ef-width

Arguments: external-format

This function returns the number of octets it takes to build a character in the argument external-format. It may have an integer value or the value character. The width slot of an external format is used to optimize listen techniques in a stream; by default listen requires at least ef-width octets to be available before returning true. Normally this means having to go through the process of building a character, but in simple formats, like latin1, availability of a single octet can allow a true return from listen.

In releases prior to 6.1, the no-longer-defined function ef-size was used for both the width (returned now by this function) and the nulls size (returned by ef-nulls).

See def-external-format. See iacl.htm for more information on international character support in Allegro CL.

Copyright (c) 1998-2001, Franz Inc. Berkeley, CA., USA. All rights reserved.
Documentation for Allegro CL version 6.1 update # 1. This page was not revised.
Created 2001.12.15.