_fcvt_s

Article
02/01/2013

Converts a floating-point number to a string. This is a version of _fcvt with security enhancements as described in Security Features in the CRT.

errno_t _fcvt_s( 
   char* buffer,
   size_t sizeInBytes,
   double value,
   int count,
   int *dec,
   int *sign 
);
template <size_t size>
errno_t _fcvt_s( 
   char (&buffer)[size],
   double value,
   int count,
   int *dec,
   int *sign 
); // C++ only

Parameters

[out] buffer
The supplied buffer that will hold the result of the conversion.
[in] sizeInBytes
The size of the buffer in bytes.
[in] value
Number to be converted.
[in] count
Number of digits after the decimal point.
[out] dec
Pointer to the stored decimal-point position.
[out] sign
Pointer to the stored sign indicator.

Return Value

Zero if successful. The return value is an error code if there is a failure. Error codes are defined in Errno.h. For a listing of these errors, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

In the case of an invalid parameter, as listed in the following table, this function invokes the invalid parameter handler, as described in Parameter Validation. If execution is allowed to continue, this function sets errno to EINVAL and returns EINVAL.

Error Conditions

buffer	sizeInBytes	value	count	dec	sign	Return	Value in buffer
NULL	any	any	any	any	any	EINVAL	Not modified.
Not NULL (points to valid memory)	<=0	any	any	any	any	EINVAL	Not modified.
any	any	any	any	NULL	any	EINVAL	Not modified.
any	any	any	any	any	NULL	EINVAL	Not modified.

Security Issues

_fcvt_s might generate an access violation if buffer does not point to valid memory and is not NULL.

Remarks

The _fcvt_s function converts a floating-point number to a null-terminated character string. The value parameter is the floating-point number to be converted. _fcvt_s stores the digits of value as a string and appends a null character ('\0'). The count parameter specifies the number of digits to be stored after the decimal point. Excess digits are rounded off to count places. If there are fewer than count digits of precision, the string is padded with zeros.

Only digits are stored in the string. The position of the decimal point and the sign of value can be obtained from dec and sign after the call. The dec parameter points to an integer value; this integer value gives the position of the decimal point with respect to the beginning of the string. A zero or negative integer value indicates that the decimal point lies to the left of the first digit. The parameter sign points to an integer indicating the sign of value. The integer is set to 0 if value is positive and is set to a nonzero number if value is negative.

A buffer of length _CVTBUFSIZE is sufficient for any floating point value.

The difference between _ecvt_s and _fcvt_s is in the interpretation of the count parameter. _ecvt_s interprets count as the total number of digits in the output string, and _fcvt_s interprets count as the number of digits after the decimal point.

In C++, using this function is simplified by a template overload; the overload can infer buffer length automatically, eliminating the need to specify a size argument. For more information, see Secure Template Overloads.

The debug version of this function first fills the buffer with 0xFD. To disable this behavior, use _CrtSetDebugFillThreshold.

Requirements

Function	Required header	Optional header
_fcvt_s	<stdlib.h>	<errno.h>

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.

Libraries: All versions of the C Run-Time Libraries.

Example

// fcvt_s.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <errno.h>

int main()
{
  char * buf = 0;
  int decimal;
  int sign;
  int err;

  buf = (char*) malloc(_CVTBUFSIZE);
  err = _fcvt_s(buf, _CVTBUFSIZE, 1.2, 5, &decimal, &sign);
  
  if (err != 0)
  {
     printf("_fcvt_s failed with error code %d\n", err);
     exit(1);
  }

  printf("Converted value: %s\n", buf);  
  
}

Converted value: 120000

.NET Framework Equivalent

ToString

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