This is libc.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.2 from libc.texinfo.

INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU libraries
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Libc: (libc).                 C library.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents the GNU C library.

   This is Edition 0.10, last updated 2001-07-06, of `The GNU C Library
Reference Manual', for Version 2.3.x.

   Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
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"GNU Lesser General Public License", the Front-Cover texts being (a)
(see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts being (b) (see below).  A
copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
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   (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:

   A GNU Manual

   (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:

   You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
software.  Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
funds for GNU development.


File: libc.info,  Node: Classification of Wide Characters,  Next: Using Wide Char Classes,  Prev: Case Conversion,  Up: Character Handling

Character class determination for wide characters
=================================================

   Amendment 1 to ISO C90 defines functions to classify wide
characters.  Although the original ISO C90 standard already defined the
type `wchar_t', no functions operating on them were defined.

   The general design of the classification functions for wide
characters is more general.  It allows extensions to the set of
available classifications, beyond those which are always available.
The POSIX standard specifies how extensions can be made, and this is
already implemented in the GNU C library implementation of the
`localedef' program.

   The character class functions are normally implemented with bitsets,
with a bitset per character.  For a given character, the appropriate
bitset is read from a table and a test is performed as to whether a
certain bit is set.  Which bit is tested for is determined by the class.

   For the wide character classification functions this is made visible.
There is a type classification type defined, a function to retrieve this
value for a given class, and a function to test whether a given
character is in this class, using the classification value.  On top of
this the normal character classification functions as used for `char'
objects can be defined.

 - Data type: wctype_t
     The `wctype_t' can hold a value which represents a character class.
     The only defined way to generate such a value is by using the
     `wctype' function.

     This type is defined in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: wctype_t wctype (const char *PROPERTY)
     The `wctype' returns a value representing a class of wide
     characters which is identified by the string PROPERTY.  Beside
     some standard properties each locale can define its own ones.  In
     case no property with the given name is known for the current
     locale selected for the `LC_CTYPE' category, the function returns
     zero.

     The properties known in every locale are:

     `"alnum"'         `"alpha"'         `"cntrl"'         `"digit"'
     `"graph"'         `"lower"'         `"print"'         `"punct"'
     `"space"'         `"upper"'         `"xdigit"'        

     This function is declared in `wctype.h'.

   To test the membership of a character to one of the non-standard
classes the ISO C standard defines a completely new function.

 - Function: int iswctype (wint_t WC, wctype_t DESC)
     This function returns a nonzero value if WC is in the character
     class specified by DESC.  DESC must previously be returned by a
     successful call to `wctype'.

     This function is declared in `wctype.h'.

   To make it easier to use the commonly-used classification functions,
they are defined in the C library.  There is no need to use `wctype' if
the property string is one of the known character classes.  In some
situations it is desirable to construct the property strings, and then
it is important that `wctype' can also handle the standard classes.

 - Function: int iswalnum (wint_t WC)
     This function returns a nonzero value if WC is an alphanumeric
     character (a letter or number); in other words, if either
     `iswalpha' or `iswdigit' is true of a character, then `iswalnum'
     is also true.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("alnum"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswalpha (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is an alphabetic character (a letter).  If
     `iswlower' or `iswupper' is true of a character, then `iswalpha'
     is also true.

     In some locales, there may be additional characters for which
     `iswalpha' is true--letters which are neither upper case nor lower
     case.  But in the standard `"C"' locale, there are no such
     additional characters.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("alpha"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswcntrl (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a control character (that is, a character
     that is not a printing character).

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("cntrl"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswdigit (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a digit (e.g., `0' through `9').  Please
     note that this function does not only return a nonzero value for
     _decimal_ digits, but for all kinds of digits.  A consequence is
     that code like the following will *not* work unconditionally for
     wide characters:

          n = 0;
          while (iswdigit (*wc))
            {
              n *= 10;
              n += *wc++ - L'0';
            }

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("digit"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswgraph (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a graphic character; that is, a character
     that has a glyph associated with it.  The whitespace characters
     are not considered graphic.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("graph"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswlower (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a lower-case letter.  The letter need not be
     from the Latin alphabet, any alphabet representable is valid.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("lower"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswprint (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a printing character.  Printing characters
     include all the graphic characters, plus the space (` ') character.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("print"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswpunct (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a punctuation character.  This means any
     printing character that is not alphanumeric or a space character.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("punct"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswspace (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a "whitespace" character.  In the standard
     `"C"' locale, `iswspace' returns true for only the standard
     whitespace characters:

    `L' ''
          space

    `L'\f''
          formfeed

    `L'\n''
          newline

    `L'\r''
          carriage return

    `L'\t''
          horizontal tab

    `L'\v''
          vertical tab

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("space"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswupper (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is an upper-case letter.  The letter need not be
     from the Latin alphabet, any alphabet representable is valid.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("upper"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: int iswxdigit (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a hexadecimal digit.  Hexadecimal digits
     include the normal decimal digits `0' through `9' and the letters
     `A' through `F' and `a' through `f'.

     This function can be implemented using

          iswctype (wc, wctype ("xdigit"))

     It is declared in `wctype.h'.

   The GNU C library also provides a function which is not defined in
the ISO C standard but which is available as a version for single byte
characters as well.

 - Function: int iswblank (wint_t WC)
     Returns true if WC is a blank character; that is, a space or a tab.
     This function is a GNU extension.  It is declared in `wchar.h'.


File: libc.info,  Node: Using Wide Char Classes,  Next: Wide Character Case Conversion,  Prev: Classification of Wide Characters,  Up: Character Handling

Notes on using the wide character classes
=========================================

   The first note is probably not astonishing but still occasionally a
cause of problems.  The `iswXXX' functions can be implemented using
macros and in fact, the GNU C library does this.  They are still
available as real functions but when the `wctype.h' header is included
the macros will be used.  This is the same as the `char' type versions
of these functions.

   The second note covers something new.  It can be best illustrated by
a (real-world) example.  The first piece of code is an excerpt from the
original code.  It is truncated a bit but the intention should be clear.

     int
     is_in_class (int c, const char *class)
     {
       if (strcmp (class, "alnum") == 0)
         return isalnum (c);
       if (strcmp (class, "alpha") == 0)
         return isalpha (c);
       if (strcmp (class, "cntrl") == 0)
         return iscntrl (c);
       ...
       return 0;
     }

   Now, with the `wctype' and `iswctype' you can avoid the `if'
cascades, but rewriting the code as follows is wrong:

     int
     is_in_class (int c, const char *class)
     {
       wctype_t desc = wctype (class);
       return desc ? iswctype ((wint_t) c, desc) : 0;
     }

   The problem is that it is not guaranteed that the wide character
representation of a single-byte character can be found using casting.
In fact, usually this fails miserably.  The correct solution to this
problem is to write the code as follows:

     int
     is_in_class (int c, const char *class)
     {
       wctype_t desc = wctype (class);
       return desc ? iswctype (btowc (c), desc) : 0;
     }

   *Note Converting a Character::, for more information on `btowc'.
Note that this change probably does not improve the performance of the
program a lot since the `wctype' function still has to make the string
comparisons.  It gets really interesting if the `is_in_class' function
is called more than once for the same class name.  In this case the
variable DESC could be computed once and reused for all the calls.
Therefore the above form of the function is probably not the final one.


File: libc.info,  Node: Wide Character Case Conversion,  Prev: Using Wide Char Classes,  Up: Character Handling

Mapping of wide characters.
===========================

   The classification functions are also generalized by the ISO C
standard.  Instead of just allowing the two standard mappings, a locale
can contain others.  Again, the `localedef' program already supports
generating such locale data files.

 - Data Type: wctrans_t
     This data type is defined as a scalar type which can hold a value
     representing the locale-dependent character mapping.  There is no
     way to construct such a value apart from using the return value of
     the `wctrans' function.

     This type is defined in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: wctrans_t wctrans (const char *PROPERTY)
     The `wctrans' function has to be used to find out whether a named
     mapping is defined in the current locale selected for the
     `LC_CTYPE' category.  If the returned value is non-zero, you can
     use it afterwards in calls to `towctrans'.  If the return value is
     zero no such mapping is known in the current locale.

     Beside locale-specific mappings there are two mappings which are
     guaranteed to be available in every locale:

     `"tolower"'                        `"toupper"'

     These functions are declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: wint_t towctrans (wint_t WC, wctrans_t DESC)
     `towctrans' maps the input character WC according to the rules of
     the mapping for which DESC is a descriptor, and returns the value
     it finds.  DESC must be obtained by a successful call to `wctrans'.

     This function is declared in `wctype.h'.

   For the generally available mappings, the ISO C standard defines
convenient shortcuts so that it is not necessary to call `wctrans' for
them.

 - Function: wint_t towlower (wint_t WC)
     If WC is an upper-case letter, `towlower' returns the corresponding
     lower-case letter.  If WC is not an upper-case letter, WC is
     returned unchanged.

     `towlower' can be implemented using

          towctrans (wc, wctrans ("tolower"))

     This function is declared in `wctype.h'.

 - Function: wint_t towupper (wint_t WC)
     If WC is a lower-case letter, `towupper' returns the corresponding
     upper-case letter.  Otherwise WC is returned unchanged.

     `towupper' can be implemented using

          towctrans (wc, wctrans ("toupper"))

     This function is declared in `wctype.h'.

   The same warnings given in the last section for the use of the wide
character classification functions apply here.  It is not possible to
simply cast a `char' type value to a `wint_t' and use it as an argument
to `towctrans' calls.


File: libc.info,  Node: String and Array Utilities,  Next: Character Set Handling,  Prev: Character Handling,  Up: Top

String and Array Utilities
**************************

   Operations on strings (or arrays of characters) are an important
part of many programs.  The GNU C library provides an extensive set of
string utility functions, including functions for copying,
concatenating, comparing, and searching strings.  Many of these
functions can also operate on arbitrary regions of storage; for
example, the `memcpy' function can be used to copy the contents of any
kind of array.

   It's fairly common for beginning C programmers to "reinvent the
wheel" by duplicating this functionality in their own code, but it pays
to become familiar with the library functions and to make use of them,
since this offers benefits in maintenance, efficiency, and portability.

   For instance, you could easily compare one string to another in two
lines of C code, but if you use the built-in `strcmp' function, you're
less likely to make a mistake.  And, since these library functions are
typically highly optimized, your program may run faster too.

* Menu:

* Representation of Strings::   Introduction to basic concepts.
* String/Array Conventions::    Whether to use a string function or an
				 arbitrary array function.
* String Length::               Determining the length of a string.
* Copying and Concatenation::   Functions to copy the contents of strings
				 and arrays.
* String/Array Comparison::     Functions for byte-wise and character-wise
				 comparison.
* Collation Functions::         Functions for collating strings.
* Search Functions::            Searching for a specific element or substring.
* Finding Tokens in a String::  Splitting a string into tokens by looking
				 for delimiters.
* strfry::                      Function for flash-cooking a string.
* Trivial Encryption::          Obscuring data.
* Encode Binary Data::          Encoding and Decoding of Binary Data.
* Argz and Envz Vectors::       Null-separated string vectors.


File: libc.info,  Node: Representation of Strings,  Next: String/Array Conventions,  Up: String and Array Utilities

Representation of Strings
=========================

   This section is a quick summary of string concepts for beginning C
programmers.  It describes how character strings are represented in C
and some common pitfalls.  If you are already familiar with this
material, you can skip this section.

   A "string" is an array of `char' objects.  But string-valued
variables are usually declared to be pointers of type `char *'.  Such
variables do not include space for the text of a string; that has to be
stored somewhere else--in an array variable, a string constant, or
dynamically allocated memory (*note Memory Allocation::).  It's up to
you to store the address of the chosen memory space into the pointer
variable.  Alternatively you can store a "null pointer" in the pointer
variable.  The null pointer does not point anywhere, so attempting to
reference the string it points to gets an error.

   "string" normally refers to multibyte character strings as opposed to
wide character strings.  Wide character strings are arrays of type
`wchar_t' and as for multibyte character strings usually pointers of
type `wchar_t *' are used.

   By convention, a "null character", `'\0'', marks the end of a
multibyte character string and the "null wide character", `L'\0'',
marks the end of a wide character string.  For example, in testing to
see whether the `char *' variable P points to a null character marking
the end of a string, you can write `!*P' or `*P == '\0''.

