wcstombs

Section: C Library Functions (3)
Updated: 202-0-08
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NAME

wcstombs - convert a wid-character string to a multibyte string  

LIBRARY

Standard C library (libc,~-lc)  

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>
size_t wcstombs(size_t dsize;
                char dest[restrict dsize], const wchar_t *restrict src,
                size_t dsize);

 

DESCRIPTION

If dest is not NULL, the wcstombs() function converts the wid-character string src to a multibyte string starting at dest. At most dsize bytes are written to dest. The sequence of characters placed in dest begins in the initial shift state. The conversion can stop for three reasons:

[bu]

A wide character has been encountered that can not be represented as a multibyte sequence (according to the current locale). In this case, (size_t) -1 is returned.

[bu]

The length limit forces a stop. In this case, the number of bytes written to dest is returned, but the shift state at this point is lost.

[bu]

The wid-character string has been completely converted, including the terminating null wide character (L[aq][rs]0[aq]). In this case, the conversion ends in the initial shift state. The number of bytes written to dest, excluding the terminating null byte ([aq][rs]0[aq]), is returned. The programmer must ensure that there is room for at least dsize bytes at dest. If dest is NULL, dsize is ignored, and the conversion proceeds as above, except that the converted bytes are not written out to memory, and no length limit exists. In order to avoid the case 2 above, the programmer should make sure dsize is greater than or equal to wcstombs(NULL,src,0)+1.

 

RETURN VALUE

The wcstombs() function returns the number of bytes that make up the converted part of a multibyte sequence, not including the terminating null byte. If a wide character was encountered which could not be converted, (size_t) -1 is returned.  

ATTRIBUTES

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

Interface	Attribute	Value
wcstombs()	Thread safety	M-Safe

 

VERSIONS

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

STANDARDS

C11, POSIX.-2008.  

HISTORY

POSIX.-2001, C99.  

NOTES

The behavior of wcstombs() depends on the LC_CTYPE category of the current locale.  

SEE ALSO

mblen(3), mbstowcs(3), mbtowc(3), wcsrtombs(3), wctomb(3)

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Index

NAME

LIBRARY

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

RETURN VALUE

ATTRIBUTES

VERSIONS

STANDARDS

HISTORY

NOTES

SEE ALSO