ASN1_STRING_length(3)

     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 utility
          functions

     SYNOPSIS
           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);


     DESCRIPTION
          These functions allow an ASN1_STRING structure to be
          manipulated.

          ASN1_STRING_length() returns the length of the content of x.

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

          ASN1_STRING_dup() returns a copy of the structure a.

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

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

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

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

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

          These functions should not be used to examine or modify
          ASN1_INTEGER or ASN1_ENUMERATED types: the relevant INTEGER
          or 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 and IA5String
          the data will be ASCII, for a BMPString two bytes per
          character in big endian format, UTF8String will be in UTF8
          format.

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

     RETURN VALUES
     SEE ALSO
          ERR_get_error(3)

     HISTORY