   A null character is quite different conceptually from a null pointer,
although both are represented by the integer `0'.

   "String literals" appear in C program source as strings of
characters between double-quote characters (`"') where the initial
double-quote character is immediately preceded by a capital `L' (ell)
character (as in `L"foo"').  In ISO C, string literals can also be
formed by "string concatenation": `"a" "b"' is the same as `"ab"'.  For
wide character strings one can either use `L"a" L"b"' or `L"a" "b"'.
Modification of string literals is not allowed by the GNU C compiler,
because literals are placed in read-only storage.

   Character arrays that are declared `const' cannot be modified
either.  It's generally good style to declare non-modifiable string
pointers to be of type `const char *', since this often allows the C
compiler to detect accidental modifications as well as providing some
amount of documentation about what your program intends to do with the
string.

   The amount of memory allocated for the character array may extend
past the null character that normally marks the end of the string.  In
this document, the term "allocated size" is always used to refer to the
total amount of memory allocated for the string, while the term
"length" refers to the number of characters up to (but not including)
the terminating null character.

   A notorious source of program bugs is trying to put more characters
in a string than fit in its allocated size.  When writing code that
extends strings or moves characters into a pre-allocated array, you
should be very careful to keep track of the length of the text and make
explicit checks for overflowing the array.  Many of the library
functions _do not_ do this for you!  Remember also that you need to
allocate an extra byte to hold the null character that marks the end of
the string.

   Originally strings were sequences of bytes where each byte
represents a single character.  This is still true today if the strings
are encoded using a single-byte character encoding.  Things are
different if the strings are encoded using a multibyte encoding (for
more information on encodings see *Note Extended Char Intro::).  There
is no difference in the programming interface for these two kind of
strings; the programmer has to be aware of this and interpret the byte
sequences accordingly.

   But since there is no separate interface taking care of these
differences the byte-based string functions are sometimes hard to use.
Since the count parameters of these functions specify bytes a call to
`strncpy' could cut a multibyte character in the middle and put an
incomplete (and therefore unusable) byte sequence in the target buffer.

   To avoid these problems later versions of the ISO C standard
introduce a second set of functions which are operating on "wide
characters" (*note Extended Char Intro::).  These functions don't have
the problems the single-byte versions have since every wide character is
a legal, interpretable value.  This does not mean that cutting wide
character strings at arbitrary points is without problems.  It normally
is for alphabet-based languages (except for non-normalized text) but
languages based on syllables still have the problem that more than one
wide character is necessary to complete a logical unit.  This is a
higher level problem which the C library functions are not designed to
solve.  But it is at least good that no invalid byte sequences can be
created.  Also, the higher level functions can also much easier operate
on wide character than on multibyte characters so that a general advise
is to use wide characters internally whenever text is more than simply
copied.

   The remaining of this chapter will discuss the functions for handling
wide character strings in parallel with the discussion of the multibyte
character strings since there is almost always an exact equivalent
available.


File: libc.info,  Node: String/Array Conventions,  Next: String Length,  Prev: Representation of Strings,  Up: String and Array Utilities

String and Array Conventions
============================

   This chapter describes both functions that work on arbitrary arrays
or blocks of memory, and functions that are specific to null-terminated
arrays of characters and wide characters.

   Functions that operate on arbitrary blocks of memory have names
beginning with `mem' and `wmem' (such as `memcpy' and `wmemcpy') and
invariably take an argument which specifies the size (in bytes and wide
characters respectively) of the block of memory to operate on.  The
array arguments and return values for these functions have type `void
*' or `wchar_t'.  As a matter of style, the elements of the arrays used
with the `mem' functions are referred to as "bytes".  You can pass any
kind of pointer to these functions, and the `sizeof' operator is useful
in computing the value for the size argument.  Parameters to the `wmem'
functions must be of type `wchar_t *'.  These functions are not really
usable with anything but arrays of this type.

   In contrast, functions that operate specifically on strings and wide
character strings have names beginning with `str' and `wcs'
respectively (such as `strcpy' and `wcscpy') and look for a null
character to terminate the string instead of requiring an explicit size
argument to be passed.  (Some of these functions accept a specified
maximum length, but they also check for premature termination with a
null character.)  The array arguments and return values for these
functions have type `char *' and `wchar_t *' respectively, and the
array elements are referred to as "characters" and "wide characters".

