---
name: "curs_inwstr"
section: "3"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/curs_inwstr"
---

# curs\_inwstr(3)

get a wide-character string from a curses window

## NAME

**inwstr**, **winwstr**, **mvinwstr**, **mvwinwstr**, **innwstr**, **winnwstr**, **mvinnwstr**, **mvwinnwstr** - get a wide-character string from a *curses* window

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <curses.h>
```

**int inwstr(wchar\_t \*** *wstr***);** **int winwstr(WINDOW \*** *win***, wchar\_t \*** *wstr***);** **int mvinwstr(int** *y***, int** *x***, wchar\_t \*** *wstr***);** **int mvwinwstr(WINDOW \*** *win***, int** *y***, int** *x***, wchar\_t \*** *wstr***);**

**int innwstr(wchar\_t \*** *wstr***, int** *n***);** **int winnwstr(WINDOW \*** *win***, wchar\_t \*** *wstr***, int** *n***);** **int mvinnwstr(int** *y***, int** *x***, wchar\_t \*** *wstr***, int** *n***);** **int mvwinnwstr(WINDOW \*** *win***, int** *y***, int** *x***, wchar\_t \*** *wstr***, int** *n***);**

## DESCRIPTION

**winwstr** **extracts a wide-character string from a** *curses* **window** *win*, **starting at the cursor and stopping at the end of the line,** **and stores it in** *wstr*, **terminating it with a wide null character** **and** **omitting any attributes and color pair identifier** **that** *curses* **associates with each character.** **winnwstr** **does the same,** **but copies at most** *n* **wide characters from** *win*. **A negative** *n* **implies no limit;** **winnwstr** **then works like** **winwstr**. **ncurses(3X) describes the variants of these functions.**

## RETURN VALUE

**On successful operation,** **these functions return the count of wide characters copied from** *win* **to** *wstr* **(not including the wide null terminator),** **or** **ERR** **upon failure.** **innwstr**, **winnwstr**, **mvinnwstr**, **and** **mvwinnwstr** **return** **ERR** **if** *n* **is insufficiently large to store a complete wide character string.** **(Recall that a** *curses* **complex character can contain multiple wide characters,** **some of which may be non-spacing.)**

**In** *ncurses*, **these functions return** **ERR** **if**

- •

  **the** *curses* **screen has not been initialized,**

- •

  **(for functions taking a** *WINDOW* **pointer argument)** *win* **is a null pointer,** **or**

- •

  *wstr* **is a null pointer.**

**Functions prefixed with “mv” first perform cursor movement and** **fail if the position** (*y*, *x*) **is outside the window boundaries.**

## NOTES

**All of these functions except** **winnwstr** **may be implemented as macros.**

**Reading a line that overflows the array pointed to by** *wstr* **and its variants causes undefined results.** **Instead,** **use the** *n*-infixed **functions with a positive** *n* **argument no larger than the size of the buffer backing** *wstr*.

## EXTENSIONS

**innwstr**, **winnwstr**, **mvinnwstr**, **and** **mvwinnwstr**'s **acceptance of negative** *n* **values is an** *ncurses* **extension.**

## PORTABILITY

**Applications employing** *ncurses* **extensions should condition their use on the visibility of the** **NCURSES\_VERSION** **preprocessor macro.**

**X/Open Curses Issue 4 describes these functions.** **It specifies no error conditions for them.**

**Notwithstanding the foregoing,** **X/Open Curses Issues 4 and 7 both state that** *innwstr*, *winnwstr*, *mvinnwstr*, **and** *mvwinnwstr* **“fail ... \[i\]f the array is not large enough to contain any** **complete characters”.** **Strictly interpreted,** **this means that a caller of these functions cannot use their return** **values to detect truncation of a wide-character string copied from more** **than one character cell in** *win*. *ncurses* **reports any truncation with** *ERR*.

**X/Open Curses specifies** *inwstr*, *winwstr*, *mvinwstr*, **and** *mvwinwstr* **as returning** *OK* **rather than a (wide) character count,** **unlike their non-wide counterparts** *instr*, *winstr*, *mvinstr*, **and** *mvwinstr*. *ncurses* **regards this inconsistency as an error in the standard.**

## HISTORY

**The System V Interface Definition,** **Version 4 (1995),** **specified** *winwstr* **and** *winnwstr* **(and the usual variants).** **These were later additions to** SVr4.*x*, **not appearing in the first SVr4 (1989).** **Their synopses described each function as taking** **an argument of type** pointer-to-*char* **instead of** pointer-to-*wchar\_t*, **despite describing them as “returning the string of** *wchar\_t* **in** *str*”. **Presumably this was an error in the System V Interface Definition.**

## SEE ALSO

**curs\_instr(3X) describes comparable functions of the** *ncurses* **library in its non-wide-character configuration.**

**curses(3X),** **curs\_in\_wch(3X),** **curs\_in\_wchstr(3X)**