Initial Steps for Unicode-enabling Microsoft C/C++ Source
- Define _UNICODE, undefine _MBCS if defined.
- Convert literal strings to use L or _T
- Convert string functions to use Wide or TCHAR versions.
- Clarify string lengths in API as byte or character counts. For character-based display or printing (as opposed to GUI which is pixel-based) use column counts, not byte or character.
- Replace character pointer arithmetic with GetNext style, as characters may consist of more than one Unicode code unit.
- Watch buffer size and buffer overflows- changing encodings may require either larger buffers or limiting string lengths. If character size changes from 1 byte to as many as 4 bytes, and string length was formerly 20 characters and 20 bytes, either expand the string buffer(s) from 20 to 80 bytes or limit the string to 5 characters (and therefore 20 bytes). Note maximum buffer expansion may be constrained (for example to 65 KB). Reducing string length to a fixed number of characters may break existing applications. Limiting strings to a fixed byte length is dangerous. For example, allowing any string that fits into 20 bytes. Simple operations such as uppercasing a string may cause it to grow and exceed the byte length.
- Replace functions that accept or return arguments of a single character, with functions that use strings instead. (International) Operations on a single character may result in more than one code point being returned. For example, upper('ß') returns "SS".
- Use wmain instead of main. The environment variable is then _wenviron instead of _environ.
wmain( int argc, wchar_t *argv[ ], wchar_t *envp[ ] ). - MFC Unicode applications use wWinMain as the entry point.
In the Output page of the Linker folder in the project's Property Pages dialog box, set the Entry Point symbol to wWinMainCRTStartup. - Consider fonts. Identify the fonts that will render each language or script used.
File I/O, Database, Transfer Protocol Considerations
- Consider whether to read/write UTF-8 or UTF-16 in files, databases, and for data exchange.
- Consider Endian-ness in UTF-16 files.
Read/Write Big-Endian on networks. Use Big-Endian if you don't produce a BOM.
Endian-ness of files will depend on the file format and/or the architecture of the source or target machine.
When reading files encoded in UTF-16 or UTF-32, be prepared to swap-bytes to convert endian-ness.
Also consider streams and transfer protocols and the encoding used in each. - Label files or protocols for data exchange with the correct character encoding. E.g. set HTTP, HTML, XML to UTF-8 or UTF-16.
- Consider Unicode BOM (Byte Order Marker) and whether it should be written with data. Remove it when reading data.
- Consider encoding conversion of legacy data and files, import and export, transfer protocols. (MultiByteToWideChar, WideCharToMultiByte, mbtowc, wctomb, wctombs, mbstowcs )
- Consider writing to the Clipboard-
use CF_TEXT format and write native character encoding (ANSI) text, and
use CF_UNICODETEXT format and write Unicode text. - Database applications should consider Data Type (NCHAR, NVARCHAR) and Schema Changes, Triggers, Stored Procedures, and Queries. Data Storage growth, Indexes and Performance.
Note that the Unicode schema changes will have different impacts and concerns on different vendors' databases. If database portability is a requirement, the features and behaviors of each database need to be taken into account.
(I know this item is seriously understated. To be expanded sometime in the future.)
Stream I/O
Streams are difficult in Microsoft C++. You may run into 3 types of problems:
- Unicode filenames are not supported. The workaround is to use FILE * _wfopen and if needed, use the FILE handle in subsequent stream I/O.
std::ifstream stm(_wfopen(pFilename, L"r"));
- Stream I/O will convert Unicode data from/to native (ANSI) code page on read/write, not UTF-8 or UTF-16. However the stream class can be modified to read/write UTF-8. You can implement a facet to convert between Unicode and UTF-8.
codecvt <wchar_t, char_traits <wchar_t> >
- To read/write UTF-16 with stream I/O, use binary opens and binary I/O. To set binary I/O:
_setmode( _fileno( stdin ), _O_BINARY );
Also see the Microsoft run-time library reference: "Unicode Stream I/O in Text and Binary Modes".
Note: There aren't TCHAR equivalents for cout/wcout, cin/wcin, etc. You may want to make your own preprocessor definition for "tout", if you are compiling code both ways.
Internationalization, Advanced Unicode, Platform and Other Considerations
- Consider using locale-based routines and further internationalization.
- For Windows 95, 98 and ME, consider using the Microsoft MSLU (Microsoft Layer for Unicode)
- Consider string compares and sorting, Unicode Collation Algorithm
- Consider Unicode Normalization
- Consider Character Folding
Reconsider doing this on your own. Bring in an experienced Unicode consultant, and deploy your existing resources on the tasks they do best. (Hey, an I18nGuy's gotta earn a living...)
Unicode BOM Encoding Values
| The Byte Order Marker (BOM) is Unicode character U+FEFF. (It can also represent a Zero Width No-break Space.) The code point U+FFFE is illegal in Unicode, and should never appear in a Unicode character stream. Therefore the BOM can be used in the first character of a file (or more generally a string), as an indicator of endian-ness. With UTF-16, if the first character is read as bytes FE FF then the text has the same endian-ness as the machine reading it. If the character is read as bytes FF FE, then the endian-ness is reversed and all 16-bit words should be byte-swapped as they are read-in. In the same way, the BOM indicates the endian-ness of text encoded with UTF-32. Note that not all files start with a BOM however. In fact, the Unicode Standard says that text that does not begin with a BOM MUST be interpreted in big-endian form. The character U+FEFF also serves as an encoding signature for the Unicode Encoding Forms. The table shows the encoding of U+FEFF in each of the Unicode encoding forms. Note that by definition, text labeled as UTF-16BE, UTF-32BE, UTF-32LE or UTF-16LE should not have a BOM. The endian-ness is indicated in the label. For text that is compressed with the SCSU (Standard Compression Scheme for Unicode) algorithm, there is also a recommended signature. |
Constant and Global Variables
ANSI | Wide | TCHAR |
---|---|---|
EOF | WEOF | _TEOF |
_environ | _wenviron | _tenviron |
_pgmptr | _wpgmptr | _tpgmptr |
Data Types
ANSI | Wide | TCHAR |
---|---|---|
char | wchar_t | _TCHAR |
_finddata_t | _wfinddata_t | _tfinddata_t |
__finddata64_t | __wfinddata64_t | _tfinddata64_t |
_finddatai64_t | _wfinddatai64_t | _tfinddatai64_t |
int | wint_t | _TINT |
signed char | wchar_t | _TSCHAR |
unsigned char | wchar_t | _TUCHAR |
char | wchar_t | _TXCHAR |
L | _T or _TEXT | |
LPSTR (char *) | LPWSTR (wchar_t *) | LPTSTR (_TCHAR *) |
LPCSTR (const char *) | LPCWSTR (const wchar_t *) | LPCTSTR (const _TCHAR *) |
LPOLESTR (For OLE) | LPWSTR | LPTSTR |
Platform SDK String Functions
There are many Windows API that compile into ANSI or Wide forms, depending on whether the symbol UNICODE is defined. Modules that operate on both ANSI and Wide characters, need to be aware of this. Otherwise, using the Character Data Type-independent name requires no changes, just compile with the symbol UNICODE defined.
The following list is by no means all of the Character Data Type-dependent API, just some character and string related ones. Look in WinNLS.h for some code page and locale related API.
ANSI | Wide | Character Data Type- Independent Name |
---|---|---|
CharLowerA | CharLowerW | CharLower |
CharLowerBuffA | CharLowerBuffW | CharLowerBuff |
CharNextA | CharNextW | CharNext |
CharNextExA | CharNextExW | CharNextEx |
CharPrevA | CharPrevW | CharPrev |
CharPrevExA | CharPrevExW | CharPrevEx |
CharToOemA | CharToOemW | CharToOem |
CharToOemBuffA | CharToOemBuffW | CharToOemBuff |
CharUpperA | CharUpperW | CharUpper |
CharUpperBuffA | CharUpperBuffW | CharUpperBuff |
CompareStringA | CompareStringW | CompareString |
FoldStringA | FoldStringW | FoldString |
GetStringTypeA | GetStringTypeW | GetStringType |
GetStringTypeExA | GetStringTypeExW | GetStringTypeEx |
IsCharAlphaA | IsCharAlphaW | IsCharAlpha |
IsCharAlphaNumericA | IsCharAlphaNumericW | IsCharAlphaNumeric |
IsCharLowerA | IsCharLowerW | IsCharLower |
IsCharUpperA | IsCharUpperW | IsCharUpper |
LoadStringA | LoadStringW | LoadString |
lstrcatA | lstrcatW | lstrcat |
lstrcmpA | lstrcmpW | lstrcmp |
lstrcmpiA | lstrcmpiW | lstrcmpi |
lstrcpyA | lstrcpyW | lstrcpy |
lstrcpynA | lstrcpynW | lstrcpyn |
lstrlenA | lstrlenW | lstrlen |
OemToCharA | OemToCharW | OemToChar |
OemToCharBuffA | OemToCharBuffW | OemToCharBuff |
wsprintfA | wsprintfW | wsprintf |
wvsprintfA | wvsprintfW | wvsprintf |
TCHAR String Functions
Functions sorted by ANSI name, for ease of converting to Unicode.
ANSI | Wide | TCHAR |
---|---|---|
_access | _waccess | _taccess |
_atoi64 | _wtoi64 | _tstoi64 |
_atoi64 | _wtoi64 | _ttoi64 |
_cgets | _cgetws | cgetts |
_chdir | _wchdir | _tchdir |
_chmod | _wchmod | _tchmod |
_cprintf | _cwprintf | _tcprintf |
_cputs | _cputws | _cputts |
_creat | _wcreat | _tcreat |
_cscanf | _cwscanf | _tcscanf |
_ctime64 | _wctime64 | _tctime64 |
_execl | _wexecl | _texecl |
_execle | _wexecle | _texecle |
_execlp | _wexeclp | _texeclp |
_execlpe | _wexeclpe | _texeclpe |
_execv | _wexecv | _texecv |
_execve | _wexecve | _texecve |
_execvp | _wexecvp | _texecvp |
_execvpe | _wexecvpe | _texecvpe |
_fdopen | _wfdopen | _tfdopen |
_fgetchar | _fgetwchar | _fgettchar |
_findfirst | _wfindfirst | _tfindfirst |
_findnext64 | _wfindnext64 | _tfindnext64 |
_findnext | _wfindnext | _tfindnext |
_findnexti64 | _wfindnexti64 | _tfindnexti64 |
_fputchar | _fputwchar | _fputtchar |
_fsopen | _wfsopen | _tfsopen |
_fullpath | _wfullpath | _tfullpath |
_getch | _getwch | _gettch |
_getche | _getwche | _gettche |
_getcwd | _wgetcwd | _tgetcwd |
_getdcwd | _wgetdcwd | _tgetdcwd |
_ltoa | _ltow | _ltot |
_makepath | _wmakepath | _tmakepath |
_mkdir | _wmkdir | _tmkdir |
_mktemp | _wmktemp | _tmktemp |
_open | _wopen | _topen |
_popen | _wpopen | _tpopen |
_putch | _putwch | _puttch |
_putenv | _wputenv | _tputenv |
_rmdir | _wrmdir | _trmdir |
_scprintf | _scwprintf | _sctprintf |
_searchenv | _wsearchenv | _tsearchenv |
_snprintf | _snwprintf | _sntprintf |
_snscanf | _snwscanf | _sntscanf |
_sopen | _wsopen | _tsopen |
_spawnl | _wspawnl | _tspawnl |
_spawnle | _wspawnle | _tspawnle |
_spawnlp | _wspawnlp | _tspawnlp |
_spawnlpe | _wspawnlpe | _tspawnlpe |
_spawnv | _wspawnv | _tspawnv |
_spawnve | _wspawnve | _tspawnve |
_spawnvp | _wspawnvp | _tspawnvp |
_spawnvpe | _wspawnvpe | _tspawnvpe |
_splitpath | _wsplitpath | _tsplitpath |
_stat64 | _wstat64 | _tstat64 |
_stat | _wstat | _tstat |
_stati64 | _wstati64 | _tstati64 |
_strdate | _wstrdate | _tstrdate |
_strdec | _wcsdec | _tcsdec |
_strdup | _wcsdup | _tcsdup |
_stricmp | _wcsicmp | _tcsicmp |
_stricoll | _wcsicoll | _tcsicoll |
_strinc | _wcsinc | _tcsinc |
_strlwr | _wcslwr | _tcslwr |
_strncnt | _wcsncnt | _tcsnbcnt |
_strncnt | _wcsncnt | _tcsnccnt |
_strncnt | _wcsncnt | _tcsnccnt |
_strncoll | _wcsncoll | _tcsnccoll |
_strnextc | _wcsnextc | _tcsnextc |
_strnicmp | _wcsnicmp | _tcsncicmp |
_strnicmp | _wcsnicmp | _tcsnicmp |
_strnicoll | _wcsnicoll | _tcsncicoll |
_strnicoll | _wcsnicoll | _tcsnicoll |
_strninc | _wcsninc | _tcsninc |
_strnset | _wcsnset | _tcsncset |
_strnset | _wcsnset | _tcsnset |
_strrev | _wcsrev | _tcsrev |
_strset | _wcsset | _tcsset |
_strspnp | _wcsspnp | _tcsspnp |
_strtime | _wstrtime | _tstrtime |
_strtoi64 | _wcstoi64 | _tcstoi64 |
_strtoui64 | _wcstoui64 | _tcstoui64 |
_strupr | _wcsupr | _tcsupr |
_tempnam | _wtempnam | _ttempnam |
_ui64toa | _ui64tow | _ui64tot |
_ultoa | _ultow | _ultot |
_ungetch | _ungetwch | _ungettch |
_unlink | _wunlink | _tunlink |
_utime64 | _wutime64 | _tutime64 |
_utime | _wutime | _tutime |
_vscprintf | _vscwprintf | _vsctprintf |
_vsnprintf | _vsnwprintf | _vsntprintf |
asctime | _wasctime | _tasctime |
atof | _wtof | _tstof |
atoi | _wtoi | _tstoi |
atoi | _wtoi | _ttoi |
atol | _wtol | _tstol |
atol | _wtol | _ttol |
character compare | Maps to macro or inline function | _tccmp |
character copy | Maps to macro or inline function | _tccpy |
character length | Maps to macro or inline function | _tclen |
ctime | _wctime | _tctime |
fgetc | fgetwc | _fgettc |
fgets | fgetws | _fgetts |
fopen | _wfopen | _tfopen |
fprintf | fwprintf | _ftprintf |
fputc | fputwc | _fputtc |
fputs | fputws | _fputts |
freopen | _wfreopen | _tfreopen |
fscanf | fwscanf | _ftscanf |
getc | getwc | _gettc |
getchar | getwchar | _gettchar |
getenv | _wgetenv | _tgetenv |
gets | getws | _getts |
isalnum | iswalnum | _istalnum |
isalpha | iswalpha | _istalpha |
isascii | iswascii | _istascii |
iscntrl | iswcntrl | _istcntrl |
isdigit | iswdigit | _istdigit |
isgraph | iswgraph | _istgraph |
islead (Always FALSE) | (Always FALSE) | _istlead |
isleadbyte (Always FALSE) | isleadbyte (Always FALSE) | _istleadbyte |
islegal (Always TRUE) | (Always TRUE) | _istlegal |
islower | iswlower | _istlower |
isprint | iswprint | _istprint |
ispunct | iswpunct | _istpunct |
isspace | iswspace | _istspace |
isupper | iswupper | _istupper |
isxdigit | iswxdigit | _istxdigit |
main | wmain | _tmain |
perror | _wperror | _tperror |
printf | wprintf | _tprintf |
putc | putwc | _puttc |
putchar | putwchar | _puttchar |
puts | _putws | _putts |
remove | _wremove | _tremove |
rename | _wrename | _trename |
scanf | wscanf | _tscanf |
setlocale | _wsetlocale | _tsetlocale |
sprintf | swprintf | _stprintf |
sscanf | swscanf | _stscanf |
strcat | wcscat | _tcscat |
strchr | wcschr | _tcschr |
strcmp | wcscmp | _tcscmp |
strcoll | wcscoll | _tcscoll |
strcpy | wcscpy | _tcscpy |
strcspn | wcscspn | _tcscspn |
strerror | _wcserror | _tcserror |
strftime | wcsftime | _tcsftime |
strlen | wcslen | _tcsclen |
strlen | wcslen | _tcslen |
strncat | wcsncat | _tcsncat |
strncat | wcsncat | _tcsnccat |
strncmp | wcsncmp | _tcsnccmp |
strncmp | wcsncmp | _tcsncmp |
strncpy | wcsncpy | _tcsnccpy |
strncpy | wcsncpy | _tcsncpy |
strpbrk | wcspbrk | _tcspbrk |
strrchr | wcsrchr | _tcsrchr |
strspn | wcsspn | _tcsspn |
strstr | wcsstr | _tcsstr |
strtod | wcstod | _tcstod |
strtok | wcstok | _tcstok |
strtol | wcstol | _tcstol |
strtoul | wcstoul | _tcstoul |
strxfrm | wcsxfrm | _tcsxfrm |
system | _wsystem | _tsystem |
tmpnam | _wtmpnam | _ttmpnam |
tolower | towlower | _totlower |
toupper | towupper | _totupper |
ungetc | ungetwc | _ungettc |
vfprintf | vfwprintf | _vftprintf |
vprintf | vwprintf | _vtprintf |
vsprintf | vswprintf | _vstprintf |
WinMain | wWinMain | _tWinMain |
UTF8-CPP: UTF-8 with C++ in a Portable Way
Table of Contents
Introduction
Many C++ developers miss an easy and portable way of handling Unicode encoded strings. C++ Standard is currently Unicode agnostic, and while some work is being done to introduce Unicode to the next incarnation called C++0x, for the moment nothing of the sort is available. In the meantime, developers use 3rd party libraries like ICU, OS specific capabilities, or simply roll out their own solutions.
