which shift register to buy?

Hello,

Is there a general purpose shift register that you would recommend to have on hand for multiple purposes.

I want to:

control multiple LED's with few pins
read multiple switches/buttons with few pins

I believe a shift register is what I need (or multiplexer). Is there a "standard" one I should buy a few of (sorta like how the 555 timer is a standard part to have a few of for various purposes).

Thanks.

the de-facto si-po shift register is the 74hc(t )595
the (t ) is the difference between cmos and ttl level; double check for what you're using.

There's also the chips from Maxim (max) which are more expensive but have a lot of integrated features.

As for reading buttons; I can't recommend a parallel in-serial out.