The meaning and difference of LPSTR/LPCSTR/LPTSTR/HWND/HANDLE/HMODULE/HINSTANCE etc.

Original link: https://ifmet.cn/posts/5020c5e7/

Brief description: Some common types of meanings, differences and explanation definitions in Windows programming

1. PVOID and LPVOID
2. LPSTR / LPCSTR / LPTSTR / LPCTSTR / LPWSTR / LPCWSTR
3. HWND / HANDLE / HMODULE / HINSTANCE

distinguishing mark

• L –> long; long and int have the same length under WIN32. So there is no difference between L and LP .
• C –> const
• T –> Generic version, defined according to UNICODE time, determines whether to use the A or W version of the function, or character set.
• STR –> string string
• PTR –> ptr pointer

[TOC]

This article was originally published on ” Xie Zang’s Small Station “, and is reproduced here simultaneously.

Windows Data Types

 typedef void * PVOID ; // PVOID - void * typedef void * LPVOID ; // LPVOID - void * typedef CHAR * LPSTR ; // LPSTR - ANSI, 每个字符占1 字节(8 bit) typedef __nullterminated CONST CHAR * LPCSTR ; // LPCSTR - ANSI, 每个字符占1 字节typedef WCHAR * LPWSTR ; // LPWSTR - UNICODE, 每个字符占2 字节(16 bit) typedef CONST WCHAR * LPCWSTR ; // LPCWSTR - UNICODE, 每个字符占2 字节typedef LPWSTR LPTSTR ; [ OR ] typedef LPSTR LPTSTR ; // LPTSTR - ANSI/UNICODE, 每个字符占1 字节或2 字节typedef LPCWSTR LPCTSTR ; [ OR ] typedef LPCSTR LPCTSTR ; // LPCTSTR - ANSI/UNICODE, 每个字符占1 字节或2 字节typedef PVOID HANDLE ; // HANDLE - void * typedef HANDLE HWND ; // HWND - void * typedef HINSTANCE HMODULE ; // HMODULE - void * 此两个互相等价， 于<wtypes.h> typedef HANDLE HINSTANCE ; // HINSTANCE - void * 

Data type	Description	declared
PVOID	A pointer to any type.	WinNT.h
LPVOID	A pointer to any type.	WinDef.h
LPSTR	A pointer to a null-terminated string of 8-bit Windows (ANSI) characters. For more information, see Character Sets Used By Fonts	WinNT.h
LPCSTR	A pointer to a constant null-terminated string of 8-bit Windows (ANSI) characters. For more information, see Character Sets Used By Fonts	WinNT.h
LPWSTR	A pointer to a null-terminated string of 16-bit Unicode characters. For more information, see Character Sets Used By Fonts	WinNT.h
LPCWSTR	A pointer to a constant null-terminated string of 16-bit Unicode characters. For more information, see Character Sets Used By Fonts	WinNT.h
LPTSTR	An LPWSTR if UNICODE is defined, an LPSTR otherwise. For more information, see Windows Data Types for Strings	WinNT.h
LPCTSTR	AnLPCWSTR if UNICODE is defined, an LPCSTR otherwise. For more information, see Windows Data Types for Strings	WinNT.h
HWND	A handle to a window.	WinDef.h
HANDLE	A handle to an object.	WinNT.h
HMODULE	A handle to a module. The is the base address of the module in memory. HMODULE and HINSTANCE are the same in current versions of Windows, but represented different things in 16-bit Windows.	WinDef.h
HINSTANCE	A handle to an instance. This is the base address of the module in memory.	WinDef.h

meaning

• PVOID and LPVOID

  • All are void * , can point to everything, do not explain.

• LPSTR / LPCSTR / LPTSTR / LPCTSTR / LPWSTR / LPCWSTR

  1. LPSTR: 32bit pointer, pointing to a string, each character occupies 1 byte. Equivalent to char*
  2. LPCSTR: 32-bit pointer, pointing to a constant string, each character occupies 1 byte. Equivalent to const char *
  3. LPWSTR: 32-bit pointer, a pointer to a unicode string, each character occupies 2 bytes.
  4. LPCWSTR: 32-bit pointer, pointer to a unicode string constant, each character occupies 2 bytes.
  5. LPTSTR: 32-bit pointer to a string, each character may occupy 1 byte or 2 bytes, depending on whether Unicode is defined or not
  6. LPCTSTR: 32-bit pointer to a constant string, each character may occupy 1 byte or 2 bytes, depending on whether Unicode is defined or not

• HWND / HANDLE / HMODULE / HINSTANCE

  They are all void * types, there is no difference, but the meaning they represent when they are used is used to distinguish

  1. HWND: window handle, such as thread related
  2. HANDLE: System kernel objects, such as file handles, thread handles, process handles
  3. HMODULE: module base address, such as the address when exe and dll are loaded into memory
  4. HINSTANCE: same as HMODULE (only differs on 16-bit Windows)

Reference

• docs.microsoft.com: windows-data-types
• Windows client development – ​​must know the difference between HWND, HANDLE, HMODULE, HINSTANCE
• The meaning and difference of LPSTR, LPCSTR, LPTSTR and LPCTSTR
• The meaning and difference of citing LPSTR, LPCSTR, LPTSTR, LPCTSTR, LPWSTR and LPCWSTR

This article is reprinted from: https://ifmet.cn/posts/5020c5e7/
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