In order to easily handle UTF-8 encoded Unicode strings, I have come up with a small generic library. For anybody used to work with STL algorithms and iterators, it should be easy and natural to use. The code is freely available for any purpose - check out the license at the beginning of the utf8.h file. If you run into bugs or performance issues, please let me know and I'll do my best to address them.
The purpose of this article is not to offer an introduction to Unicode in general, and UTF-8 in particular. If you are not familiar with Unicode, be sure to check out Unicode Home Page or some other source of information for Unicode. Also, it is not my aim to advocate the use of UTF-8 encoded strings in C++ programs; if you want to handle UTF-8 encoded strings from C++, I am sure you have good reasons for it.
Examples of use
To illustrate the use of this utf8 library, we shall open a file containing UTF-8 encoded text, check whether it starts with a byte order mark, read each line into a std::string
, check it for validity, convert the text to UTF-16, and back to UTF-8:
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include "utf8.h"
using namespace std;
int main()
{
if (argc != 2) {
cout << "/nUsage: docsample filename/n";
return 0;
}
const char* test_file_path = argv[1];
// Open the test file (must be UTF-8 encoded)
ifstream fs8(test_file_path);
if (!fs8.is_open()) {
cout << "Could not open " << test_file_path << endl;
return 0;
}
// Read the first line of the file
unsigned line_count = 1;
string line;
if (!getline(fs8, line))
return 0;
// Look for utf-8 byte-order mark at the beginning
if (line.size() > 2) {
if (utf8::is_bom(line.c_str()))
cout << "There is a byte order mark at the beginning of the file/n";
}
// Play with all the lines in the file
do {
// check for invalid utf-8 (for a simple yes/no check, there is also utf8::is_valid function)
string::iterator end_it = utf8::find_invalid(line.begin(), line.end());
if (end_it != line.end()) {
cout << "Invalid UTF-8 encoding detected at line " << line_count << "/n";
cout << "This part is fine: " << string(line.begin(), end_it) << "/n";
}
// Get the line length (at least for the valid part)
int length = utf8::distance(line.begin(), end_it);
cout << "Length of line " << line_count << " is " << length << "/n";
// Convert it to utf-16
vector<unsigned short> utf16line;
utf8::utf8to16(line.begin(), end_it, back_inserter(utf16line));
// And back to utf-8
string utf8line;
utf8::utf16to8(utf16line.begin(), utf16line.end(), back_inserter(utf8line));
// Confirm that the conversion went OK:
if (utf8line != string(line.begin(), end_it))
cout << "Error in UTF-16 conversion at line: " << line_count << "/n";
getline(fs8, line);
line_count++;
} while (!fs8.eof());
return 0;
}
In the previous code sample, we have seen the use of the following functions from utf8
namespace: first we used is_bom
function to detect UTF-8 byte order mark at the beginning of the file; then for each line we performed a detection of invalid UTF-8 sequences with find_invalid
; the number of characters (more precisely - the number of Unicode code points) in each line was determined with a use of utf8::distance
; finally, we have converted each line to UTF-16 encoding with utf8to16
and back to UTF-8 with utf16to8
.
Reference
Functions From utf8 Namespace
utf8::append
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Encodes a 32 bit code point as a UTF-8 sequence of octets and appends the sequence to a UTF-8 string.
template <typename octet_iterator> octet_iterator append(uint32_t cp, octet_iterator result);
cp
: A 32 bit integer representing a code point to append to the sequence.result
: An output iterator to the place in the sequence where to append the code point.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the newly appended sequence.
Example of use:
unsigned char u[5] = {0,0,0,0,0}; unsigned char* end = append(0x0448, u); assert (u[0] == 0xd1 && u[1] == 0x88 && u[2] == 0 && u[3] == 0 && u[4] == 0);
Note that append
does not allocate any memory - it is the burden of the caller to make sure there is enough memory allocated for the operation. To make things more interesting, append
can add anywhere between 1 and 4 octets to the sequence. In practice, you would most often want to use std::back_inserter
to ensure that the necessary memory is allocated.
In case of an invalid code point, a utf8::invalid_code_point
exception is thrown.
utf8::next
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Given the iterator to the beginning of the UTF-8 sequence, it returns the code point and moves the iterator to the next position.
template <typename octet_iterator> uint32_t next(octet_iterator& it, octet_iterator end);
it
: a reference to an iterator pointing to the beginning of an UTF-8 encoded code point. After the function returns, it is incremented to point to the beginning of the next code point.end
: end of the UTF-8 sequence to be processed. If it
gets equal to end
during the extraction of a code point, an utf8::not_enough_room
exception is thrown.
Return value: the 32 bit representation of the processed UTF-8 code point.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; char* w = twochars; int cp = next(w, twochars + 6); assert (cp == 0x65e5); assert (w == twochars + 3);
This function is typically used to iterate through a UTF-8 encoded string.
In case of an invalid UTF-8 seqence, a utf8::invalid_utf8
exception is thrown.
utf8::prior
Available in version 1.02 and later.
Given a reference to an iterator pointing to an octet in a UTF-8 seqence, it decreases the iterator until it hits the beginning of the previous UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the 32 bits representation of the code point.
template <typename octet_iterator> uint32_t prior(octet_iterator& it, octet_iterator start);
it
: a reference pointing to an octet within a UTF-8 encoded string. After the function returns, it is decremented to point to the beginning of the previous code point.start
: an iterator to the beginning of the sequence where the search for the beginning of a code point is performed. It is a safety measure to prevent passing the beginning of the string in the search for a UTF-8 lead octet.
Return value: the 32 bit representation of the previous code point.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; unsigned char* w = twochars + 3; int cp = prior (w, twochars); assert (cp == 0x65e5); assert (w == twochars);
This function has two purposes: one is two iterate backwards through a UTF-8 encoded string. Note that it is usually a better idea to iterate forward instead, since utf8::next
is faster. The second purpose is to find a beginning of a UTF-8 sequence if we have a random position within a string.
it
will typically point to the beginning of a code point, and start
will point to the beginning of the string to ensure we don't go backwards too far. it
is decreased until it points to a lead UTF-8 octet, and then the UTF-8 sequence beginning with that octet is decoded to a 32 bit representation and returned.
In case pass_end
is reached before a UTF-8 lead octet is hit, or if an invalid UTF-8 sequence is started by the lead octet, an invalid_utf8
exception is thrown.
utf8::previous
Deprecated in version 1.02 and later.
Given a reference to an iterator pointing to an octet in a UTF-8 seqence, it decreases the iterator until it hits the beginning of the previous UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the 32 bits representation of the code point.
template <typename octet_iterator> uint32_t previous(octet_iterator& it, octet_iterator pass_start);
it
: a reference pointing to an octet within a UTF-8 encoded string. After the function returns, it is decremented to point to the beginning of the previous code point.pass_start
: an iterator to the point in the sequence where the search for the beginning of a code point is aborted if no result was reached. It is a safety measure to prevent passing the beginning of the string in the search for a UTF-8 lead octet.
Return value: the 32 bit representation of the previous code point.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; unsigned char* w = twochars + 3; int cp = previous (w, twochars - 1); assert (cp == 0x65e5); assert (w == twochars);
utf8::previous
is deprecated, and utf8::prior
should be used instead, although the existing code can continue using this function. The problem is the parameter pass_start
that points to the position just before the beginning of the sequence. Standard containers don't have the concept of "pass start" and the function can not be used with their iterators.
it
will typically point to the beginning of a code point, and pass_start
will point to the octet just before the beginning of the string to ensure we don't go backwards too far. it
is decreased until it points to a lead UTF-8 octet, and then the UTF-8 sequence beginning with that octet is decoded to a 32 bit representation and returned.
In case pass_end
is reached before a UTF-8 lead octet is hit, or if an invalid UTF-8 sequence is started by the lead octet, an invalid_utf8
exception is thrown
utf8::advance
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Advances an iterator by the specified number of code points within an UTF-8 sequence.
template <typename octet_iterator, typename distance_type> void advance (octet_iterator& it, distance_type n, octet_iterator end);
it
: a reference to an iterator pointing to the beginning of an UTF-8 encoded code point. After the function returns, it is incremented to point to the nth following code point.n
: a positive integer that shows how many code points we want to advance.end
: end of the UTF-8 sequence to be processed. If it
gets equal to end
during the extraction of a code point, an utf8::not_enough_room
exception is thrown.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; unsigned char* w = twochars; advance (w, 2, twochars + 6); assert (w == twochars + 5);
This function works only "forward". In case of a negative n
, there is no effect.
In case of an invalid code point, a utf8::invalid_code_point
exception is thrown.
utf8::distance
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Given the iterators to two UTF-8 encoded code points in a seqence, returns the number of code points between them.
template <typename octet_iterator> typename std::iterator_traits<octet_iterator>::difference_type distance (octet_iterator first, octet_iterator last);
first
: an iterator to a beginning of a UTF-8 encoded code point.last
: an iterator to a "post-end" of the last UTF-8 encoded code point in the sequence we are trying to determine the length. It can be the beginning of a new code point, or not.
Return value the distance between the iterators, in code points.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; size_t dist = utf8::distance(twochars, twochars + 5); assert (dist == 2);
This function is used to find the length (in code points) of a UTF-8 encoded string. The reason it is called distance, rather than, say, length is mainly because developers are used that length is an O(1) function. Computing the length of an UTF-8 string is a linear operation, and it looked better to model it after std::distance
algorithm.
In case of an invalid UTF-8 seqence, a utf8::invalid_utf8
exception is thrown. If last
does not point to the past-of-end of a UTF-8 seqence, a utf8::not_enough_room
exception is thrown.
utf8::utf16to8
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts a UTF-16 encoded string to UTF-8.
template <typename u16bit_iterator, typename octet_iterator> octet_iterator utf16to8 (u16bit_iterator start, u16bit_iterator end, octet_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-16 encoded string to convert.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-16 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-8 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-8 string.
Example of use:
unsigned short utf16string[] = {0x41, 0x0448, 0x65e5, 0xd834, 0xdd1e}; vector<unsigned char> utf8result; utf16to8(utf16string, utf16string + 5, back_inserter(utf8result)); assert (utf8result.size() == 10);
In case of invalid UTF-16 sequence, a utf8::invalid_utf16
exception is thrown.
utf8::utf8to16
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts an UTF-8 encoded string to UTF-16
template <typename u16bit_iterator, typename octet_iterator> u16bit_iterator utf8to16 (octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end, u16bit_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert. < br /> end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-16 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-16 string.
Example of use:
char utf8_with_surrogates[] = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88/xf0/x9d/x84/x9e"; vector <unsigned short> utf16result; utf8to16(utf8_with_surrogates, utf8_with_surrogates + 9, back_inserter(utf16result)); assert (utf16result.size() == 4); assert (utf16result[2] == 0xd834); assert (utf16result[3] == 0xdd1e);
In case of an invalid UTF-8 seqence, a utf8::invalid_utf8
exception is thrown. If end
does not point to the past-of-end of a UTF-8 seqence, a utf8::not_enough_room
exception is thrown.
utf8::utf32to8
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts a UTF-32 encoded string to UTF-8.
template <typename octet_iterator, typename u32bit_iterator> octet_iterator utf32to8 (u32bit_iterator start, u32bit_iterator end, octet_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-32 encoded string to convert.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-32 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-8 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-8 string.
