=pod

=head1 NAME

ASN1_STRING_dup, ASN1_STRING_cmp, ASN1_STRING_set, ASN1_STRING_length,
ASN1_STRING_length_set, ASN1_STRING_type, ASN1_STRING_data, ASN1_STRING_to_UTF8 -
ASN1_STRING utility functions

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 #include <openssl/asn1.h>

 int ASN1_STRING_length(ASN1_STRING *x);
 unsigned char * ASN1_STRING_data(ASN1_STRING *x);

 ASN1_STRING * ASN1_STRING_dup(ASN1_STRING *a);

 int ASN1_STRING_cmp(ASN1_STRING *a, ASN1_STRING *b);

 int ASN1_STRING_set(ASN1_STRING *str, const void *data, int len);

 int ASN1_STRING_type(ASN1_STRING *x);

 int ASN1_STRING_to_UTF8(unsigned char **out, ASN1_STRING *in);

=head1 DESCRIPTION

These functions allow an B<ASN1_STRING> structure to be manipulated.

ASN1_STRING_length() returns the length of the content of B<x>.

ASN1_STRING_data() returns an internal pointer to the data of B<x>.
Since this is an internal pointer it should B<not> be freed or
modified in any way.

ASN1_STRING_dup() returns a copy of the structure B<a>.

ASN1_STRING_cmp() compares B<a> and B<b> returning 0 if the two
are identical. The string types and content are compared.

ASN1_STRING_set() sets the data of string B<str> to the buffer
B<data> or length B<len>. The supplied data is copied. If B<len>
is -1 then the length is determined by strlen(data).

ASN1_STRING_type() returns the type of B<x>, using standard constants
such as B<V_ASN1_OCTET_STRING>.

ASN1_STRING_to_UTF8() converts the string B<in> to UTF8 format, the
converted data is allocated in a buffer in B<*out>. The length of
B<out> is returned or a negative error code. The buffer B<*out>
should be free using OPENSSL_free().

=head1 NOTES

Almost all ASN1 types in OpenSSL are represented as an B<ASN1_STRING>
structure. Other types such as B<ASN1_OCTET_STRING> are simply typedefed
to B<ASN1_STRING> and the functions call the B<ASN1_STRING> equivalents.
B<ASN1_STRING> is also used for some B<CHOICE> types which consist
entirely of primitive string types such as B<DirectoryString> and
B<Time>.

These functions should B<not> be used to examine or modify B<ASN1_INTEGER>
or B<ASN1_ENUMERATED> types: the relevant B<INTEGER> or B<ENUMERATED>
utility functions should be used instead.

In general it cannot be assumed that the data returned by ASN1_STRING_data()
is null terminated or does not contain embedded nulls. The actual format
of the data will depend on the actual string type itself: for example
for an IA5String the data will be ASCII, for a BMPString two bytes per
character in big endian format, and for an UTF8String it will be in UTF8 format.

Similar care should be take to ensure the data is in the correct format
when calling ASN1_STRING_set().

=head1 RETURN VALUES

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>

=head1 HISTORY

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