TextOut

TextOut is a function in the Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) used to render a sequence of characters at a specified location within a device context (DC). It draws text using the font currently selected into the DC and respects the current text color, background mode, and mapping mode. In the commonly used MM_TEXT mode, the x and y coordinates designate the reference point for the text, typically the left edge of the baseline of the first character.

In the Win32 API, there are two character-set variants: TextOutA for ANSI strings and TextOutW for Unicode strings. The generic name TextOut resolves to TextOutW in Unicode builds. The function signatures are typically presented as BOOL TextOut(HDC hdc, int x, int y, LPCSTR lpString, int cchString) for ANSI or BOOL TextOut(HDC hdc, int x, int y, LPCWSTR lpString, int cchString) for Unicode, with the return value indicating success (nonzero) or failure (zero).

Parameters include the device context handle (HDC hdc), the x and y coordinates of the reference point, a pointer to the character string (lpString), and the length of the string in characters (cchString). The function does not return the number of characters drawn; it returns a success indicator. If cchString is zero or the string is empty, nothing is drawn.

TextOut is suitable for simple text rendering but not for complex layouts. For advanced text layout, applications may use DrawText or ExtTextOut, and to measure text extents, GetTextExtentPoint32 or related functions can be employed.