NAME

       mblen - determine number of bytes in next multibyte character

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       int mblen(const char *s, size_t n);

DESCRIPTION

       If  s  is  not  a  NULL  pointer,  the  mblen() function inspects at most n bytes of the multibyte string
       starting at s and extracts the next complete multibyte character.  It uses a static anonymous shift state
       known  only  to  the  mblen()  function.   If  the multibyte character is not the null wide character, it
       returns the number of bytes that were consumed from s.  If the  multibyte  character  is  the  null  wide
       character, it returns 0.

       If the n bytes starting at s do not contain a complete multibyte character, mblen() returns -1.  This can
       happen even if n is greater than or equal to MB_CUR_MAX, if the multibyte string contains redundant shift
       sequences.

       If  the  multibyte  string  starting at s contains an invalid multibyte sequence before the next complete
       character, mblen() also returns -1.

       If s is a NULL pointer, the mblen() function resets the shift state, known to only this function, to  the
       initial state, and returns nonzero if the encoding has nontrivial shift state, or zero if the encoding is
       stateless.

RETURN VALUE

       The mblen() function returns the number of bytes parsed from the multibyte sequence starting at s,  if  a
       non-null  wide  character  was  recognized.   It  returns 0, if a null wide character was recognized.  It
       returns -1, if an invalid multibyte sequence was encountered or if it couldn't parse a complete multibyte
       character.

ATTRIBUTES

   Multithreading (see pthreads(7))
       The mblen() function is not thread-safe.

CONFORMING TO

       C99.

NOTES

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

       The function mbrlen(3) provides a better interface to the same functionality.

SEE ALSO

       mbrlen(3)

COLOPHON

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