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Groups > comp.lang.c > #75977

Re: Is wchar_t really useful?

From Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: Is wchar_t really useful?
Date 2015-11-13 16:01 -0600
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <n25mg4$35d$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References (2 earlier) <n227bt$q5b$1@solani.org> <n229li$hvg$1@dont-email.me> <n22c4n$bjr$1@solani.org> <n22ekd$7og$1@dont-email.me> <n252vq$4jg$1@solani.org>

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On 13-Nov-15 10:26, Philipp Klaus Krause wrote:
> On 12.11.2015 17:29, James Kuyper wrote:
>> On 11/12/2015 10:44 AM, Philipp Klaus Krause wrote:
>>> 1) AFAIK, Windows compilers tend to use a 16-bit wchar_t, and
>>> assume sequences of wchar_t to be UTF-16-encoded. Thus there are
>>> characters that don't fit into a wchar_t. How do these
>>> implementations get around the sandard requirement?
>> 
>> I've no idea - possibly by not conforming to the requirements?
> 
> So there are no standard-conforming C implementations targeting
> Windows? Microsoft documetnation, e.g. 
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/de-de/library/yeby3zcb.aspx explicitly
> says that wchar_t uses UTF-8.

The English version says that wchar_t is UTF-16, not UTF-8:

"When a file is opened in Unicode mode, input functions translate the
data that's read from the file into UTF-16 data stored as type wchar_t.
Functions that write to a file opened in Unicode mode expect buffers
that contain UTF-16 data stored as type wchar_t."

There is a (new) flag that lets you specify a _file_ is UTF-8 rather
than UTF-16, but that just converts to/from UTF-16 on read/write; it
doesn't change the representation of wchar_t itself.

> But that means there are characters that do not fit into a single
> wchar_t, which seems to violate the standard requirements.

Yes, this has been a longstanding problem on Windows and why most
Windows software breaks when it encounters non-BMP characters.

S

-- 
Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

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Thread

Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-09 12:02 +0100
  Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-11-09 03:24 -0800
    Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-10 18:33 -0600
      Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-11 13:56 +1300
  Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-09 09:03 -0500
    Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-12 15:22 +0100
      Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-12 10:04 -0500
        Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-12 16:44 +0100
          Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-12 11:29 -0500
            Re: Is wchar_t really useful? supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-12 09:14 -0800
              Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-11-14 11:50 -0800
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-15 13:44 -0800
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-15 22:50 +0100
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-15 14:46 -0800
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2015-11-17 22:34 +0000
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-11-16 07:25 -0800
            Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-13 17:26 +0100
              Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-13 13:36 -0500
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-13 16:37 -0600
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-13 17:58 -0500
              Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-13 16:01 -0600
                Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-13 23:36 +0100
    Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-12 15:28 +0100
      Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-12 10:26 -0500
    Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-12 14:27 -0600
  Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Lőrinczy Zsigmond <nospam@for.me> - 2015-11-13 05:02 +0100
    Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-13 11:52 +0100
      Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-11-13 05:17 -0800
        Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-13 12:58 -0600
        Re: Is wchar_t really useful? supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-11-13 11:14 -0800
    Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-13 12:45 -0600
  Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-13 18:24 +0100
    Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-13 13:55 -0500
      Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-11-13 20:39 +0100
        Re: Is wchar_t really useful? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-11-13 14:54 -0500
        Re: Is wchar_t really useful? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-11-13 17:04 -0600

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