MBSRTOWCS(3)		   Linux Programmers Manual		 MBSRTOWCS(3)



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

SYNOPSIS
       #include 

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

DESCRIPTION
       If  dest  is  not a NULL pointer, the mbsrtowcs() function converts the
       multibyte string *src to a wide-character string starting at dest.   At
       most  len  wide characters are written to dest.	The shift state *ps is
       updated.  The conversion is effectively performed by repeatedly calling
       mbrtowc(dest,  *src, n, ps) where n is some positive number, as long as
       this call succeeds, and then incrementing dest by one and *src  by  the
       number of bytes consumed.  The conversion can stop for three reasons:

       1. An  invalid  multibyte  sequence has been encountered.  In this case
	  *src is left pointing to the invalid multibyte sequence, (size_t) -1
	  is returned, and errno is set to EILSEQ.

       2. len  non-L'\0'  wide	characters  have been stored at dest.  In this
	  case *src is left pointing to the next multibyte sequence to be con
	  verted,  and	the  number  of  wide  characters  written  to dest is
	  returned.

       3. The multibyte string has been completely  converted,	including  the
	  terminating  '\0' (which has the side effect of bringing back *ps to
	  the initial state).  In this case *src is set to NULL, and the  num
	  ber  of  wide  characters written to dest, excluding the terminating
	  L'\0' character, is returned.

       If dest is NULL, len 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 both of the above cases, if ps is a NULL pointer, a static anonymous
       state only known to the mbsrtowcs() function is used instead.

       The  programmer	must  ensure  that there is room for at least len wide
       characters at dest.

RETURN VALUE
       The mbsrtowcs() 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, and errno set to EILSEQ.

CONFORMING TO
       C99.

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

       Passing NULL as ps is not multi-thread safe.

SEE ALSO
       iconv(3), mbsnrtowcs(3), mbstowcs(3)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 3.05 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				  1999-07-25			  MBSRTOWCS(3)