CFStringGetCharactersPtr

Header: CFString.h Carbon status: Supported

Quickly obtains a pointer to the contents of a CFString object as a buffer of Unicode characters.

const UniChar *CFStringGetCharactersPtr (
    CFStringRef theString
);
Parameter descriptions
theString

Pass a reference to the CFString object whose contents you wish to access.

function result

A pointer to a buffer of Unicode character or NULL if the internal storage of the CFString does not allow this to be returned efficiently.

DISCUSSION

This function either returns the requested pointer immediately, with no memory allocations and no copying, or it returns NULL. If the latter is the result, call an alternative function such as CFStringGetCharacters function to extract the characters.

Whether or not this function returns a valid pointer or NULL depends on many factors, all of which depend on how the string was created and its properties. In addition, the function result might change between different releases and on different platforms. So do not count on receiving a non-NULL result from this function under any circumstances (except when the object is created with CFStringCreateMutableWithExternalCharactersNoCopy).

AVAILABILITY

Supported in Carbon. Available in Carbon 1.0.2 and later.


© 2000 Apple Computer, Inc. (Last Updated 6/30/2000)