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Learn more about: Incrementing and Decrementing Pointers

Incrementing and Decrementing Pointers

11/04/2016

incrementing pointers

MBCS [C++], pointers

pointers [C++], multibyte characters

decrementing pointers

0872b4a0-e2bd-4004-8319-070efb76f2fd

Incrementing and Decrementing Pointers

Use the following tips:

Point to lead bytes, not trail bytes. It is usually unsafe to have a pointer to a trail byte. It is usually safer to scan a string forward rather than in reverse.
There are pointer increment/decrement functions and macros available that move over a whole character:
```
sz1++;
```
becomes:
```
sz1 = _mbsinc( sz1 );
```
The _mbsinc and _mbsdec functions correctly increment and decrement in character units, regardless of the character size.
For decrements, you need a pointer to the head of the string, as in the following:
```
sz2--;
```
becomes:
```
sz2 = _mbsdec( sz2Head, sz2 );
```
Alternatively, your head pointer could be to a valid character in the string, such that:
```
sz2Head < sz2
```
You must have a pointer to a known valid lead byte.
You might want to maintain a pointer to the previous character for faster calls to _mbsdec.

See also

MBCS Programming Tips
Byte Indices