fgetwc(3) Library Functions Manual fgetwc(3)

fgetwc, getwc - read a wide character from a FILE stream

Standard C library (libc, -lc)

#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
wint_t fgetwc(FILE *stream);
wint_t getwc(FILE *stream);

The fgetwc() function is the wide-character equivalent of the fgetc(3) function. It reads a wide character from stream and returns it. If the end of stream is reached, or if ferror(stream) becomes true, it returns WEOF. If a wide-character conversion error occurs, it sets errno to EILSEQ and returns WEOF.

The getwc() function or macro functions identically to fgetwc(). It may be implemented as a macro, and may evaluate its argument more than once. There is no reason ever to use it.

For nonlocking counterparts, see unlocked_stdio(3).

On success, fgetwc() returns the next wide-character from the stream. Otherwise, WEOF is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

Apart from the usual ones, there is

The data obtained from the input stream does not form a valid character.

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

Interface Attribute Value
fgetwc (), getwc () Thread safety MT-Safe

C11, POSIX.1-2008.

POSIX.1-2001, C99.

The behavior of fgetwc() depends on the LC_CTYPE category of the current locale.

In the absence of additional information passed to the fopen(3) call, it is reasonable to expect that fgetwc() will actually read a multibyte sequence from the stream and then convert it to a wide character.

fgetws(3), fputwc(3), ungetwc(3), unlocked_stdio(3)

2023-10-31 Linux man-pages 6.7