.\" Copyright (c) Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org>
.\"
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.\" modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
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.\" References consulted:
.\"   GNU glibc-2 source code and manual
.\"   Dinkumware C library reference http://www.dinkumware.com/
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.TH MBSNRTOWCS 3  "July 25, 1999" "GNU" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
mbsnrtowcs \- convert a multibyte string to a wide character string
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <wchar.h>
.sp
.BI "size_t mbsnrtowcs (wchar_t *" dest ", const char **" src ,
.BI "                   size_t " nms ", size_t " len ", mbstate_t *" ps );
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBmbsnrtowcs\fP function is like the \fBmbsrtowcs\fP function, except that
the number of bytes to be converted, starting at \fI*src\fP, is limited to
\fInms\fP.
.PP
If \fIdest\fP is not a NULL pointer, the \fBmbsnrtowcs\fP function converts at
most \fInms\fP bytes from the
multibyte string \fI*src\fP to a wide-character string starting at \fIdest\fP.
At most \fIlen\fP wide characters are written to \fIdest\fP. The shift state
\fI*ps\fP is updated. The conversion is effectively performed by repeatedly
calling mbrtowc(\fIdest\fP,\fI*src\fP,\fIn\fP,\fIps\fP) where \fIn\fP is some
positive number, as long as this call succeeds, and then incrementing
\fIdest\fP by one and \fI*src\fP by the number of bytes consumed. The
conversion can stop for three reasons:
.PP
1. An invalid multibyte sequence has been encountered. In this case \fI*src\fP
is left pointing to the invalid multibyte sequence, (size_t)(-1) is returned,
and \fBerrno\fP is set to \fBEILSEQ\fP.
.PP
2. The \fInms\fP limit forces a stop, or \fIlen\fP non-L'\\0' wide characters
have been stored at \fIdest\fP. In this case \fI*src\fP is left pointing to the
next multibyte sequence to be converted, and the number of wide characters
written to \fIdest\fP is returned.
.PP
3. The multibyte string has been completely converted, including the
terminating '\\0' (which has the side effect of bringing back \fI*ps\fP to the
initial state). In this case \fI*src\fP is set to NULL, and the number of wide
characters written to \fIdest\fP, excluding the terminating L'\\0' character,
is returned.
.PP
If \fIdest\fP is NULL, \fIlen\fP is ignored, and the conversion proceeds as
above, except that the converted wide characters are not written out to memory,
and that no destination length limit exists.
.PP
In both of the above cases, if \fIps\fP is a NULL pointer, a static anonymous
state only known to the mbsnrtowcs function is used instead.
.PP
The programmer must ensure that there is room for at least \fIlen\fP wide
characters at \fIdest\fP.
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
The \fBmbsnrtowcs\fP 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 \fBerrno\fP set to \fBEILSEQ\fP.
.SH "CONFORMING TO"
This function is a GNU extension.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR mbsrtowcs "(3), " iconv (3)
.SH NOTES
The behaviour of \fBmbsnrtowcs\fP depends on the LC_CTYPE category of the
current locale.
.PP
Passing NULL as \fIps\fP is not multi-thread safe.