How to convert wstring to wchar_t*? C++

There is no way to convert wstring to wchar_t* but you can convert it to const wchar_t* which is what answer by K.Kirsz says.

This is by design because you can access a const pointer but you shouldn't manipulate the pointer. See a related question and its answers.

The best bet is to create a new string using _wcsdup and access the non const buffer, an ascii example is given there.

For unicode:

    wstring str = L"I am a unicode string";
    wchar_t* ptr = _wcsdup(str.c_str());
    // use ptr here....
    free(ptr); // free memory when done

I just had this same question and arrived here. Posting my answer a few years later, but this works:

std::wstring wname1 = L"wide string";
wchar_t wname2[1024];
wcscpy(wname2, wname1.c_str());
wchar_t* pfoo = new wchar_t[1024];
wcscpy(pfoo, wname1.c_str());