MBSRTOWCS

Section: POSIX Programmer's Manual (3P)
Updated: 2003
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PROLOG

This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.  

NAME

mbsrtowcs - convert a character string to a wide-character string (restartable)  

SYNOPSIS

#include <wchar.h>

size_t mbsrtowcs(wchar_t *restrict dst, const char **restrict src,
       size_t len, mbstate_t *restrict ps);
 

DESCRIPTION

The mbsrtowcs() function shall convert a sequence of characters, beginning in the conversion state described by the object pointed to by ps, from the array indirectly pointed to by src into a sequence of corresponding wide characters. If dst is not a null pointer, the converted characters shall be stored into the array pointed to by dst. Conversion continues up to and including a terminating null character, which shall also be stored. Conversion shall stop early in either of the following cases:

*
A sequence of bytes is encountered that does not form a valid character.

*
len codes have been stored into the array pointed to by dst (and dst is not a null pointer).

Each conversion shall take place as if by a call to the mbrtowc() function.

If dst is not a null pointer, the pointer object pointed to by src shall be assigned either a null pointer (if conversion stopped due to reaching a terminating null character) or the address just past the last character converted (if any). If conversion stopped due to reaching a terminating null character, and if dst is not a null pointer, the resulting state described shall be the initial conversion state.

If ps is a null pointer, the mbsrtowcs() function shall use its own internal mbstate_t object, which is initialized at program start-up to the initial conversion state. Otherwise, the mbstate_t object pointed to by ps shall be used to completely describe the current conversion state of the associated character sequence. The implementation behaves as if no function defined in this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 calls mbsrtowcs().

The behavior of this function shall be affected by the LC_CTYPE category of the current locale.  

RETURN VALUE

If the input conversion encounters a sequence of bytes that do not form a valid character, an encoding error occurs. In this case, the mbsrtowcs() function stores the value of the macro [EILSEQ] in errno and shall return (size_t)-1; the conversion state is undefined. Otherwise, it shall return the number of characters successfully converted, not including the terminating null (if any).  

ERRORS

The mbsrtowcs() function may fail if:

EINVAL
ps points to an object that contains an invalid conversion state.
EILSEQ
Invalid character sequence is detected.

The following sections are informative.  

EXAMPLES

None.  

APPLICATION USAGE

None.  

RATIONALE

None.  

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.  

SEE ALSO

mbsinit(), mbrtowc(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <wchar.h>  

COPYRIGHT

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .