---
name: "XmbDrawString"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libx11"
version: "1.8.14-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/XmbDrawString"
---

# XmbDrawString(3)

draw text using a single font set

## NAME

XmbDrawString, XwcDrawString, Xutf8DrawString - draw text using a single font set

## SYNTAX

void XmbDrawString(Display \**display*, Drawable *d*, XFontSet *font\_set*, GC *gc*, int *x*, int *y*, \_Xconst char \**string*, int *num\_bytes*);

void XwcDrawString(Display \**display*, Drawable *d*, XFontSet *font\_set*, GC *gc*, int *x*, int *y*, \_Xconst wchar\_t \**string*, int *num\_wchars*);

void Xutf8DrawString(Display \**display*, Drawable *d*, XFontSet *font\_set*, GC *gc*, int *x*, int *y*, \_Xconst char \**string*, int *num\_bytes*);

## ARGUMENTS

- *d*

  Specifies the drawable.

- *display*

  Specifies the connection to the X server.

- *font\_set*

  Specifies the font set.

- *gc*

  Specifies the GC.

- *num\_bytes*

  Specifies the number of bytes in the string argument.

- *num\_wchars*

  Specifies the number of characters in the string argument.

- *string*

  Specifies the character string.

- *x*

  - *y*

  Specify the x and y coordinates.

## DESCRIPTION

The **XmbDrawString**, **XwcDrawString** and **Xutf8DrawString** functions draw the specified text with the foreground pixel. When the **XFontSet** has missing charsets, each unavailable character is drawn with the default string returned by **XCreateFontSet**. The behavior for an invalid codepoint is undefined.

The function **Xutf8DrawString** is an extension introduced by The XFree86 Project, Inc., in their 4.0.2 release. Its presence is indicated by the macro **X\_HAVE\_UTF8\_STRING**.

## SEE ALSO

[**XDrawImageString**(3)](/XDrawImageString/3.md), [**XDrawString**(3)](/XDrawString/3.md), [**XDrawText**(3)](/XDrawText/3.md), [**XmbDrawImageString**(3)](/XmbDrawImageString/3.md), [**XmbDrawText**(3)](/XmbDrawText/3.md)\
 *Xlib - C Language X Interface*