Getting the WinMain() lpCmdLine in Unicode

Last reviewed: November 2, 1995
Article ID: Q90912

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API) included with:
```
    - Microsoft Windows NT versions 3.1 and 3.5
```

The prototype for WinMain() is as follows:

   int PASCAL WinMain(
          HANDLE hInstance,
          HANDLE hPrevInstance,
          LPSTR lpCmdLine,
          int nCmdShow );

The third parameter is an LPSTR, which specifies an ANSI string. WinMain() cannot be defined to accept Unicode input because there is no way for the system to know whether or not the application wants Unicode at the time WinMain() is called; the system knows once the application has registered a window class.

To get the arguments in Unicode, use GetCommandLine().

Additional reference words: 3.10 3.50
KBCategory: kbui
KBSubcategory: UsrNls

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Last reviewed: November 2, 1995
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