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

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

SYNOPSIS
       #include 

       sizet wcstombs(char *dest, const wchart *src, sizet 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
       (sizet) -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  conver‐
       sion  ends  in the initial state.  The number 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 converted 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 con‐
       verted, (sizet) -1 is returned.

CONFORMING TO
       C99.

NOTES
       The behavior of wcstombs() depends on the LCCTYPE category of the cur‐
       rent 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)