MBSTOWCS(3)						     Linux Programmer's Manual						       MBSTOWCS(3)

NAME

       mbstowcs - convert a multibyte string to a wide character string

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

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

DESCRIPTION

       If  dest  is  not  a NULL pointer, the mbstowcs function converts the multibyte string src to a wide-character string starting at dest.	At
       most n wide characters are written to dest. The conversion starts in the initial state. The conversion can stop for three reasons:

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

       2. n non-L'' 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 ''. In this case the number of wide characters written
       to dest, excluding the terminating L'' 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  mem-
       ory, and that no length limit exists.

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

RETURN VALUE

       The mbstowcs function returns the number of wide characters that make up the converted part of the wide character string, not including the
       terminating null wide character. If an invalid multibyte sequence was encountered, (size_t)(-1) is returned.

CONFORMING TO

       ISO/ANSI C, UNIX98

SEE ALSO

       mbsrtowcs(3)

NOTES

       The behaviour of mbstowcs depends on the LC_CTYPE category of the current locale.

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

GNU
								    1999-07-25							       MBSTOWCS(3)