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std::codecvt_utf16

Defined in header <codecvt> 
template<
    class Elem,
    unsigned long Maxcode = 0x10ffff,
    std::codecvt_mode Mode = (std::codecvt_mode)0 >
class codecvt_utf16
    : public std::codecvt<Elem, char, std::mbstate_t>;
 (since C++11)
(deprecated in C++17)
(removed in C++26)

std::codecvt_utf16 is a std::codecvt facet which encapsulates conversion between a UTF-16 encoded byte string and UCS-2 or UTF-32 character string (depending on the type of Elem). This std::codecvt facet can be used to read and write UTF-16 files in binary mode.

UCS-2 is the same encoding as UTF-16, except that it encodes scalar values in the range U+0000-U+FFFF (Basic Multilingual Plane) only.

 (since C++23)

Template Parameters

Elem - either char16_t, char32_t, or wchar_t
Maxcode - the largest value of Elem that this facet will read or write without error
Mode - a constant of type std::codecvt_mode

Member functions

(constructor)
constructs a new codecvt_utf16 facet
(public member function)
(destructor)
destroys a codecvt_utf16 facet
(public member function)

std::codecvt_utf16::codecvt_utf16

explicit codecvt_utf16( std::size_t refs = 0 );

Constructs a new std::codecvt_utf16 facet, passes the initial reference counter refs to the base class.

Parameters

refs - the number of references that link to the facet

std::codecvt_utf16::~codecvt_utf16

~codecvt_utf16();

Destroys the facet. Unlike the locale-managed facets, this facet's destructor is public.

Inherited from std::codecvt

Member types

Member type Definition
intern_type internT
extern_type externT
state_type stateT

Member objects

Member name Type
id (static) std::locale::id

Member functions

invokes do_out
(public member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
invokes do_in
(public member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
invokes do_unshift
(public member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
invokes do_encoding
(public member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
invokes do_always_noconv
(public member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
invokes do_length
(public member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
invokes do_max_length
(public member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)

Protected member functions

[virtual]
converts a string from InternT to ExternT, such as when writing to file
(virtual protected member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
[virtual]
converts a string from ExternT to InternT, such as when reading from file
(virtual protected member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
[virtual]
generates the termination character sequence of ExternT characters for incomplete conversion
(virtual protected member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
[virtual]
returns the number of ExternT characters necessary to produce one InternT character, if constant
(virtual protected member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
[virtual]
tests if the facet encodes an identity conversion for all valid argument values
(virtual protected member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
[virtual]
calculates the length of the ExternT string that would be consumed by conversion into given InternT buffer
(virtual protected member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)
[virtual]
returns the maximum number of ExternT characters that could be converted into a single InternT character
(virtual protected member function of std::codecvt<InternT,ExternT,StateT>)

Inherited from std::codecvt_base

Member type Definition
enum result { ok, partial, error, noconv }; Unscoped enumeration type
Enumeration constant Definition
ok conversion was completed with no error
partial not all source characters were converted
error encountered an invalid character
noconv no conversion required, input and output types are the same

Notes

Although the standard requires that this facet works with UCS-2 when the size of Elem is 16 bits, some implementations use UTF-16 instead, making this a non-converting locale. The term "UCS-2" was deprecated and removed from ISO 10646.

Since C++23, UCS-2 does not refer to its original definition anymore. It becomes a synonym of UTF-16, but with a smaller encoding range.

Example

The following example demonstrates decoding of UTF-16le file on a system with 32-bit wchar_t. On a system with 16-bit wchar_t, decoding of the third character will fail because std::codecvt_utf16<char16_t> produces UCS-2, not UTF-16.

#include <codecvt>
#include <cwchar>
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <locale>
#include <string>
 
void prepare_file()
{
    // UTF-16le data (if host system is little-endian)
    char16_t utf16le[4] = {0x007a,          // latin small letter 'z' U+007a
                           0x6c34,          // CJK ideograph "water"  U+6c34
                           0xd834, 0xdd0b}; // musical sign segno U+1d10b    
 
    // store in a file
    std::ofstream fout("text.txt");
    fout.write(reinterpret_cast<char*>(utf16le), sizeof utf16le);
}
 
int main()
{
    prepare_file();
    // open as a byte stream
    std::wifstream fin("text.txt", std::ios::binary);
    // apply facet
    fin.imbue(std::locale(fin.getloc(),
        new std::codecvt_utf16<wchar_t, 0x10ffff, std::little_endian>));
 
    wchar_t c = 0;
    for (std::cout << std::showbase << std::hex; fin.get(c);
         std::cout << static_cast<std::wint_t>(c) << '\n');
}

Output:

0x7a
0x6c34
0x1d10b

See also

Character
conversions		 locale-defined multibyte
(UTF-8, GB18030)		 UTF-8
 UTF-16
UTF-16 mbrtoc16 / c16rtomb (with C11's DR488)

codecvt<char16_t,char,mbstate_t>
codecvt_utf8_utf16<char16_t>
codecvt_utf8_utf16<char32_t>
codecvt_utf8_utf16<wchar_t>

 N/A
UCS-2 c16rtomb (without C11's DR488) codecvt_utf8<char16_t> codecvt_utf16<char16_t>
UTF-32

mbrtoc32 / c32rtomb

codecvt<char32_t,char,mbstate_t>
codecvt_utf8<char32_t>

codecvt_utf16<char32_t>
system wchar_t:

UTF-32 (non-Windows)
UCS-2 (Windows)

mbsrtowcs / wcsrtombs
use_facet<codecvt
<wchar_t,char,mbstate_t>>(locale)

 codecvt_utf8<wchar_t> codecvt_utf16<wchar_t>
converts between character encodings, including UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32
(class template)
(C++11)(deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++26)
tags to alter behavior of the standard codecvt facets
(enum)
(C++11)(deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++26)
converts between UTF-8 and UCS-2/UCS-4
(class template)
(C++11)(deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++26)
converts between UTF-8 and UTF-16
(class template)

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