Example of use:
int utf32string[] = {0x448, 0x65E5, 0x10346, 0}; vector<unsigned char> utf8result; utf32to8(utf32string, utf32string + 3, back_inserter(utf8result)); assert (utf8result.size() == 9);
In case of invalid UTF-32 string, a utf8::invalid_code_point
exception is thrown.
utf8::utf8to32
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts a UTF-8 encoded string to UTF-32.
template <typename octet_iterator, typename u32bit_iterator> u32bit_iterator utf8to32 (octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end, u32bit_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-32 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-32 string.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; vector<int> utf32result; utf8to32(twochars, twochars + 5, back_inserter(utf32result)); assert (utf32result.size() == 2);
In case of an invalid UTF-8 seqence, a utf8::invalid_utf8
exception is thrown. If end
does not point to the past-of-end of a UTF-8 seqence, a utf8::not_enough_room
exception is thrown.
utf8::find_invalid
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Detects an invalid sequence within a UTF-8 string.
template <typename octet_iterator> octet_iterator find_invalid(octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-8 string to test for validity.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-8 string to test for validity.
Return value: an iterator pointing to the first invalid octet in the UTF-8 string. In case none were found, equals end
.
Example of use:
char utf_invalid[] = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88/xfa"; char* invalid = find_invalid(utf_invalid, utf_invalid + 6); assert (invalid == utf_invalid + 5);
This function is typically used to make sure a UTF-8 string is valid before processing it with other functions. It is especially important to call it if before doing any of the unchecked operations on it.
utf8::is_valid
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Checks whether a sequence of octets is a valid UTF-8 string.
template <typename octet_iterator> bool is_valid(octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-8 string to test for validity.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-8 string to test for validity.
Return value: true
if the sequence is a valid UTF-8 string; false
if not.
char utf_invalid[] = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88/xfa"; bool bvalid = is_valid(utf_invalid, utf_invalid + 6); assert (bvalid == false);
is_valid
is a shorthand for find_invalid(start, end) == end;
. You may want to use it to make sure that a byte seqence is a valid UTF-8 string without the need to know where it fails if it is not valid.
utf8::replace_invalid
Available in version 2.0 and later.
Replaces all invalid UTF-8 sequences within a string with a replacement marker.
template <typename octet_iterator, typename output_iterator> output_iterator replace_invalid(octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end, output_iterator out, uint32_t replacement); template <typename octet_iterator, typename output_iterator> output_iterator replace_invalid(octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end, output_iterator out);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-8 string to look for invalid UTF-8 sequences.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-8 string to look for invalid UTF-8 sequences.out
: An output iterator to the range where the result of replacement is stored.replacement
: A Unicode code point for the replacement marker. The version without this parameter assumes the value 0xfffd
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the UTF-8 string with replaced invalid sequences.
Example of use:
char invalid_sequence[] = "a/x80/xe0/xa0/xc0/xaf/xed/xa0/x80z"; vector<char> replace_invalid_result; replace_invalid (invalid_sequence, invalid_sequence + sizeof(invalid_sequence), back_inserter(replace_invalid_result), '?'); bvalid = is_valid(replace_invalid_result.begin(), replace_invalid_result.end()); assert (bvalid); char* fixed_invalid_sequence = "a????z"; assert (std::equal(replace_invalid_result.begin(), replace_invalid_result.end(), fixed_invalid_sequence));
replace_invalid
does not perform in-place replacement of invalid sequences. Rather, it produces a copy of the original string with the invalid sequences replaced with a replacement marker. Therefore, out
must not be in the [start, end]
range.
If end
does not point to the past-of-end of a UTF-8 sequence, a utf8::not_enough_room
exception is thrown.
utf8::is_bom
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Checks whether a sequence of three octets is a UTF-8 byte order mark (BOM)
template <typename octet_iterator> bool is_bom (octet_iterator it);
it
: beginning of the 3-octet sequence to check
Return value: true
if the sequence is UTF-8 byte order mark; false
if not.
Example of use:
unsigned char byte_order_mark[] = {0xef, 0xbb, 0xbf}; bool bbom = is_bom(byte_order_mark); assert (bbom == true);
The typical use of this function is to check the first three bytes of a file. If they form the UTF-8 BOM, we want to skip them before processing the actual UTF-8 encoded text.
Types From utf8 Namespace
utf8::iterator
Available in version 2.0 and later.
Adapts the underlying octet iterator to iterate over the sequence of code points, rather than raw octets.
template <typename octet_iterator> class iterator;
Member functions
-
the deafult constructor; the underlying
octet_iterator
is constructed with its default constructor. -
a constructor that initializes the underlying
octet_iterator
withoctet_it
and sets the range in which the iterator is considered valid. -
returns the underlying
octet_iterator
. -
decodes the utf-8 sequence the underlying
octet_iterator
is pointing to and returns the code point. - returns true if the two underlaying iterators are equal.
- returns true if the two underlaying iterators are not equal.
- the prefix increment - moves the iterator to the next UTF-8 encoded code point.
- the postfix increment - moves the iterator to the next UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the current one.
- the prefix decrement - moves the iterator to the previous UTF-8 encoded code point.
