Marshal::PtrToStringAuto Method (IntPtr)

.NET Framework (current version)

Allocates a managed String and copies all characters up to the first null character from a string stored in unmanaged memory into it.

Namespace: System.Runtime.InteropServices
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

C++

public:
[SecurityCriticalAttribute]
static String^ PtrToStringAuto(
	IntPtr ptr
)

Parameters

ptr

Type: System::IntPtr

For Unicode platforms, the address of the first Unicode character.

-or-

For ANSI plaforms, the address of the first ANSI character.

Return Value

Type: System::String^

A managed string that holds a copy of the unmanaged string if the value of the ptr parameter is not null; otherwise, this method returns null.

Remarks

If the current platform is Unicode, each ANSI character is widened to a Unicode character and this method calls PtrToStringUni. Otherwise, this method calls PtrToStringAnsi.

PtrToStringAuto is useful for custom marshaling or when mixing managed and unmanaged code. Because this method creates a copy of the unmanaged string's contents, you must free the original string as appropriate. PtrToStringAuto provides the opposite functionality of the Marshal::StringToCoTaskMemAuto and Marshal::StringToHGlobalAuto methods.