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(libc.info)Restartable multibyte conversion

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Restartable Multibyte Conversion Functions
==========================================

   The ISO C standard defines functions to convert strings from a
multibyte representation to wide character strings.  There are a number
of peculiarities:

   * The character set assumed for the multibyte encoding is not
     specified as an argument to the functions.  Instead the character
     set specified by the `LC_CTYPE' category of the current locale is
     used; see Note: Locale Categories.

   * The functions handling more than one character at a time require
     NUL terminated strings as the argument (i.e., converting blocks of
     text does not work unless one can add a NUL byte at an appropriate
     place).  The GNU C library contains some extensions to the
     standard that allow specifying a size, but basically they also
     expect terminated strings.

   Despite these limitations the ISO C functions can be used in many
contexts.  In graphical user interfaces, for instance, it is not
uncommon to have functions that require text to be displayed in a wide
character string if the text is not simple ASCII.  The text itself might
come from a file with translations and the user should decide about the
current locale, which determines the translation and therefore also the
external encoding used.  In such a situation (and many others) the
functions described here are perfect.  If more freedom while performing
the conversion is necessary take a look at the `iconv' functions (Note:
Generic Charset Conversion).

Selecting the Conversion

Selecting the conversion and its properties.

Keeping the state

Representing the state of the conversion.

Converting a Character

Converting Single Characters.

Converting Strings

Converting Multibyte and Wide Character

Strings.

Multibyte Conversion Example

A Complete Multibyte Conversion Example.