The microcontroller on the Arduino and Genuino AVR based board has EEPROM: memory

whose values are kept when the board is turned off (like a tiny hard drive). This library
enables you to read and write those bytes.

The supported micro-controllers on the various Arduino and Genuino boards have different
amounts of EEPROM: 1024 bytes on the ATmega328P, 512 bytes on the ATmega168 and
ATmega8, 4 KB (4096 bytes) on the ATmega1280 and ATmega2560. The Arduino and
Genuino 101 boards have an emulated EEPROM space of 1024 bytes.

To use this library

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1#include <EEPROM.h>

Examples
To see a list of examples for the EEPROM library, click the link below:

 A Guide to EEPROM

Functions

read()

Description

Reads a byte from the EEPROM. Locations that have never been written to have the value of
255.

Syntax

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1EEPROM.read(address)

Parameters

address: the location to read from, starting from 0 (int)

Returns

the value stored in that location (byte)

Example
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1#include <EEPROM.h>

3int a = 0;

4int value;

6void setup()

7{

8 Serial.begin(9600);

9}

10

11void loop()

12{

13 value = EEPROM.read(a);

14

15 Serial.print(a);

16 Serial.print("\t");

17 Serial.print(value);

18 Serial.println();

19

20 a = a + 1;

21

22 if (a == 512)

23 a = 0;

24

25 delay(500);

26}

write()

Description

Write a byte to the EEPROM.

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1EEPROM.write(address, value)

Parameters

address: the location to write to, starting from 0 (int)

value: the value to write, from 0 to 255 (byte)

Returns

none

Note: An EEPROM write takes 3.3 ms to complete. The EEPROM memory has a specified life
of 100,000 write/erase cycles, so you may need to be careful about how often you write to
it.

Example

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1#include <EEPROM.h>

3void setup()

4{

5 for (int i = 0; i < 255; i++)

6 EEPROM.write(i, i);

7}

9void loop()

10{

11}

update()

Description

Write a byte to the EEPROM. The value is written only if differs from the one already saved
at the same address.
Syntax

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1EEPROM.update(address, value)

Parameters

address: the location to write to, starting from 0 (int)

value: the value to write, from 0 to 255 (byte)

Returns

none

Note: An EEPROM write takes 3.3 ms to complete. The EEPROM memory has a specified life
of 100,000 write/erase cycles, so using this function instead of write() can save cycles if the
written data does not change often

Example

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1#include <EEPROM.h>

3void setup()

4{

5 for (int i = 0; i < 255; i++) {

6 // this performs as EEPROM.write(i, i)

7 EEPROM.update(i, i);

8 }

9 for (int i = 0; i < 255; i++) {

10 // write value "12" to cell 3 only the first time

11 // will not write the cell the remaining 254 times

12 EEPROM.update(3, 12);

13 }

14}

15

16void loop()
17{

18}

get()

Description

Read any data type or object from the EEPROM.

Syntax

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1EEPROM.get(address, data)

Parameters

address: the location to read from, starting from 0 (int)

data: the data to read, can be a primitive type (eg. float) or a custom struct

Returns

A reference to the data passed in

Example

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1#include <EEPROM.h>

3struct MyObject{

4 float field1;

5 byte field2;

6 char name[10];

7};

9void setup(){

10

11 float f = 0.00f; //Variable to store data read from EEPROM.

12 int eeAddress = 0; //EEPROM address to start reading from

14 Serial.begin( 9600 );

15 while (!Serial) {

16 ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for Leonardo only

17 }

18 Serial.print( "Read float from EEPROM: " );

19

20 //Get the float data from the EEPROM at position 'eeAddress'

21 EEPROM.get( eeAddress, f );

22 Serial.println( f, 3 ); //This may print 'ovf, nan' if the data inside the EEPROM is not a valid float.

23

24 // get() can be used with custom structures too.

25 eeAddress = sizeof(float); //Move address to the next byte after float 'f'.

26 MyObject customVar; //Variable to store custom object read from EEPROM.

27 EEPROM.get( eeAddress, customVar );

28

29 Serial.println( "Read custom object from EEPROM: " );

30 Serial.println( customVar.field1 );

31 Serial.println( customVar.field2 );

32 Serial.println( customVar.name );

33}

34

35void loop(){ /* Empty loop */ }

put()

Description

Write any data type or object to the EEPROM.

Syntax

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1EEPROM.put(address, data)
Parameters

address: the location to write to, starting from 0 (int)

data: the data to write, can be a primitive type (eg. float) or a custom struct

Returns

A reference to the data passed in

Note: This function uses EEPROM.update() to perform the write, so does not rewrites the
value if it didn't change.

Example

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1#include <EEPROM.h>

3struct MyObject {

4 float field1;

5 byte field2;

6 char name[10];

7};

9void setup() {

10

11 Serial.begin(9600);

12 while (!Serial) {

13 ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only

14 }

15

16 float f = 123.456f; //Variable to store in EEPROM.

17 int eeAddress = 0; //Location we want the data to be put.

18

19

20 //One simple call, with the address first and the object second.
21 EEPROM.put(eeAddress, f);

22

23 Serial.println("Written float data type!");

24

25 /** Put is designed for use with custom structures also. **/

26

27 //Data to store.

28 MyObject customVar = {

29 3.14f,

30 65,

31 "Working!"

32 };

33

34 eeAddress += sizeof(float); //Move address to the next byte after float 'f'.

35

36 EEPROM.put(eeAddress, customVar);

37 Serial.print("Written custom data type! \n\nView the example sketch eeprom_get to see how you can
retrieve the values!");

38}

39

40void loop() { /* Empty loop */ }

EEPROM[]

Description

This operator allows using the identifier

EEPROM
like an array. EEPROM cells can be read and written directly using this method.

Syntax

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1EEPROM[address]

Parameters
address: the location to read/write from, starting from 0 (int)

Returns

A reference to the EEPROM cell

Example

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1#include <EEPROM.h>

3void setup(){

5 unsigned char val;

7 //Read first EEPROM cell.

8 val = EEPROM[ 0 ];

10 //Write first EEPROM cell.

11 EEPROM[ 0 ] = val;

12

13 //Compare contents

14 if( val == EEPROM[ 0 ] ){

15 //Do something...

16 }

17}

18

19void loop(){ /* Empty loop */ }

length()
This function returns an unsigned int containing the number of cells in the EEPROM.

Description

This function returns an

unsigned int
containing the number of cells in the EEPROM.

Syntax

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1EEPROM.length()