- the postfix decrement - moves the iterator to the previous UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the current one.
iterator();
explicit iterator (const octet_iterator& octet_it, const octet_iterator& range_start, const octet_iterator& range_end);
octet_iterator base () const;
uint32_t operator * () const;
bool operator == (const iterator& rhs) const;
bool operator != (const iterator& rhs) const;
iterator& operator ++ ();
iterator operator ++ (int);
iterator& operator -- ();
iterator operator -- (int);
Example of use:
char* threechars = "/xf0/x90/x8d/x86/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; utf8::iterator<char*> it(threechars, threechars, threechars + 9); utf8::iterator<char*> it2 = it; assert (it2 == it); assert (*it == 0x10346); assert (*(++it) == 0x65e5); assert ((*it++) == 0x65e5); assert (*it == 0x0448); assert (it != it2); utf8::iterator<char*> endit (threechars + 9, threechars, threechars + 9); assert (++it == endit); assert (*(--it) == 0x0448); assert ((*it--) == 0x0448); assert (*it == 0x65e5); assert (--it == utf8::iterator<char*>(threechars, threechars, threechars + 9)); assert (*it == 0x10346);
The purpose of utf8::iterator
adapter is to enable easy iteration as well as the use of STL algorithms with UTF-8 encoded strings. Increment and decrement operators are implemented in terms of utf8::next()
and utf8::prior()
functions.
Note that utf8::iterator
adapter is a checked iterator. It operates on the range specified in the constructor; any attempt to go out of that range will result in an exception. Even the comparison operators require both iterator object to be constructed against the same range - otherwise an exception is thrown. Typically, the range will be determined by sequence container functions begin
and end
, i.e.:
std::string s = "example";
utf8::iterator i (s.begin(), s.begin(), s.end());
Functions From utf8::unchecked Namespace
utf8::unchecked::append
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Encodes a 32 bit code point as a UTF-8 sequence of octets and appends the sequence to a UTF-8 string.
template <typename octet_iterator> octet_iterator append(uint32_t cp, octet_iterator result);
cp
: A 32 bit integer representing a code point to append to the sequence.result
: An output iterator to the place in the sequence where to append the code point.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the newly appended sequence.
Example of use:
unsigned char u[5] = {0,0,0,0,0}; unsigned char* end = unchecked::append(0x0448, u); assert (u[0] == 0xd1 && u[1] == 0x88 && u[2] == 0 && u[3] == 0 && u[4] == 0);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::append
. It does not check for validity of the supplied code point, and may produce an invalid UTF-8 sequence.
utf8::unchecked::next
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Given the iterator to the beginning of a UTF-8 sequence, it returns the code point and moves the iterator to the next position.
template <typename octet_iterator> uint32_t next(octet_iterator& it);
it
: a reference to an iterator pointing to the beginning of an UTF-8 encoded code point. After the function returns, it is incremented to point to the beginning of the next code point.
Return value: the 32 bit representation of the processed UTF-8 code point.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; char* w = twochars; int cp = unchecked::next(w); assert (cp == 0x65e5); assert (w == twochars + 3);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::next
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-8 sequence.
utf8::unchecked::prior
Available in version 1.02 and later.
Given a reference to an iterator pointing to an octet in a UTF-8 seqence, it decreases the iterator until it hits the beginning of the previous UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the 32 bits representation of the code point.
template <typename octet_iterator> uint32_t prior(octet_iterator& it);
it
: a reference pointing to an octet within a UTF-8 encoded string. After the function returns, it is decremented to point to the beginning of the previous code point.
Return value: the 32 bit representation of the previous code point.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; char* w = twochars + 3; int cp = unchecked::prior (w); assert (cp == 0x65e5); assert (w == twochars);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::prior
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-8 sequence and offers no boundary checking.
utf8::unchecked::previous (deprecated, see utf8::unchecked::prior)
Deprecated in version 1.02 and later.
Given a reference to an iterator pointing to an octet in a UTF-8 seqence, it decreases the iterator until it hits the beginning of the previous UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the 32 bits representation of the code point.
template <typename octet_iterator> uint32_t previous(octet_iterator& it);
it
: a reference pointing to an octet within a UTF-8 encoded string. After the function returns, it is decremented to point to the beginning of the previous code point.
Return value: the 32 bit representation of the previous code point.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; char* w = twochars + 3; int cp = unchecked::previous (w); assert (cp == 0x65e5); assert (w == twochars);
The reason this function is deprecated is just the consistency with the "checked" versions, where prior
should be used instead of previous
. In fact, unchecked::previous
behaves exactly the same as unchecked::prior
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::previous
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-8 sequence and offers no boundary checking.
utf8::unchecked::advance
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Advances an iterator by the specified number of code points within an UTF-8 sequence.
template <typename octet_iterator, typename distance_type> void advance (octet_iterator& it, distance_type n);
it
: a reference to an iterator pointing to the beginning of an UTF-8 encoded code point. After the function returns, it is incremented to point to the nth following code point.n
: a positive integer that shows how many code points we want to advance.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; char* w = twochars; unchecked::advance (w, 2); assert (w == twochars + 5);
This function works only "forward". In case of a negative n
, there is no effect.
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::advance
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-8 sequence and offers no boundary checking.
utf8::unchecked::distance
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Given the iterators to two UTF-8 encoded code points in a seqence, returns the number of code points between them.
template <typename octet_iterator> typename std::iterator_traits<octet_iterator>::difference_type distance (octet_iterator first, octet_iterator last);
first
: an iterator to a beginning of a UTF-8 encoded code point.last
: an iterator to a "post-end" of the last UTF-8 encoded code point in the sequence we are trying to determine the length. It can be the beginning of a new code point, or not.
Return value the distance between the iterators, in code points.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; size_t dist = utf8::unchecked::distance(twochars, twochars + 5); assert (dist == 2);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::distance
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-8 sequence.
utf8::unchecked::utf16to8
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts a UTF-16 encoded string to UTF-8.
template <typename u16bit_iterator, typename octet_iterator> octet_iterator utf16to8 (u16bit_iterator start, u16bit_iterator end, octet_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-16 encoded string to convert.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-16 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-8 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-8 string.
