What is the difference between std::cout and std::wcout?

Question

In c++ what is the difference between std::cout and std::wcout?

They both control output to a stream buffer or print stuff to the console, or are they just alike ?

Answer 1

They operate on different character types:

• std::cout uses char as character type
• std::wcout uses wchar_t as character type

Otherwise both streams write to standard output.

Answer 2

Another thing is that both are used with respected input stream.

Objects of these are initialized during or before the first time an object of std::ios_base::Init is created.

• std::cout is std::basic_ios::tie'd to std::cin and to std::cerr
• std:wcout is std::basic_ios::tie'd to std::wcin and to std::wcerr