NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>

size_t wcstombs(char *restrict s, const wchar_t *restrict pwcs,
       size_t n);


DESCRIPTION

^[CX] The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 defers to the ISO C standard.

The wcstombs() function shall convert the sequence of wide-character codes that are in the array pointed to by pwcs into a sequence of characters that begins in the initial shift state and store these characters into the array pointed to by s, stopping if a character would exceed the limit of n total bytes or if a null byte is stored. Each wide-character code shall be converted as if by a call to wctomb(), except that the shift state of wctomb() shall not be affected.

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

No more than n bytes shall be modified in the array pointed to by s. If copying takes place between objects that overlap, the behavior is undefined. ^[CX]  If s is a null pointer, wcstombs() shall return the length required to convert the entire array regardless of the value of n, but no values are stored.

The wcstombs() function need not be reentrant. A function that is not required to be reentrant is not required to be thread-safe.

RETURN VALUE

If a wide-character code is encountered that does not correspond to a valid character (of one or more bytes each), wcstombs() shall return (size_t)-1. Otherwise, wcstombs() shall return the number of bytes stored in the character array, not including any terminating null byte. The array shall not be null-terminated if the value returned is n.

ERRORS

The wcstombs() function may fail if:

[EILSEQ]

^[CX] A wide-character code does not correspond to a valid character.

EXAMPLES

None.

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

mblen(), mbtowc(), mbstowcs(), wctomb(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <stdlib.h>

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 4. Derived from the ISO C standard.

Issue 6

The following new requirements on POSIX implementations derive from alignment with the Single UNIX Specification:

• The DESCRIPTION states the effect of when s is a null pointer.

• The [EILSEQ] error condition is added.

The wcstombs() prototype is updated for alignment with the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard.