mbrlen

MBRLEN(3)                  Linux Programmer's Manual                 MBRLEN(3)



NAME
       mbrlen - determine number of bytes in next multibyte character

SYNOPSIS
       #include <wchar.h>

       size_t mbrlen(const char *s, size_t n, mbstate_t *ps);

DESCRIPTION
       The  mbrlen  function  inspects at most n bytes of the multibyte string
       starting at s and extracts the next complete multibyte  character.   It
       updates the shift state *ps. If the multibyte character is not the null
       wide character, it returns the number of bytes that were consumed  from
       s. If the multibyte character is the null wide character, it resets the
       shift state *ps to the initial state and returns 0.

       If the n bytes starting at s do not contain a complete multibyte  char-
       acter,  mbrlen  returns  (size_t)(-2).  This  can  happen  even if n >=
       MB_CUR_MAX, if the multibyte string contains redundant shift sequences.

       If  the  multibyte  string  starting at s contains an invalid multibyte
       sequence  before  the   next   complete   character,   mbrlen   returns
       (size_t)(-1) and sets errno to EILSEQ. In this case, the effects on *ps
       are undefined.

       If ps is a NULL pointer, a static anonymous state  only  known  to  the
       mbrlen function is used instead.

RETURN VALUE
       The  mbrlen function returns the number of bytes parsed from the multi-
       byte sequence starting at s, if a non-null wide  character  was  recog-
       nized.   It  returns  0,  if  a  null wide character was recognized. It
       returns (size_t)(-1) and sets errno to EILSEQ, if an invalid  multibyte
       sequence  was encountered. It returns (size_t)(-2) if it couldn't parse
       a complete multibyte character, meaning that n should be increased.

CONFORMING TO
       ISO/ANSI C, UNIX98

SEE ALSO
       mbrtowc(3)

NOTES
       The behaviour of mbrlen depends on the LC_CTYPE category of the current
       locale.



GNU                               1999-07-25                         MBRLEN(3)