MBSTOWCS

NAME

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>

size_t mbstowcs(wchar_t *dest, const char *src, size_t n);

DESCRIPTION

1.

An invalid multibyte sequence has been encountered. In this case, (size_t) -1 is returned.

2.

n non-L'\0' wide characters have been stored at dest. In this case, the number of wide characters written to dest is returned, but the shift state at this point is lost.

3.

The multibyte string has been completely converted, including the terminating null wide character ('\0'). In this case, the number of wide characters written to dest, excluding the terminating null wide character, is returned.

The programmer must ensure that there is room for at least n wide characters at dest.

If dest is NULL, n is ignored, and the conversion proceeds as above, except that the converted wide characters are not written out to memory, and that no length limit exists.

In order to avoid the case 2 above, the programmer should make sure n is greater than or equal to mbstowcs(NULL,src,0)+1.  

RETURN VALUE

CONFORMING TO

NOTES

The function mbsrtowcs(3) provides a better interface to the same functionality.  

EXAMPLE

$ ./t_mbstowcs de_DE.UTF-8 Grüße!
Length of source string (excluding terminator):
    8 bytes
    6 multibyte characters

Wide character string is: Grüße! (6 characters)
    G alpha upper
    r alpha lower
    ü alpha lower
    ß alpha lower
    e alpha lower
    ! !alpha

Program source

#include <locale.h>
#include <wchar.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    size_t mbslen;      /* Number of multibyte characters in source */
    wchar_t *wcs;       /* Pointer to converted wide character string */
    wchar_t *wp;

    if (argc < 3) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s <locale> <string>\n", argv[0]);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Apply the specified locale */

    if (setlocale(LC_ALL, argv[1]) == NULL) {
        perror("setlocale");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Calculate the length required to hold argv[2] converted to
       a wide character string */

    mbslen = mbstowcs(NULL, argv[2], 0);
    if (mbslen == (size_t) -1) {
        perror("mbstowcs");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Describe the source string to the user */

    printf("Length of source string (excluding terminator):\n");
    printf("    %zu bytes\n", strlen(argv[2]));
    printf("    %zu multibyte characters\n\n", mbslen);

    /* Allocate wide character string of the desired size.  Add 1
       to allow for terminating null wide character (L'\0'). */

    wcs = calloc(mbslen + 1, sizeof(wchar_t));
    if (wcs == NULL) {
        perror("calloc");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Convert the multibyte character string in argv[2] to a
       wide character string */

    if (mbstowcs(wcs, argv[2], mbslen + 1) == (size_t) -1) {
        perror("mbstowcs");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    printf("Wide character string is: %ls (%zu characters)\n",
            wcs, mbslen);

    /* Now do some inspection of the classes of the characters in
       the wide character string */

    for (wp = wcs; *wp != 0; wp++) {
        printf("    %lc ", (wint_t) *wp);

        if (!iswalpha(*wp))
            printf("!");
        printf("alpha ");

        if (iswalpha(*wp)) {
            if (iswupper(*wp))
                printf("upper ");

            if (iswlower(*wp))
                printf("lower ");
        }

        putchar('\n');
    }

    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

SEE ALSO

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

RETURN VALUE

CONFORMING TO

NOTES

EXAMPLE

Program source

SEE ALSO