fgetwc(3) Library Functions Manual fgetwc(3)
NAME
fgetwc, getwc - read a wide character from a FILE stream
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
wint_t fgetwc(FILE *stream);
wint_t getwc(FILE *stream);
DESCRIPTION
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).
RETURN VALUE
On success, fgetwc() returns the next wide-character from the stream.
Otherwise, WEOF is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
Apart from the usual ones, there is
EILSEQ The data obtained from the input stream does not form a valid
character.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
┌────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
│ Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
│ fgetwc(), getwc() │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘
STANDARDS
C11, POSIX.1-2008.
HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001, C99.
NOTES
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 se-
quence from the stream and then convert it to a wide character.
SEE ALSO
fgetws(3), fputwc(3), ungetwc(3), unlocked_stdio(3)
Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-05-02 fgetwc(3)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:01:26 CET 2025.