std::wcrtomb

std::size_t wcrtomb( char* s, wchar_t wc, std::mbstate_t* ps );

Converts a wide character to its narrow multibyte representation.

If s is not a null pointer, the function determines the number of bytes necessary to store the multibyte character representation of wc (including any shift sequences, and taking into account the current multibyte conversion state *ps), and stores the multibyte character representation in the character array whose first element is pointed to by s, updating *ps as necessary. At most MB_CUR_MAX bytes can be written by this function.

If s is a null pointer, the call is equivalent to std::wcrtomb(buf, L'\0', ps) for some internal buffer buf.

If wc is the null wide character L'\0', a null byte is stored, preceded by any shift sequence necessary to restore the initial shift state and the conversion state parameter *ps is updated to represent the initial shift state.

Parameters

Return value

On success, returns the number of bytes (including any shift sequences) written to the character array whose first element is pointed to by s.

On failure (if wc is not a valid wide character), returns static_cast<std::size_t>(-1), stores EILSEQ in errno, and leaves *ps in unspecified state.

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <clocale>
#include <string>
#include <cwchar>
 
void print_wide(const std::wstring& wstr)
{
    std::mbstate_t state {};
    for(wchar_t wc : wstr) {
        std::string mb(MB_CUR_MAX, '\0');
        std::size_t ret = std::wcrtomb(&mb[0], wc, &state);
        std::cout << "multibyte char " << mb << " is " << ret << " bytes\n";
    }
}
 
int main()
{
    std::setlocale(LC_ALL, "en_US.utf8");
    std::wstring wstr = L"z\u00df\u6c34\U0001f34c"; // or L"zß水🍌"
    print_wide(wstr);
}

multibyte char z is 1 bytes
multibyte char ß is 2 bytes
multibyte char 水 is 3 bytes
multibyte char 🍌 is 4 bytes

See also