UNICODE::ICONVERT::F(3)

🌈 UNICODE::ICONVERT::F(3) 🌈

okay so this is a page from the Courier Unicode Library manual, section 3, and it's all about the tremendously iconic unicode::iconvert::fromu template. bestie, it's giving "we're going FROM unicode, bestie, not TO it" and honestly? slay. 🦋

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🌸 NAME 🌸

unicode::iconvert::fromu — bestie, it's a template for converting text sequence from unicode. that's the whole assignment. from u. periodt. 💖

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

first things first, you gotta pull in the header, no cap:

#include <courier-unicode.h>

then you've got three glow-up flavors of convert(), and yes they're all named the same thing, that's the point, that's the overload moment:

auto unicode::iconvert::fromu::convert(beg_iter_t &&beg_iter,
                                       end_iter_t &&end_iter,
                                       const std::string &charset,
                                       output_iter_t &&output_iter,
                                       bool &errflag);

void unicode::iconvert::fromu::convert(input_iter_t beg_iter,
                                       input_iter_t end_iter,
                                       const std::string &charset,
                                       std::string &out_buf,
                                       bool &errflag);

std::pair<std::string, bool>
unicode::iconvert::fromu::convert(const std::u32string_view &text,
                                  const std::string &charset);

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so, the way that these template functions work? they convert unicode characters to text in the given character set. that's it, that's the job, and they do it flawlessly. 👑

beg_iter and end_iter define an input sequence of char32_ts. they get converted to unicode characters. simple as. ✨

output_iter is an output iterator that convert() iterates over chars in the specified character set. and here's where it gets interesting, so pay attention bestie, because the type of output_iter literally changes what the function returns:

• if output_iter is an lvalue, then convert()'s parameter is a reference to the output iterator which gets updated in place — and convert() returns void. no return value, we're doing this by reference, iykyk.
• if output_iter is an rvalue, then convert() returns the value of the output iterator after iterating over the converted character sequence. main character behavior, frankly. 🔥

err_flag gets set to true if unicode text could not be converted to the requested character set, or false for a successful conversion. so like… vibe check the flag, always. ✅❌

and then — because two overloads weren't enough, we're extra like that — an overloaded convert() puts the text string into a std::string, instead of using an output iterator. comfy!! no iterator gymnastics required. 🎀

finally, a single std::u32string specifies the character string, instead of a beginning and an ending iterator. one string in, one string out, honestly the low-effort dream. 🌸

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

go read these too, bestie, they're all in the family:

• courier-unicode(7)
• unicode::convert::convert(3)
• unicode_convert(3)
• iconv(3)

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Sam Varshavchik — Author. thank you for your service, legend. 🫶

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okay that's the whole page, no notes, we ate. 💖✨ this was the Courier Unicode Library manual, dated 04/12/2026 — go forth and convert, bestie, you've got this. 🦋💜