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



NAME
       wcstombs - convert a wide-character string to a multibyte string

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdlib.h>

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

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

       1.  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.

       2. 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.

       3. The wide-character string has been completely converted, including the terminating null
       wide character (L'\0').  In this case the conversion ends in the initial state.  The  num-
       ber of bytes written to dest, excluding the terminating null byte ('\0'), is returned.

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

       If  dest is NULL, n is ignored, and the conversion proceeds as above, except that the con-
       verted bytes 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 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
       multibyte sequence, not including the terminating null byte.   If  a  wide  character  was
       encountered which could not be converted, (size_t) -1 is returned.

CONFORMING TO
       C99.

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

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

SEE ALSO
       mbstowcs(3), wcsrtombs(3)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.53 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project,    and    information    about    reporting    bugs,    can    be    found     at
       http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



GNU                                         2011-10-16                                WCSTOMBS(3)