How to use `raspi-gpio` instead of `gpio` of Wriring Pi

7 min readFeb 10, 2022

The gpio command (within Wriring Pi) used to operate GPIOs on the Raspberry Pi is no longer in the Bullseye-based Raspberry Pi OS repository.
I introduce raspi-gpio instead of gpio in this article.

> This article is an English translation from a Japanese.

TL;DR

May want to use raspi-gpio command.

$ raspi-gpio get
BANK0 (GPIO 0 to 27):
GPIO 0: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 1: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
(snip)$ raspi-gpio get 6 | awk -v RS=" " -F "=" -v k="level" '$1==k {print $2}'
1

Wiring Pi is deprecated.

The gpio command (within Wriring Pi) used to operate GPIOs on the Raspberry Pi is no longer in the Bullseye-based Raspberry Pi OS repository. The installation will fail as below.

$ sudo apt install wiringpi
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package wiringpi

Wiring Pi had announced that it would stop development in 2019.

If you have a Buster-based Raspberry Pi OS, you can install it with apt install wiringpi. I believe, it’s better to use raspi-gpio because raspi-gpio works on both Buster and Bullseye Raspberry Pi OS.

How to use `raspi-gpio`

I cannot find a command that is compatible with the gpio. But Raspberry Pi OS has raspi-gpio for operating GPIOs.

The help of raspi-gpio is as below.

$ raspi-gpio helpWARNING! raspi-gpio set writes directly to the GPIO control registers
ignoring whatever else may be using them (such as Linux drivers) -
it is designed as a debug tool, only use it if you know what you
are doing and at your own risk!The raspi-gpio tool is designed to help hack / debug BCM283x GPIO.
Running raspi-gpio with the help argument prints this help.
raspi-gpio can get and print the state of a GPIO (or all GPIOs)
and can be used to set the function, pulls and value of a GPIO.
raspi-gpio must be run as root.
Use:
  raspi-gpio get [GPIO]
OR
  raspi-gpio set <GPIO> [options]
OR
  raspi-gpio funcs [GPIO]
OR
  raspi-gpio rawGPIO is a comma-separated list of pin numbers or ranges (without spaces),
e.g. 4 or 18-21 or 7,9-11
Note that omitting [GPIO] from raspi-gpio get prints all GPIOs.
raspi-gpio funcs will dump all the possible GPIO alt funcions in CSV format
or if [GPIO] is specified the alternate funcs just for that specific GPIO.
Valid [options] for raspi-gpio set are:
  ip      set GPIO as input
  op      set GPIO as output
  a0-a5   set GPIO to alternate function alt0-alt5
  pu      set GPIO in-pad pull up
  pd      set GPIO pin-pad pull down
  pn      set GPIO pull none (no pull)
  dh      set GPIO to drive to high (1) level (only valid if set to be an output)
  dl      set GPIO to drive low (0) level (only valid if set to be an output)
Examples:
  raspi-gpio get              Prints state of all GPIOs one per line
  raspi-gpio get 20           Prints state of GPIO20
  raspi-gpio get 20,21        Prints state of GPIO20 and GPIO21
  raspi-gpio set 20 a5        Set GPIO20 to ALT5 function (GPCLK0)
  raspi-gpio set 20 pu        Enable GPIO20 ~50k in-pad pull up
  raspi-gpio set 20 pd        Enable GPIO20 ~50k in-pad pull down
  raspi-gpio set 20 op        Set GPIO20 to be an output
  raspi-gpio set 20 dl        Set GPIO20 to output low/zero (must already be set as an output)
  raspi-gpio set 20 ip pd     Set GPIO20 to input with pull down
  raspi-gpio set 35 a0 pu     Set GPIO35 to ALT0 function (SPI_CE1_N) with pull up
  raspi-gpio set 20 op pn dh  Set GPIO20 to ouput with no pull and driving high

In the raspi-gpio, the GPIO PIN is specified by the BMC PIN. It is compatible with the -g argument of the gpio. Cannot use Wiring Pi Proprietary PIN.

Table of commands

All read of GPIO status

Wriring Pi: gpio readall
raspi-gpio: raspi-gpio get

Read at BMC PI 6

Wriring Pi: gpio -g read 6
raspi-gpio: raspi-gpio get 6

Comparison of output formats

There is a huge difference in the output format between gpio and raspi-gpio .

