How to convert std::wstring to a TCHAR*?

Question

How to convert a std::wstring to a TCHAR*? std::wstring.c_str() does not work since it returns a wchar_t*.

How do I get from wchar_t* to TCHAR*, or from std::wstring to TCHAR*?

Please keep in mind that this is possible only if wstring contains only ANSI characters. Do not expect the result of the suggested solution to be a correct string at all times. In fact, if you have to do it, it probably means there's something wrong. See my answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1049947/should-utf-16-be-considered-harmful/1855375#1855375 on how I believe this situation should be handled, by avoidance of TCHAR completely. — Pavel Radzivilovsky, Dec 13 '09 at 06:25

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 03 '16 at 16:55

6

use this :

wstring str1(L"Hello world");
TCHAR * v1 = (wchar_t *)str1.c_str();

answered Jan 03 '16 at 16:55

SaeidMo7

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error C2440: 'initializing' : cannot convert from 'wchar_t *' to 'TCHAR *' – Deqing May 24 '16 at 00:44
Works perfectly. Thank you. – W.M. Aug 30 '16 at 17:39

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 03 '09 at 21:41

4

#include <atlconv.h>

TCHAR *dst = W2T(src.c_str());

Will do the right thing in ANSI or Unicode builds.

answered Dec 03 '09 at 21:41

Ferruccio

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And you need `USES_CONVERSION;` in front of `W2T` otherwise it will complain: "error C2065: '_lpw' : undeclared identifier" etc. – Deqing May 24 '16 at 00:48

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 03 '09 at 19:59

TCHAR* is defined to be wchar_t* if UNICODE is defined, otherwise it's char*. So your code might look something like this:

wchar_t* src;
TCHAR* result;
#ifdef UNICODE
result = src;
#else
//I think W2A is defined in atlbase.h, and it returns a stack-allocated var.
//If that's not OK, look at the documenation for wcstombs.
result = W2A(src);
#endif

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 16 '10 at 17:19

in general this is not possible since wchar_t may not be the same size as TCHAR.

several solutions are already listed for converting between character sets. these can work if the character sets overlap for the range being converted.

I prefer to sidestep the issue entirely wherever possible and use a standard string that is defined on the TCHAR character set as follows:

typedef std::basic_string<TCHAR> tstring;

using this you now have a standard library compatible string that is also compatible with the windows TCHAR macro.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 03 '09 at 20:09

1

You can use:

wstring ws = L"Testing123";
string s(ws.begin(), ws.end());
// s.c_str() is what you're after

answered Dec 03 '09 at 20:09

rmn

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 03 '09 at 20:00

Assuming that you are operating on Windows.

If you are in Unicode build configuration, then TCHAR and wchar_t are the same thing. You might need a cast depending on whether you have /Z set for wchar_t is a type versus wchar_t is a typedef.

If you are in a multibyte build configuration, you need MultiByteToWideChar (and vica versa).

How to convert std::wstring to a TCHAR*?

6 Answers6

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