Because the world's character-based data has been developed using both Unicode and traditional characters sets, the Microsoft® Win32® API provides character set functions that help Win32-based applications convert the character-based data from its original character set to Unicode or another traditional character set. Because not all operating systems support Unicode, these character set functions also help Win32-based applications create character-based data that may be transferred to and used on any operating system.
For details about Unicode beyond the scope of this overview, see The Unicode™ Standard: Worldwide Character Encoding, Version 2.0, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company: 1991–1992, ISBN 0-201-48345-9.
This section provides detailed reference information for the character set functions, structures, and messages. The information is separated into the following functional groups.