Arduino: debounce buttons - how it works

To properly debounce a button on your Arduino, you only need a few lines of code. In this practical tip, we will explain to you exactly what these are.

Debounce buttons on the Arduino

If you connect a button to the Arduino and press it, the Arduino may register the button press as multiple presses. This phenomenon is called "bouncing". However, a button to "debounce" is very simple.

• To do this, first write "if (digitalRead (4)) {" to check whether the button on pin 4 has been switched to "HIGH", that is, has been pressed.
• Then let the Arduino wait 5 milliseconds: "delay (5);".
• Then insert the if statement again. Then you can insert the actual commands. Now the commands are only executed if the button has been pressed correctly.

Arduino: code example for push button debouncing

• void setup () {
• pinMode (4, INPUT_PULLUP);
• }
• void loop () {
• if (digitalRead (4)) {
• delay (5);
• if (digitalRead (4)) {
• // ...
• }
• }
• }

In the next practical tip we will explain how to send an SMS with the Arduino.