If you use the function names ending in W, you must use wchar_t (or technically speaking, WCHAR) and related data types, and you must use L-prepended string and character literals. If you use the function name wihout termination, you must use TCHAR and related data types, and you must use TEXT ()-enclosed string and character literals. BUT HOW DO I CONVERT A "const jchar*" to a "char*" and to a LPTSTR or LPCTSTR. I also searched through the MSDN help pages for info on the relationship between char* and LPTSTR and all I found was this: LPTSTR: An LPWSTR if UNICODE is defined, an LPSTR otherwise. LPSTR: Pointer to a null-terminated string of 8-bit Windows (ANSI) characters. Examples are: TBYTE and TCHAR: Defined as WCHAR if UNICODE defined, otherwise CHAR. LPCTSTR, LPTSTR, and PCTSTR: All defined as LPCWSTR if UNICODE defined, otherwise LPCSTR. PTSTR: Defined as PWSTR if UNICODE defined, otherwise PSTR. More on textual data types and Unicode later in this chapter. C++ (Cpp) ExpandEnvironmentStrings Examples. // Local function for getting values from the Windows registry // Note that it uses malloc () and returns the pointer to allocated // memory, so remember to use free () when you are done with its // result. static LPTSTR getWindowsPropFromReg (LPTSTR subKey, LPTSTR valueName, DWORD *valueType) { HKEY To answer the first part of your question: LPCSTR is a pointer to a const string (LP means Long Pointer). LPCTSTR is a pointer to a const TCHAR string, (TCHAR being either a wide char or char depending on whether UNICODE is defined in your project). LPTSTR is a pointer to a (non-const) TCHAR string. In practice when talking about these in the past, we've left out the "pointer to a" phrase for Enter the value of integer n. Print the figure as shown below.(3) Sample input 5 Sample output ***** **** *** ** * How to get the last element of an array in C++ using std::array; assert warning c++; how to display score using SDL in c++; dfs in tree using adjacency list; how to delete an element in vector pair in cpp; std::tuple apply multiplier The two-parameter constructor creates a CStdioFile object and opens the corresponding file with the given path. If you pass NULL for either pOpenStream or lpszFileName, the constructor throws a CInvalidArgException*. If the file cannot be opened or created, the constructor throws a CFileException*. Hello, im running into a syntax issue here. can you somehow cast an wstring to an lpwstr? The method parameter accepts "LPTSTR" but I am trying to pass it an wstring, is that possible? example: Method header:dosomthing(LPTSTR) My Calling: dosomthing(&wstring) If the parameter were defined as LPCTSTR and it is a Unicode build, then you could use wstring.c_str(). The LPCSTR is the (Long Pointer to Constant STRing). It is basically the string like C. So by converting string to character array we can get LPCSTR. This LPCSTR is Microsoft defined. So to use them we have to include Windows.h header file into our program. To convert std::string to C like string we can use the function called c_str ().