SDL_iconv_utf8_ucs4(3)

💖 SDL_iconv_utf8_ucs4 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the SDL3 FUNCTIONS corner of the manual, and the star of the show is SDL_iconv_utf8_ucs4. Let's get into it ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

SDL_iconv_utf8_ucs4 — convert a UTF-8 string to UCS-4. that's it, that's the whole job 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <SDL3/SDL_stdinc.h>

#define SDL_iconv_utf8_ucs4(S)      SDL_reinterpret_cast(Uint32 *, SDL_iconv_string("UCS-4", "UTF-8", S, SDL_strlen(S)+1))

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So this is a helper macro, right? And it might be more clear than calling SDL_iconv_string directly. Might! No promises! It's giving "convenience wrapper" energy and honestly we love that for it 🫶

BUT. And this is a big but, bestie. 🚨 It double-evaluates its parameter, so do not use an expression with side-effects here. Not even a little one. Not even a cute one. That's the whole caveat, and it's a real one — the macro literally runs your argument twice, so if your argument does something spicy, it does that spicy thing twice. be so serious about this one 😭

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🌈 MACRO PARAMETERS 🌈

• S — the string to convert. just hand it your string, that's it 💖

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⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

Returns a new string, converted to the new encoding, or NULL on error. So if you get NULL back, something went wrong — that's your vibe check failing 🙈

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🔥 THREAD SAFETY 🔥

It is safe to call this macro from any thread. go off, queen 👑

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👑 AVAILABILITY 👑

This macro is available since SDL 3.2.0. so if you're on something older... no cap, it's not there 💀

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! mwah 🎀 this little gem comes to you from Simple Directmedia Layer, shipped in SDL 3.4.18 — the SDL_iconv_utf8_ucs4(3) era, iconic as always. go convert something gorgeous 💜✨