C library - iswctype() function

The C wctype library iswctype() function is used to check whether a given wide character has a certain property such as alphabetic, numeric, alphanumeric, printable, graphical characters, etc.

Syntax

Following is the C library syntax of iswctype() function −

int iswctype( wint_t wc, wctype_t desc );

Parameters

This function accepts following parameter −

• wc − It is a wide character of type 'wint_t' to be checked.

• desc − It is descriptor of type 'wint_t' that specifies the character class against which wc is checked. Obtained from a call to "wctype()".

Return Value

This function returns Non-zero value if the wc (wide character) has the property specified by "desc", zero otherwise.

Example

Following is the basic c program to demonstrate the use of iswctype().

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

int main() {
    // Wide character to check
    wchar_t wc = L'A';
    // Descriptor for alphabetic characters
    wctype_t desc = wctype("alpha");

    if (iswctype(wc, desc)) {
        wprintf(L"%lc is an alphabetic character.\n", wc);
    } else {
        wprintf(L"%lc is not an alphabetic character.\n", wc);
    }

    return 0;
}

Output

Following is the output −

A is an alphabetic character.

Example 1

Let's create another c example and use the iswctype() to checks if the wide character is an alphanumeric character.

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

int main() {
    // Wide character string to check
    wchar_t str[] = L"Tutorialspoint 500081";
    // Descriptor for alphanumeric characters
    wctype_t desc = wctype("alnum");

    // Loop through each character in the string
    for (size_t i = 0; str[i] != L'\0'; ++i) {
        // Check if the character is alphanumeric
        if (iswctype(str[i], desc)) {
            wprintf(L"%lc is an alphanumeric character.\n", str[i]);
        } else {
            wprintf(L"%lc is not an alphanumeric character.\n", str[i]);
        }
    }

    return 0;
}

Output

Following is the output −

T is an alphanumeric character.
u is an alphanumeric character.
t is an alphanumeric character.
o is an alphanumeric character.
r is an alphanumeric character.
i is an alphanumeric character.
a is an alphanumeric character.
l is an alphanumeric character.
s is an alphanumeric character.
p is an alphanumeric character.
o is an alphanumeric character.
i is an alphanumeric character.
n is an alphanumeric character.
t is an alphanumeric character.
  is not an alphanumeric character.
5 is an alphanumeric character.
0 is an alphanumeric character.
0 is an alphanumeric character.
0 is an alphanumeric character.
8 is an alphanumeric character.
1 is an alphanumeric character.

Example 2

This below example checks if the wide character wc is a punctuation character and print.

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

int main() 
{ 
   wchar_t wc = L'#';
   // checks if the character is a punctuation
   if (iswctype(wc, wctype("punct"))) 
      wprintf(L"%lc is a punctuation\n", wc); 
   else
      wprintf(L"%lc is not a punctuation\n", wc);
   return 0; 
}

Output

Following is the output −

# is a punctuation