Delphi Basics : PWideChar command

DelphiBasics

PWideChar
Type

Pointer to a WideChar

System unit

PWideChar = ^WideChar;

Description

The PWideChar type holds a pointer to a WideChar value.

It can also be used to point to characters within a WideString, as in the example code.

As with other pointers, integer arithmetic, such as Inc and Dec can be performed on a PWideChar variable, also shown in the example.

Notes

PWideChar is principally used when processing null-terminated (C-like) strings.

Related commands

$ExtendedSyntax		Controls some Pascal extension handling
Dec		Decrement an ordinal variable
Inc		Increment an ordinal variable
PAnsiChar		A pointer to an AnsiChar value
PChar		A pointer to an Char value
PWideString		Pointer to a WideString value
WideChar		Variable type holding a single International character
WideString		A data type that holds a string of WideChars

Download this web site as a Windows program.

Example code : Display all characters in a string

var
  myWideString  : WideString;
  myWideCharPtr : PWideChar;
  i : Integer;

begin
  // Create a string of WideChar's
  myWideString  := 'Hello';

  // Point to the first character in the string
  myWideCharPtr := Addr(myWideString[1]);

  // Display the string
  ShowMessage(myWideCharPtr);

  // Now increment the pointer
  Inc(myWideCharPtr,2);

  // And see what is shows now
  ShowMessage(myWideCharPtr);

  // Display all characters in the string
  while i <= Length(myWideString) do
  begin
    ShowMessage(myWideCharPtr^);
    Inc(i);
    Inc(myWIdeCharPtr);
  end;
end;

Show full unit code

Hello
llo