getwchar - Linux

Overview

getwchar() is a library function in C that takes input from a wide-character stream. It reads and returns the next wide character from the stream pointed to by stream.

Syntax

wchar_t getwchar(FILE *stream);

Options/Flags

N/A

Examples

To read a wide character from a file:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>

int main() {
  FILE *fp = fopen("myfile.txt", "r");
  if (fp == NULL) {
    perror("Error opening file");
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }

  wchar_t ch = getwchar(fp);
  if (ch == WEOF) {
    perror("Error reading character");
    fclose(fp);
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }

  printf("Read character: %lc\n", ch);

  fclose(fp);
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Common Issues

• Unicode Characters: getwchar() works with wide characters and the input stream must be encoded accordingly.
• Wide Character Stream: Ensure that the provided stream indeed contains wide characters.

Integration

getwchar() can be used with other C functions for character-based input processing. For example, it can be combined with fputwchar() to read and write wide characters from and to files.

Related Commands

• getchar() – reads a character from a standard input stream.
• fgetc() – reads a character from a file.