What does the 'L' in front a string mean in C++?

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this->textBox1->Name = L"textBox1";

Although it seems to work without the L, what is the purpose of the prefix? The way it is used doesn't even make sense to a hardcore C programmer.

7 Answers

Here is an example of the usage: By adding L before the char you can return Unicode characters as char32_t type:

          char32_t utfRepresentation()
      {
                if (m_is_white)
                {
                          return L'♔';
                }

                return L'♚';

      };
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