# wcrtomb, wcrtomb_s

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< c‎ | string‎ | multibyte

Defined in header `<wchar.h>` |  |
| (1) |
size_t wcrtomb( char *s, wchar_t wc, mbstate_t *ps); |  | (since C95)
size_t wcrtomb( char *restrict s, wchar_t wc, mbstate_t *restrict ps); |  | (since C99)
errno_t wcrtomb_s(size_t *restrict retval, char *restrict s, rsize_t ssz, wchar_t wc, mbstate_t *restrict ps); | (2) | (since C11)

Converts a wide character to its narrow multibyte representation.

1) If `s` is not a null pointer, the function determines the number of bytes necessary to store the multibyte character representation of `wc` (including any shift sequences, and taking into account the current multibyte conversion state *ps), and stores the multibyte character representation in the character array whose first element is pointed to by `s`, updating *ps as necessary. At most MB_CUR_MAX bytes can be written by this function.
If `s` is a null pointer, the call is equivalent to wcrtomb(buf, L'\0', ps) for some internal buffer `buf`.
If wc is the null wide character L'\0', a null byte is stored, preceded by any shift sequence necessary to restore the initial shift state and the conversion state parameter *ps is updated to represent the initial shift state.
If the environment macro __STDC_ISO_10646__ is defined, the values of type wchar_t are the same as the short identifiers of the characters in the Unicode required set (typically UTF-32 encoding); otherwise, it is implementation-defined. In any case, the multibyte character encoding used by this function is specified by the currently active C locale.
2) Same as (1), except that
if `s` is a null pointer, the call is equivalent to wcrtomb_s(&retval, buf, sizeof buf, L'\0', ps) with internal variables `retval` and `buf` (whose size is greater than MB_CUR_MAX)
the result is returned in the out-parameter `retval`
the following errors are detected at runtime and call the currently installed constraint handler function:

  - `retval` or `ps` is a null pointer.
  - `ssz` is zero or greater than RSIZE_MAX (unless `s` is null)
  - `ssz` is less than the number of bytes that would be written (unless `s` is null)
  - `s` is a null pointer but `ssz` is not zero
  As with all bounds-checked functions, `wcrtomb_s` only guaranteed to be available if __STDC_LIB_EXT1__ is defined by the implementation and if the user defines __STDC_WANT_LIB_EXT1__ to the integer constant 1 before including `<wchar.h>`.

### Parameters

s | - | pointer to narrow character array where the multibyte character will be stored
wc | - | the wide character to convert
ps | - | pointer to the conversion state object used when interpreting the multibyte string
ssz | - | max number of bytes to write (the size of the buffer `s`)
retval | - | pointer to an out-parameter where the result (number of bytes in the multibyte string including any shift sequences) will be stored

### Return value

1) On success, returns the number of bytes (including any shift sequences) written to the character array whose first element is pointed to by `s`.
On failure (if wc is not a valid wide character), returns (size_t)-1, stores EILSEQ in errno, and leaves *ps in unspecified state.
2) Returns zero on success and non-zero on failure, in which case, s[0] is set to '\0' (unless `s` is null or `ssz` is zero or greater than RSIZE_MAX) and *retval is set to (size_t)-1 (unless `retval` is null)

### Example

Run this code

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <locale.h>
    #include <string.h>
    #include <wchar.h>
    #include <stdlib.h>

    int main(void)
    {
        setlocale(LC_ALL, "en_US.utf8");
        mbstate_t state;
        memset(&state, 0, sizeof state);
        wchar_t in[] = L"zß水🍌"; // or "z\u00df\u6c34\U0001F34C"
        size_t in_sz = sizeof in / sizeof *in;

        printf("Processing %zu wchar_t units: [ ", in_sz);
        for(size_t n = 0; n < in_sz; ++n) printf("%#x ", (unsigned int)in[n]);
        puts("]");

        char out[MB_CUR_MAX * in_sz];
        char *p = out;
        for(size_t n = 0; n < in_sz; ++n) {
            int rc = wcrtomb(p, in[n], &state);
            if(rc == -1) break;
            p += rc;
        }

        size_t out_sz = p - out;
        printf("into %zu UTF-8 code units: [ ", out_sz);
        for(size_t x = 0; x < out_sz; ++x) printf("%#x ", +(unsigned char)out[x]);
        puts("]");
    }

Output:

    Processing 5 wchar_t units: [ 0x7a 0xdf 0x6c34 0x1f34c 0 ]
    into 11 UTF-8 code units: [ 0x7a 0xc3 0x9f 0xe6 0xb0 0xb4 0xf0 0x9f 0x8d 0x8c 0 ]

### References

- C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

  - 7.29.6.3.3 The wcrtomb function (p: 444)

  - K.3.9.3.1.1 The wcrtomb_s function (p: 647-648)

- C99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):

  - 7.24.6.3.3 The wcrtomb function (p: 390)

### See also

wctomb wctomb_s (C11) | converts a wide character to its multibyte representation (function)
mbrtowc (C95) | converts the next multibyte character to wide character, given state (function)

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