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.TH "al_cstr" "3alleg5" "" "Allegro reference manual" ""
.hy
.SH NAME
.PP
al_cstr - Allegro 5 API
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#include <allegro5/allegro.h>

const char *al_cstr(const ALLEGRO_USTR *us)
\f[R]
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
Get a \f[V]char *\f[R] pointer to the data in a string.
This pointer will only be valid while the ALLEGRO_USTR(3alleg5) object
is not modified and not destroyed.
The pointer may be passed to functions expecting C-style strings, with
the following caveats:
.IP \[bu] 2
ALLEGRO_USTRs are allowed to contain embedded NUL
(\f[V]\[aq]\[rs]0\[aq]\f[R]) bytes.
That means \f[V]al_ustr_size(u)\f[R] and \f[V]strlen(al_cstr(u))\f[R]
may not agree.
.IP \[bu] 2
An ALLEGRO_USTR may be created in such a way that it is not NUL
terminated.
A string which is dynamically allocated will always be NUL terminated,
but a string which references the middle of another string or region of
memory will \f[I]not\f[R] be NUL terminated.
.IP \[bu] 2
If the ALLEGRO_USTR references another string, the returned C string
will point into the referenced string.
Again, no NUL terminator will be added to the referenced string.
.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
al_ustr_to_buffer(3alleg5), al_cstr_dup(3alleg5)