NAME

mblen, mblen_l — get number of bytes in a character

LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>

int
mblen(const char *s, size_t n);

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <xlocale.h>

int
mblen_l(const char *s, size_t n, locale_t loc);

DESCRIPTION

The mblen() function computes the length, in bytes, of a multibyte character s, according to the current conversion state. Up to n bytes are examined.

A call with a null s pointer returns nonzero if the current locale requires shift states, zero otherwise. If shift states are required, the shift state is reset to the initial state.

Although the mblen() function uses the current locale, the mblen_l() function may be passed a locale directly. See xlocale(3) for more information.

RETURN VALUES

If s is NULL, the mblen() function returns nonzero if shift states are supported, zero otherwise.

Otherwise, if s is not a null pointer, mblen() either returns 0 if s represents the null wide character, or returns the number of bytes processed in s, or returns -1 if no multibyte character could be recognized or converted. In this case, mblen()'s internal conversion state is undefined.

ERRORS

The mblen() function will fail if:

[EILSEQ]

An invalid multibyte sequence was detected.

[EINVAL]

The internal conversion state is not valid.

SEE ALSO

mbrlen(3), mbtowc(3), multibyte(3), xlocale(3)

STANDARDS

The mblen() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (“ISO C99”).