NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       size_t wcstombs(char *dest, const wchar_t *src, size_t 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 (size_t) -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 conversion  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 converted, (size_t) -1 is returned.

CONFORMING TO

       C99.

NOTES

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

       The function wcsrtombs(3) provides a thread safe interface to the same functionality.

SEE ALSO

       mbstowcs(3), wcsrtombs(3)

COLOPHON

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