   In many cases, there are both `mem' and `str'/`wcs' versions of a
function.  The one that is more appropriate to use depends on the exact
situation.  When your program is manipulating arbitrary arrays or
blocks of storage, then you should always use the `mem' functions.  On
the other hand, when you are manipulating null-terminated strings it is
usually more convenient to use the `str'/`wcs' functions, unless you
already know the length of the string in advance.  The `wmem' functions
should be used for wide character arrays with known size.

   Some of the memory and string functions take single characters as
arguments.  Since a value of type `char' is automatically promoted into
an value of type `int' when used as a parameter, the functions are
declared with `int' as the type of the parameter in question.  In case
of the wide character function the situation is similarly: the
parameter type for a single wide character is `wint_t' and not
`wchar_t'.  This would for many implementations not be necessary since
the `wchar_t' is large enough to not be automatically promoted, but
since the ISO C standard does not require such a choice of types the
`wint_t' type is used.


File: libc.info,  Node: String Length,  Next: Copying and Concatenation,  Prev: String/Array Conventions,  Up: String and Array Utilities

String Length
=============

   You can get the length of a string using the `strlen' function.
This function is declared in the header file `string.h'.

 - Function: size_t strlen (const char *S)
     The `strlen' function returns the length of the null-terminated
     string S in bytes.  (In other words, it returns the offset of the
     terminating null character within the array.)

     For example,
          strlen ("hello, world")
              => 12

     When applied to a character array, the `strlen' function returns
     the length of the string stored there, not its allocated size.
     You can get the allocated size of the character array that holds a
     string using the `sizeof' operator:

          char string[32] = "hello, world";
          sizeof (string)
              => 32
          strlen (string)
              => 12

     But beware, this will not work unless STRING is the character
     array itself, not a pointer to it.  For example:

          char string[32] = "hello, world";
          char *ptr = string;
          sizeof (string)
              => 32
          sizeof (ptr)
              => 4  /* (on a machine with 4 byte pointers) */

     This is an easy mistake to make when you are working with
     functions that take string arguments; those arguments are always
     pointers, not arrays.

     It must also be noted that for multibyte encoded strings the return
     value does not have to correspond to the number of characters in
     the string.  To get this value the string can be converted to wide
     characters and `wcslen' can be used or something like the following
     code can be used:

          /* The input is in `string'.
             The length is expected in `n'.  */
          {
            mbstate_t t;
            char *scopy = string;
            /* In initial state.  */
            memset (&t, '\0', sizeof (t));
            /* Determine number of characters.  */
            n = mbsrtowcs (NULL, &scopy, strlen (scopy), &t);
          }

     This is cumbersome to do so if the number of characters (as
     opposed to bytes) is needed often it is better to work with wide
     characters.

   The wide character equivalent is declared in `wchar.h'.

 - Function: size_t wcslen (const wchar_t *WS)
     The `wcslen' function is the wide character equivalent to
     `strlen'.  The return value is the number of wide characters in the
     wide character string pointed to by WS (this is also the offset of
     the terminating null wide character of WS).

     Since there are no multi wide character sequences making up one
     character the return value is not only the offset in the array, it
     is also the number of wide characters.

     This function was introduced in Amendment 1 to ISO C90.

 - Function: size_t strnlen (const char *S, size_t MAXLEN)
     The `strnlen' function returns the length of the string S in bytes
     if this length is smaller than MAXLEN bytes.  Otherwise it returns
     MAXLEN.  Therefore this function is equivalent to `(strlen (S) < n
     ? strlen (S) : MAXLEN)' but it is more efficient and works even if
     the string S is not null-terminated.

          char string[32] = "hello, world";
          strnlen (string, 32)
              => 12
          strnlen (string, 5)
              => 5

     This function is a GNU extension and is declared in `string.h'.

 - Function: size_t wcsnlen (const wchar_t *WS, size_t MAXLEN)
     `wcsnlen' is the wide character equivalent to `strnlen'.  The
     MAXLEN parameter specifies the maximum number of wide characters.

     This function is a GNU extension and is declared in `wchar.h'.

