A control element, in particular, a switching device for the manual actuation of functions in a motor vehicle, having a handle. The handle is mounted on a carrier such that the handle is adjustable in two different directions from a neutral position into adjustment positions. The control element furthermore can detect the adjustment positions, with the control element having a code carrier for the detection of the adjustment positions, which encodes the adjustment positions, and a sensor which senses the coding, in such a way that all adjustment positions can be detected by way of the one code carrier.