Macro alternative to _T("char") or _TEXT("char")

Question

I know that the _T(x) macro converts a string literal to a unicode/multibyte string based on a define, however I find it very annoying that I must make a underscore and the parenthesis, it really confuses me, I'm not quiet fluent with macros so I don't know, is there a way to detect all string literals and convert them to a proper unicode/multibyte string?

Answer 1

No, there isn't a way to avoid the macro completely if you want your code to be portable on Windows. You can of course define your own macro like #define t(x) whatever_T_does if you want to save yourself some keystrokes, but this will probably anger future maintainers of your code.

Answer 2

_T() and _TEXT() are C runtime macros, not Win32 macros. TEXT() (no underscore) is the Win32 macro. Even though they essentially do the same thing, you should use C runtime macros only with C functions, and Win32 macros with Win32 functions. Don't mix them.

Answer 3

Do you really need the ability to compile for both multibyte and Unicode? You don't need any macro if you want multibyte. In a Unicode app it is easier to use L"literal string", which does not need the underscore or the parentheses.