mbsrtowcs_s

Article
07/22/2011

Convert a wide character string to its multibyte character string representation. A version of mbsrtowcs with security enhancements as described in Security Features in the CRT.

errno_t mbsrtowcs_s(
   size_t *pReturnValue,
   wchar_t *wcstr,
   size_t sizeInWords,
   const char **mbstr,
   size_t count,
   mbstate_t *mbstate
);
template <size_t size>
errno_t mbsrtowcs_s(
   size_t *pReturnValue,
   wchar_t (&wcstr)[size],
   const char **mbstr,
   size_t count,
   mbstate_t *mbstate
); // C++ only

Parameters

[out] pReturnValue
The number of characters converted.
[out] wcstr
Address of buffer for the resulting converted wide character string.
[out] sizeInWords
The size of wcstr in words (wide characters).
[in] mbstr
Points to the location of the multibyte character string to be converted.
[in] count
The maximum number of wide characters to store in the wcstr buffer, not including the terminating null, or _TRUNCATE.
[in] mbstate
A pointer to an mbstate_t conversion state object.

Return Value

Zero if successful, an error code on failure.

Error condition	Return value and errno
wcstr is NULL and sizeInWords > 0	EINVAL
mbstr is NULL	EINVAL
The destination buffer is too small to contain the converted string (unless count is _TRUNCATE; see Remarks below)	ERANGE

If any of these conditions occurs, the invalid parameter exception is invoked as described in Parameter Validation . If execution is allowed to continue, the function returns an error code and sets errno as indicated in the table.

Remarks

The mbsrtowcs_s function converts a string of multibyte characters pointed to by mbstr into wide characters stored in the buffer pointed to by wcstr, using the conversion state contained in mbstate. The conversion will continue for each character until one of these conditions is met:

A multibyte null character is encountered
An invalid multibyte character is encountered
The number of wide characters stored in the wcstr buffer equals count.

The destination string is always null-terminated (even in the case of an error).

If count is the special value _TRUNCATE, then mbsrtowcs_s converts as much of the string as will fit into the destination buffer, while still leaving room for a null terminator.

If mbsrtowcs_s successfully converts the source string, it puts the size in wide characters of the converted string, including the null terminator, into *pReturnValue (provided pReturnValue is not NULL). This occurs even if the wcstr argument is NULL and provides a way to determine the required buffer size. Note that if wcstr is NULL, count is ignored.

If mbstate is NULL, the internal mbstate_t conversion state is used.

If mbsrtowcs_s encounters an invalid multibyte character, it puts -1 in *pReturnValue, sets the destination buffer to an empty string, sets errno to EILSEQ, and returns EILSEQ.

If the sequences pointed to by mbstr and wcstr overlap, the behavior of mbsrtowcs_s is undefined. mbsrtowcs_s is affected by the LC_TYPE category of the current locale.

Security Note
Ensure that wcstr and mbstr do not overlap, and that count correctly reflects the number of multibyte characters to convert.

The mbsrtowcs_s function differs from mbstowcs_s, _mbstowcs_s_l by its restartability. The conversion state is stored in mbstate for subsequent calls to the same or other restartable functions. Results are undefined when mixing the use of restartable and nonrestartable functions. For example, an application would use mbsrlen rather than mbslen, if a subsequent call to mbsrtowcs_s were used instead of mbstowcs_s.

In C++, using this function is simplified by template overloads; the overloads can infer buffer length automatically (eliminating the need to specify a size argument) and they can automatically replace older, non-secure functions with their newer, secure counterparts. For more information, see Secure Template Overloads.

Exceptions

The mbsrtowcs function is multithread safe as long as no function in the current thread calls setlocale while this function is executing and the mbstate is null.

.NET Framework Equivalent

Not applicable. To call the standard C function, use PInvoke. For more information, see Platform Invoke Examples.

Requirements

Routine	Required header
mbsrtowcs	<wchar.h>

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