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.TH "al_cstr" "3" "" "Allegro reference manual" ""
.SH NAME
al_cstr \- Allegro 5 API
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IP
.EX
#include \f[B]<allegro5/allegro.h>\f[R]

const char *al_cstr(const ALLEGRO_USTR *us)
.EE
.SH DESCRIPTION
Get a \f[CR]char *\f[R] pointer to the data in a string.
This pointer will only be valid while the ALLEGRO_USTR(3) object is not
modified and not destroyed.
The pointer may be passed to functions expecting C\-style strings, with
the following caveats:
.IP \[bu] 2
ALLEGRO_USTRs are allowed to contain embedded NUL
(\f[CR]\[aq]\[rs]0\[aq]\f[R]) bytes.
That means \f[CR]al_ustr_size(u)\f[R] and \f[CR]strlen(al_cstr(u))\f[R]
may not agree.
.IP \[bu] 2
An ALLEGRO_USTR may be created in such a way that it is not NUL
terminated.
A string which is dynamically allocated will always be NUL terminated,
but a string which references the middle of another string or region of
memory will \f[I]not\f[R] be NUL terminated.
.IP \[bu] 2
If the ALLEGRO_USTR references another string, the returned C string
will point into the referenced string.
Again, no NUL terminator will be added to the referenced string.
.SH SEE ALSO
al_ustr_to_buffer(3), al_cstr_dup(3)