UNICODE and _UNICODE Needed to Compile for Unicode

Last reviewed: November 2, 1995
Article ID: Q99359

The information in this article applies to:

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

To compile code for Unicode, you need to #define UNICODE for the Win32 header files and #define _UNICODE for the C Run-time header files. These

#defines must appear before the

   #include <windows.h>

and any included C Run-time headers. The leading underscore indicates deviance from the ANSI C standard. Because the Windows header files are not part of this standard, it is allowable to use UNICODE without the leading underscore.

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

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Last reviewed: November 2, 1995
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