---
name: "inwstr"
section: "3ncurses"
platform: "linux"
package: "ncurses-doc"
version: "6.5+20250216-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/inwstr/3ncurses"
---

# inwstr(3ncurses)

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(3NCURSES) describes the variants of these functions.**

## RETURN VALUE

**On successful operation,** **these functions return the count of wide characters copied from** *win* **to** *wstr*. **They return** **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**

- •

  *win* **is** *NULL* **or**

- •

  *wstr* **is** *NULL*.

**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** *str* **with** **inwstr**, **winwstr**, **mvinwstr**, **or** **mvwinwstr** **causes undefined results.** **Use of** **innwstr**, **winnwstr**, **mvinnwstr**, **and** **mvwinnwstr** **is recommended instead.**

## 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

**instr(3NCURSES) describes comparable functions of the** *ncurses* **library in its non-wide-character configuration.**

**ncurses(3NCURSES),** **in\_wch(3NCURSES),** **in\_wchstr(3NCURSES)**