[Bug c/20410] New: Add support for UTF-16 string syntax to C and C++

["grhoten at jtcsv dot com" <gcc-bugzilla at gcc dot gnu dot org>]

This is a request for enhancement. Please add platform independent UTF-16 string
syntax (platform independent means not using wchar_t). The variability of the
wchar_t type makes it unsuitable for UTF-16 strings. This request is to
implement ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG14's technical report that is titled, "Extensions
for the programming language C to support new character data types". A copy of
the technical report can be found here:
http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1040.pdf

There are already several compilers that support the u"" string syntax. IBM
Visual Age 7 and HP-UX aCC A.03.37 are two compilers that support the u""
syntax. Several other compilers already support UTF-16 strings through other
types of syntax (using U"" or L""). gcc is one of the few compilers that has no
UTF-16 syntax in the compiler.

Our project doesn't need any of the functions or the UTF-32 type that are
mentioned in the technical report. The ability to declare a UTF-16 string as
u"This is my string with a \u03BC" would be very helpful to us.

-- 
           Summary: Add support for UTF-16 string syntax to C and C++
           Product: gcc
           Version: unknown
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: c
        AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org
        ReportedBy: grhoten at jtcsv dot com
                CC: gcc-bugs at gcc dot gnu dot org


http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=20410