gpio readall V.S. raspi-gpio

$ gpio readall
 +-----+-----+---------+------+---+---Pi 3B--+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
 | BCM | wPi |   Name  | Mode | V | Physical | V | Mode | Name    | wPi | BCM |
 +-----+-----+---------+------+---+----++----+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
 |     |     |    3.3v |      |   |  1 || 2  |   |      | 5v      |     |     |
 |   2 |   8 |   SDA.1 |   IN | 1 |  3 || 4  |   |      | 5v      |     |     |
 |   3 |   9 |   SCL.1 |   IN | 1 |  5 || 6  |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
 |   4 |   7 | GPIO. 7 |   IN | 1 |  7 || 8  | 0 | IN   | TxD     | 15  | 14  |
 |     |     |      0v |      |   |  9 || 10 | 1 | IN   | RxD     | 16  | 15  |
 |  17 |   0 | GPIO. 0 |   IN | 0 | 11 || 12 | 0 | IN   | GPIO. 1 | 1   | 18  |
 |  27 |   2 | GPIO. 2 |   IN | 0 | 13 || 14 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
 |  22 |   3 | GPIO. 3 |   IN | 0 | 15 || 16 | 0 | IN   | GPIO. 4 | 4   | 23  |
 |     |     |    3.3v |      |   | 17 || 18 | 0 | IN   | GPIO. 5 | 5   | 24  |
 |  10 |  12 |    MOSI |   IN | 0 | 19 || 20 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
 |   9 |  13 |    MISO |   IN | 0 | 21 || 22 | 0 | IN   | GPIO. 6 | 6   | 25  |
 |  11 |  14 |    SCLK |   IN | 0 | 23 || 24 | 1 | IN   | CE0     | 10  | 8   |
 |     |     |      0v |      |   | 25 || 26 | 1 | IN   | CE1     | 11  | 7   |
 |   0 |  30 |   SDA.0 |   IN | 1 | 27 || 28 | 1 | IN   | SCL.0   | 31  | 1   |
 |   5 |  21 | GPIO.21 |   IN | 1 | 29 || 30 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
 |   6 |  22 | GPIO.22 |   IN | 1 | 31 || 32 | 0 | IN   | GPIO.26 | 26  | 12  |
 |  13 |  23 | GPIO.23 |   IN | 0 | 33 || 34 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
 |  19 |  24 | GPIO.24 |   IN | 0 | 35 || 36 | 0 | IN   | GPIO.27 | 27  | 16  |
 |  26 |  25 | GPIO.25 |   IN | 0 | 37 || 38 | 0 | IN   | GPIO.28 | 28  | 20  |
 |     |     |      0v |      |   | 39 || 40 | 0 | IN   | GPIO.29 | 29  | 21  |
 +-----+-----+---------+------+---+----++----+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
 | BCM | wPi |   Name  | Mode | V | Physical | V | Mode | Name    | wPi | BCM |
 +-----+-----+---------+------+---+---Pi 3B--+---+------+---------+-----+-----+$ raspi-gpio get
BANK0 (GPIO 0 to 27):
GPIO 0: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 1: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 2: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 3: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 4: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 5: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 6: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 7: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 8: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 9: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 10: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 11: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 12: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 13: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 14: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 15: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 16: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 17: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 18: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 19: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 20: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 21: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 22: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 23: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 24: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 25: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 26: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 27: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
BANK1 (GPIO 28 to 45):
GPIO 28: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 29: level=0 fsel=1 func=OUTPUT
GPIO 30: level=0 fsel=7 alt=3 func=CTS0
GPIO 31: level=0 fsel=7 alt=3 func=RTS0
GPIO 32: level=1 fsel=7 alt=3 func=TXD0
GPIO 33: level=1 fsel=7 alt=3 func=RXD0
GPIO 34: level=0 fsel=7 alt=3 func=SD1_CLK
GPIO 35: level=1 fsel=7 alt=3 func=SD1_CMD
GPIO 36: level=1 fsel=7 alt=3 func=SD1_DAT0
GPIO 37: level=1 fsel=7 alt=3 func=SD1_DAT1
GPIO 38: level=1 fsel=7 alt=3 func=SD1_DAT2
GPIO 39: level=1 fsel=7 alt=3 func=SD1_DAT3
GPIO 40: level=0 fsel=4 alt=0 func=PWM0
GPIO 41: level=0 fsel=4 alt=0 func=PWM1
GPIO 42: level=0 fsel=4 alt=0 func=GPCLK1
GPIO 43: level=0 fsel=4 alt=0 func=GPCLK2
GPIO 44: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 45: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
BANK2 (GPIO 46 to 53):
GPIO 46: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT
GPIO 47: level=1 fsel=1 func=OUTPUT
GPIO 48: level=0 fsel=4 alt=0 func=SD0_CLK
GPIO 49: level=1 fsel=4 alt=0 func=SD0_CMD
GPIO 50: level=1 fsel=4 alt=0 func=SD0_DAT0
GPIO 51: level=1 fsel=4 alt=0 func=SD0_DAT1
GPIO 52: level=1 fsel=4 alt=0 func=SD0_DAT2
GPIO 53: level=1 fsel=4 alt=0 func=SD0_DAT3

gpio -g read 6 V.S. raspi-gpio get 6

$ gpio -g read 6
1
# OR => 0$ raspi-gpio get 6
GPIO 6: level=0 fsel=0 func=INPUT
# Or => GPIO 6: level=1 fsel=0 func=INPUT

How to make the output of `raspi-gpio get` compatible with `gpio read`.

With the use of GNU awk, the output can be made compatible with gpio read .

$ gpio -g read 6
1
$ raspi-gpio get 6 | awk -v RS=" " -F "=" -v k="level" '$1==k {print $2}'
1

BTW, is raspi-gpio long term for the future?

Maybe Ok, maybe. Because it is developed by Raspberry Pi OS maintainers(Serge-san).

$ apt-cache show raspi-gpio | grep Maintainer
Maintainer: Serge Schneider <serge@raspberrypi.org>

Reference(s):

wiringpi is missing from bullseye. how do i install it?

EoT