WCSCOLL(3POSIX)

💖 WCSCOLL(3POSIX) — the POSIX Programmer's Manual, bestie edition 💖

okay so before we even start, hi, welcome to WCSCOLL(3POSIX) from the POSIX Programmer's Manual — yes that's the manual name, we're being ✨official✨ today. grab a boba, this one's short and sweet.

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🌸 PROLOG 🌸

This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. Heads up though — the Linux implementation of this interface may differ (so like, go check the corresponding Linux manual page for the actual Linux tea), or the interface might not even be implemented on Linux at all. 🙈

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✨ NAME ✨

wcscoll, wcscoll_l — comparing wide-character strings using collating information. it's giving "who comes first in the alphabet, but make it locale-aware." 👑

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <wchar.h>

int wcscoll(const wchar_t *ws1, const wchar_t *ws2);
int wcscoll_l(const wchar_t *ws1, const wchar_t *ws2,
    locale_t locale);

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

For wcscoll(): bestie, listen. The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional — nobody's trying to start drama. This volume of POSIX.1‐2017 defers to the ISO C standard. periodt.

The wcscoll() and wcscoll_l() functions shall compare the wide-character string pointed to by ws1 to the wide-character string pointed to by ws2, and both get interpreted as appropriate to the LC_COLLATE category of the current locale, or the locale represented by locale, respectively. so like — same vibe of comparison, different locale source. iykyk. 💅

The wcscoll() and wcscoll_l() functions shall not change the setting of errno if successful. iconic behavior honestly.

An application wishing to check for error situations should set errno to 0 before calling wcscoll() or wcscoll_l(). If errno is non-zero on return, an error has occurred. that's the vibe check — set it to zero, then peek at it after. 🫶

⚠️ THE BEHAVIOR IS UNDEFINED if the locale argument to wcscoll_l() is the special locale object LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE or is not a valid locale object handle. like, undefined. we don't do that here. don't do that. 😭

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🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

Upon successful completion, wcscoll() and wcscoll_l() shall return an integer greater than, equal to, or less than 0, according to whether the wide-character string pointed to by ws1 is greater than, equal to, or less than the wide-character string pointed to by ws2, when both are interpreted as appropriate to the current locale, or to the locale represented by locale, respectively. so basically: positive, zero, or negative, and that tells you the ranking. slay. ⭐

On error, wcscoll() and wcscoll_l() shall set errno, but — and this is the unhinged part — no return value is reserved to indicate an error. so you literally cannot tell from the return value alone. you gotta watch errno. 💀

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💜 ERRORS 💜

These functions may fail if:

• EINVAL — The ws1 or ws2 arguments contain wide-character codes outside the domain of the collating sequence. like bestie those characters aren't even in the collating sequence's group chat. 🙈

The following sections are informative. (translation: they're bonus content, not requirements.)

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

None. literally nothing. we're running on vibes only. 🧚

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🍓 APPLICATION USAGE 🍓

The wcsxfrm() and wcscmp() functions should be used for sorting large lists. fr fr — if you're sorting a big list, don't do it this way, use those instead. trust. 💖

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🌸 RATIONALE 🌸

None. no thoughts, head empty, just standards. 🎀

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🦋 FUTURE DIRECTIONS 🦋

None. the future is unwritten and honestly that's so main character of it. ✨

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• wcscmp()
• wcsxfrm()

The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, <wchar.h>.

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💅 COPYRIGHT 💅

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

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okay that's the whole page bestie!! this was IEEE/The Open Group, 2017, WCSCOLL(3POSIX) — thanks for reading, ily, go set your errno to 0 and stay safe out there 💖✨🦋