'\" t
.\" Copyright, the authors of the Linux man-pages project
.\"
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
.\"
.TH wctype 3 2025-05-17 "Linux man-pages 6.16"
.SH NAME
wctype \- wide-character classification
.SH LIBRARY
Standard C library
.RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <wctype.h>
.P
.BI "wctype_t wctype(const char *" name );
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I wctype_t
type represents a property which a wide character may or
may not have.
In other words, it represents a class of wide characters.
This type's nature is implementation-dependent, but the special value
.I "(wctype_t) 0"
denotes an invalid property.
Nonzero
.I wctype_t
values
can be passed to the
.BR iswctype (3)
function
to actually test whether a given
wide character has the property.
.P
The
.BR wctype ()
function returns a property, given by its name.
The set of
valid names depends on the
.B LC_CTYPE
category of the current locale, but the
following names are valid in all locales.
.IP
.TS
L1 Lx.
"alnum" \-	realizes the \f[B]isalnum\f[](3) classification function
"alpha" \-	realizes the \f[B]isalpha\f[](3) classification function
"blank" \-	realizes the \f[B]isblank\f[](3) classification function
"cntrl" \-	realizes the \f[B]iscntrl\f[](3) classification function
"digit" \-	realizes the \f[B]isdigit\f[](3) classification function
"graph" \-	realizes the \f[B]isgraph\f[](3) classification function
"lower" \-	realizes the \f[B]islower\f[](3) classification function
"print" \-	realizes the \f[B]isprint\f[](3) classification function
"punct" \-	realizes the \f[B]ispunct\f[](3) classification function
"space" \-	realizes the \f[B]isspace\f[](3) classification function
"upper" \-	realizes the \f[B]isupper\f[](3) classification function
"xdigit" \-	realizes the \f[B]isxdigit\f[](3) classification function
.TE
.SH RETURN VALUE
The
.BR wctype ()
function returns a property descriptor
if the
.I name
is valid.
Otherwise, it returns
.IR "(wctype_t) 0" .
.SH ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
.BR attributes (7).
.TS
allbox;
lbx lb lb
l l l.
Interface	Attribute	Value
T{
.na
.nh
.BR wctype ()
T}	Thread safety	MT-Safe locale
.TE
.SH STANDARDS
C11, POSIX.1-2008.
.SH HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001, C99.
.SH NOTES
The behavior of
.BR wctype ()
depends on the
.B LC_CTYPE
category of the
current locale.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR iswctype (3)