fgetwc(3)		    Library Functions Manual		       fgetwc(3)

NAME
     fgetwc, getwc - read a wide character from a FILE stream

LIBRARY
     Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdio.h>
     #include <wchar.h>

     wint_t fgetwc(FILE *stream);
     wint_t getwc(FILE *stream);

DESCRIPTION
     The  fgetwc()  function  is  the  wide-character equivalent of the fgetc(3)
     function.	It reads a wide character from stream and returns  it.	 If  the
     end  of  stream  is  reached, or if ferror(stream) becomes true, it returns
     WEOF.  If a wide-character conversion error occurs, it sets errno to EILSEQ
     and returns WEOF.

     The getwc() function or macro functions identically to fgetwc().  It may be
     implemented as a macro, and may  evaluate	its  argument  more  than  once.
     There is no reason ever to use it.

     For nonlocking counterparts, see unlocked_stdio(3).

RETURN VALUE
     On success, fgetwc() returns the next wide-character from the stream.  Oth-
     erwise, WEOF is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
     Apart from the usual ones, there is

     EILSEQ
	    The	 data obtained from the input stream does not form a valid char-
	    acter.

ATTRIBUTES
     For an explanation of the terms used in this  section,  see  attributes(7).
     allbox; lbx lb lb l l l.  Interface Attribute Value T{ fgetwc(), getwc()
     T}	  Thread safety	  MT-Safe

STANDARDS
     C11, POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY
     POSIX.1-2001, C99.

NOTES
     The  behavior  of	fgetwc() depends on the LC_CTYPE category of the current
     locale.

     In the absence of additional information passed to the fopen(3) call, it is
     reasonable to expect that fgetwc() will actually read a multibyte	sequence
     from the stream and then convert it to a wide character.

SEE ALSO
     fgetws(3), fputwc(3), ungetwc(3), unlocked_stdio(3)

Linux man-pages 6.18		   2026-02-08			       fgetwc(3)