Gets the length and determines the validity of a multibyte character.
size_t _mbclen(
   const unsigned char *c 
);
int mblen(
   const char *mbstr,
   size_t count 
);
int _mblen_l(
   const char *mbstr,
   size_t count,
   _locale_t locale
);
Parameters
- c 
 Multibyte character.
- mbstr 
 Address of a multibyte-character byte sequence.
- count 
 Number of bytes to check.
- locale 
 Locale to use.
Return Value
_mbclen returns 1 or 2, according to whether the multibyte character c is 1 or 2 bytes long. There is no error return for _mbclen. If mbstr is not NULL, mblen returns the length, in bytes, of the multibyte character. If mbstr is NULL or it points to the wide-character null character, mblen returns 0. If the object that mbstr points to does not form a valid multibyte character within the first count characters, mblen returns –1.
Remarks
The _mbclen function returns the length, in bytes, of the multibyte character c. If c does not point to the lead byte of a multibyte character as determined by an implicit call to _ismbblead, the result of _mbclen is unpredictable.
mblen returns the length in bytes of mbstr if it is a valid multibyte character and determines multibyte-character validity associated with the code page. mblen examines count or fewer bytes contained in mbstr, but not more than MB_CUR_MAX bytes.
The output value is affected by the setting of the LC_CTYPE category setting of the locale; see setlocale for more information. The versions of these functions without the _l suffix use the current locale for this locale-dependent behavior; the versions with the _l suffix are identical except that they use the locale parameter passed in instead. For more information, see Locale.
Generic-Text Routine Mappings
| Tchar.h routine | _UNICODE and _MBCS not defined | _MBCS defined | _UNICODE defined | 
|---|---|---|---|
| _tclen | Maps to macro or inline function | _mbclen | Maps to macro or inline function | 
Requirements
| Routine | Required header | 
|---|---|
| _mbclen | <mbstring.h> | 
| mblen | <stdlib.h> | 
| _mblen_l | <stdlib.h> | 
For more compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.
Example
// crt_mblen.c
/* illustrates the behavior of the mblen function
 */
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main( void )
{
    int      i;
    char    *pmbc = (char *)malloc( sizeof( char ) );
    wchar_t  wc   = L'a';
    printf( "Convert wide character to multibyte character:\n" );
    wctomb_s( &i, pmbc, sizeof(char), wc );
    printf( "  Characters converted: %u\n", i );
    printf( "  Multibyte character: %x\n\n", *pmbc );
    i = mblen( pmbc, MB_CUR_MAX );
    printf( "Length in bytes of multibyte character %x: %u\n", *pmbc, i );
    pmbc = NULL;
    i = mblen( pmbc, MB_CUR_MAX );
    printf( "Length in bytes of NULL multibyte character %x: %u\n", pmbc, i );
}
Output
Convert wide character to multibyte character: Characters converted: 1 Multibyte character: 61 Length in bytes of multibyte character 61: 1 Length in bytes of NULL multibyte character 0: 0
.NET Framework Equivalent
Not applicable. To call the standard C function, use PInvoke. For more information, see Platform Invoke Examples.
See Also
Concepts
Interpretation of Multibyte-Character Sequences
strlen, strlen_l, wcslen, wcslen_l, _mbslen, _mbslen_l, _mbstrlen, _mbstrlen_l