs and are found in `quantum/quantum.h`.
|Function |Description | Old AVR Examples | Old ChibiOS/ARM Examples |
Each microcontroller can have multiple advanced settings regarding its GPIO. This abstraction layer does not limit the use of architecture-specific functions. Advanced users should consult the datasheet of their desired device and include any needed libraries. For AVR, the standard avr/io.h library is used; for STM32, the ChibiOS [PAL library](https://chibios.sourceforge.net/docs3/hal/group___p_a_l.html) is used.
The above functions are not always guaranteed to work atomically. Therefore, if you want to prevent interruptions in the middle of operations when using multiple combinations of the above functions, use the following `ATOMIC_BLOCK_FORCEON` macro.
eg.
```c
void some_function() {
// some process
ATOMIC_BLOCK_FORCEON {
// Atomic Processing
}
// some process
}
```
`ATOMIC_BLOCK_FORCEON` forces interrupts to be disabled before the block is executed, without regard to whether they are enabled or disabled. Then, after the block is executed, the interrupt is enabled.
Note that `ATOMIC_BLOCK_FORCEON` can therefore be used if you know that interrupts are enabled before the execution of the block, or if you know that it is OK to enable interrupts at the completion of the block.
