From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

Hi,

I am working on a Tcl wrapper for a library written in C. It must run on Windows, Linux, and macOS. My last experience in C development was a good
30 years ago, but with AI, I already have the wrapper running on Windows
and Linux.

The library uses wchar_t for strings. So I need to convert between these and Tcl UTF-8 strings. The AI systems can generate me appropriate functions that (should) run on all three platforms.

However, I wondered whether the Tcl C API already has appropriate conversion functions that work on all platforms. The problem is unlikely to be new.
But I couldn't find anything.

Have I overlooked something, or do I actually have to implement my own conversion functions?

Torsten
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

Am 28.11.2025 um 15:41 schrieb Torsten:

Hi,

I am working on a Tcl wrapper for a library written in C. It must run on Windows, Linux, and macOS. My last experience in C development was a good
30 years ago, but with AI, I already have the wrapper running on Windows
and Linux.

The library uses wchar_t for strings. So I need to convert between these
and
Tcl UTF-8 strings. The AI systems can generate me appropriate functions
that
(should) run on all three platforms.

However, I wondered whether the Tcl C API already has appropriate
conversion
functions that work on all platforms. The problem is unlikely to be new.
But I couldn't find anything.

Have I overlooked something, or do I actually have to implement my own conversion functions?

Torsten

Yes, of cause, everything is there ;-).
Is it TCL 9?
Remark, that TCL 8.6 uses internally CESU-16, what is your format

In Tcl 9:
str=Tcl_GetStringFromObject(Obj,&size);
Tcl_UtfToWCharDString(str, size, dsPtr)

See also the migration wiki, which gives more options.

Harald
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

-------- Original-Nachricht --------

Am 28.11.2025 um 15:41 schrieb Torsten:

Hi,

I am working on a Tcl wrapper for a library written in C. It must run on
Windows, Linux, and macOS. My last experience in C development was a good
30 years ago, but with AI, I already have the wrapper running on Windows
and Linux.

The library uses wchar_t for strings. So I need to convert between these and >> Tcl UTF-8 strings. The AI systems can generate me appropriate functions that >> (should) run on all three platforms.

However, I wondered whether the Tcl C API already has appropriate conversion >> functions that work on all platforms. The problem is unlikely to be new.
But I couldn't find anything.

Have I overlooked something, or do I actually have to implement my own
conversion functions?

Torsten

Yes, of cause, everything is there ;-).
Is it TCL 9?
Remark, that TCL 8.6 uses internally CESU-16, what is your format

In Tcl 9:
str=Tcl_GetStringFromObject(Obj,&size);
Tcl_UtfToWCharDString(str, size, dsPtr)

See also the migration wiki, which gives more options.

Harald

Thank you for the answer. I'm still on 8.6.
So the options are to stay with 8.6 with self-written functions or switch to 9.

Torsten
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 11/28/25 19:14, Torsten wrote:

...
Thank you for the answer. I'm still on 8.6.
So the options are to stay with 8.6 with self-written functions or
switch to 9.

These things are somehow complicated. So please compare
sizeof(wchar_t) between Win32 and !Win32 (ROW, e.g. POSIX).
It could be that you'll find a significant difference which
is 16 bit wide between these worlds. The consequences are
then representing beyond BMP stuff like the much loved emojis.

Good luck,
Christian
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

Am 28.11.2025 um 19:14 schrieb Torsten:

-------- Original-Nachricht --------

Am 28.11.2025 um 15:41 schrieb Torsten:

Hi,

I am working on a Tcl wrapper for a library written in C. It must run on >>> Windows, Linux, and macOS. My last experience in C development was a
good
30 years ago, but with AI, I already have the wrapper running on Windows >>> and Linux.

The library uses wchar_t for strings. So I need to convert between
these and
Tcl UTF-8 strings. The AI systems can generate me appropriate
functions that
(should) run on all three platforms.

However, I wondered whether the Tcl C API already has appropriate
conversion
functions that work on all platforms. The problem is unlikely to be new. >>> But I couldn't find anything.

Have I overlooked something, or do I actually have to implement my own
conversion functions?

Torsten

Yes, of cause, everything is there ;-).
Is it TCL 9?
Remark, that TCL 8.6 uses internally CESU-16, what is your format

In Tcl 9:
str=Tcl_GetStringFromObject(Obj,&size);
Tcl_UtfToWCharDString(str, size, dsPtr)

See also the migration wiki, which gives more options.

Harald

Thank you for the answer. I'm still on 8.6.
So the options are to stay with 8.6 with self-written functions or
switch to 9.

Torsten

Torsten,
Remark that in tcl8.6, there are special functions for Windows to do
that. But you are not on Windows, right ?

But as long as you don't encode any NULL-Bytes, you may just use native
TCL string encoding.

And as magic Christian pointed out, Non BMP characters are there using surrogates.

Take care,
Harald

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

Torsten,
Remark that in tcl8.6, there are special functions for Windows to do that. But you are not on
Windows, right ?

But as long as you don't encode any NULL-Bytes, you may just use native TCL string encoding.

And as magic Christian pointed out, Non BMP characters are there using surrogates.

Take care,
Harald

Hi Harald,

The program runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Windows and Linux are already working; I haven't
tested macOS yet.

Gemini used the special functions for Windows. I just need to convert the error messages from the
library. The character strings should mainly contain ASCII characters. I don't expect any surprises
here.

Regards,
Torsten
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