Example of use:
unsigned short utf16string[] = {0x41, 0x0448, 0x65e5, 0xd834, 0xdd1e}; vector<unsigned char> utf8result; unchecked::utf16to8(utf16string, utf16string + 5, back_inserter(utf8result)); assert (utf8result.size() == 10);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::utf16to8
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-16 sequence.
utf8::unchecked::utf8to16
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts an UTF-8 encoded string to UTF-16
template <typename u16bit_iterator, typename octet_iterator> u16bit_iterator utf8to16 (octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end, u16bit_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert. < br /> end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-16 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-16 string.
Example of use:
char utf8_with_surrogates[] = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88/xf0/x9d/x84/x9e"; vector <unsigned short> utf16result; unchecked::utf8to16(utf8_with_surrogates, utf8_with_surrogates + 9, back_inserter(utf16result)); assert (utf16result.size() == 4); assert (utf16result[2] == 0xd834); assert (utf16result[3] == 0xdd1e);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::utf8to16
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-8 sequence.
utf8::unchecked::utf32to8
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts a UTF-32 encoded string to UTF-8.
template <typename octet_iterator, typename u32bit_iterator> octet_iterator utf32to8 (u32bit_iterator start, u32bit_iterator end, octet_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-32 encoded string to convert.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-32 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-8 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-8 string.
Example of use:
int utf32string[] = {0x448, 0x65e5, 0x10346, 0}; vector<unsigned char> utf8result; utf32to8(utf32string, utf32string + 3, back_inserter(utf8result)); assert (utf8result.size() == 9);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::utf32to8
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-32 sequence.
utf8::unchecked::utf8to32
Available in version 1.0 and later.
Converts a UTF-8 encoded string to UTF-32.
template <typename octet_iterator, typename u32bit_iterator> u32bit_iterator utf8to32 (octet_iterator start, octet_iterator end, u32bit_iterator result);
start
: an iterator pointing to the beginning of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert.end
: an iterator pointing to pass-the-end of the UTF-8 encoded string to convert.result
: an output iterator to the place in the UTF-32 string where to append the result of conversion.
Return value: An iterator pointing to the place after the appended UTF-32 string.
Example of use:
char* twochars = "/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; vector<int> utf32result; unchecked::utf8to32(twochars, twochars + 5, back_inserter(utf32result)); assert (utf32result.size() == 2);
This is a faster but less safe version of utf8::utf8to32
. It does not check for validity of the supplied UTF-8 sequence.
Types From utf8::unchecked Namespace
utf8::iterator
Available in version 2.0 and later.
Adapts the underlying octet iterator to iterate over the sequence of code points, rather than raw octets.
template <typename octet_iterator> class iterator;
Member functions
-
the deafult constructor; the underlying
octet_iterator
is constructed with its default constructor. -
a constructor that initializes the underlying
octet_iterator
withoctet_it
-
returns the underlying
octet_iterator
. -
decodes the utf-8 sequence the underlying
octet_iterator
is pointing to and returns the code point. - returns true if the two underlaying iterators are equal.
- returns true if the two underlaying iterators are not equal.
- the prefix increment - moves the iterator to the next UTF-8 encoded code point.
- the postfix increment - moves the iterator to the next UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the current one.
- the prefix decrement - moves the iterator to the previous UTF-8 encoded code point.
- the postfix decrement - moves the iterator to the previous UTF-8 encoded code point and returns the current one.
iterator();
explicit iterator (const octet_iterator& octet_it);
octet_iterator base () const;
uint32_t operator * () const;
bool operator == (const iterator& rhs) const;
bool operator != (const iterator& rhs) const;
iterator& operator ++ ();
iterator operator ++ (int);
iterator& operator -- ();
iterator operator -- (int);
Example of use:
char* threechars = "/xf0/x90/x8d/x86/xe6/x97/xa5/xd1/x88"; utf8::unchecked::iterator<char*> un_it(threechars); utf8::unchecked::iterator<char*> un_it2 = un_it; assert (un_it2 == un_it); assert (*un_it == 0x10346); assert (*(++un_it) == 0x65e5); assert ((*un_it++) == 0x65e5); assert (*un_it == 0x0448); assert (un_it != un_it2); utf8::::unchecked::iterator<char*> un_endit (threechars + 9); assert (++un_it == un_endit); assert (*(--un_it) == 0x0448); assert ((*un_it--) == 0x0448); assert (*un_it == 0x65e5); assert (--un_it == utf8::unchecked::iterator<char*>(threechars)); assert (*un_it == 0x10346);
This is an unchecked version of utf8::iterator
. It is faster in many cases, but offers no validity or range checks.
Points of interest
Design goals and decisions
The library was designed to be:
- Generic: for better or worse, there are many C++ string classes out there, and the library should work with as many of them as possible.
- Portable: the library should be portable both accross different platforms and compilers. The only non-portable code is a small section that declares unsigned integers of different sizes: three typedefs. They can be changed by the users of the library if they don't match their platform. The default setting should work for Windows (both 32 and 64 bit), and most 32 bit and 64 bit Unix derivatives.
- Lightweight: follow the "pay only for what you use" guidline.
- Unintrusive: avoid forcing any particular design or even programming style on the user. This is a library, not a framework.
Alternatives
In case you want to look into other means of working with UTF-8 strings from C++, here is the list of solutions I am aware of:
- ICU Library. It is very powerful, complete, feature-rich, mature, and widely used. Also big, intrusive, non-generic, and doesn't play well with the Standard Library. I definitelly recommend looking at ICU even if you don't plan to use it.
- Glib::ustring. A class specifically made to work with UTF-8 strings, and also feel like
std::string
. If you prefer to have yet another string class in your code, it may be worth a look. Be aware of the licensing issues, though. - Platform dependent solutions: Windows and POSIX have functions to convert strings from one encoding to another. That is only a subset of what my library offers, but if that is all you need it may be good enough, especially given the fact that these functions are mature and tested in production.
Conclusion
Until Unicode becomes officially recognized by the C++ Standard Library, we need to use other means to work with UTF-8 strings. Template functions I describe in this article may be a good step in this direction.