C++ - Converting between string and LPCWSTR

Question

I am trying to write a function to convert a string to a LPCWSTR. Here's what I have:

LPCWSTR stoLPCWSTR(string str)
{
    wstring w(str.begin(), str.end());
    return w.c_str();
}

I've run this code with debugging, and at the return line, the transmitted string sits safely in w. However, when it returns, it looks something like this:

"ﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮﻮꑯ䎕骙ᰀ䪀ɽ绐ɽ▼ཛĖ"

...so basically, garbage. What am I doing wrong?

Peter Wood · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-15T14:11:36.860

2

Your wide string, w, goes out of scope at the end of the function and is destroyed.

The value returned by c_str() no longer points to valid data.

Return the wide-string instead, and use c_str() on it only at the location it is needed.

wstring stows(string str)
{
    return wstring(str.begin(), str.end());
}

//...

wstring ws = stows("hello");

api_call_needing_LPCWSTR(ws.c_str());

edited May 15 '13 at 14:11

answered May 15 '13 at 07:59

Peter Wood

23,859
5
60
99

Ok, so how can I return a valid pointer? – Brian Gradin May 15 '13 at 08:02

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '13 at 08:00

2

You're retuning unallocated memory here; the wstring has gone out of scope and you're returning a pointer to it. That's why you get rubbish.

answered May 15 '13 at 08:00

Bathsheba

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34
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C++ - Converting between string and LPCWSTR

2 Answers2