GetWindowText

The GetWindowText function copies the text of the specified window's title bar (if it has one) into a buffer. If the specified window is a control, the text of the control is copied. However, GetWindowText cannot retrieve the text of a control in another application.

int GetWindowText(
  HWND hWnd,        // handle to window or control with text
  LPTSTR lpString,  // address of buffer for text
  int nMaxCount     // maximum number of characters to copy
);
 

Parameters

hWnd

Handle to the window or control containing the text.

lpString

Pointer to the buffer that will receive the text.

nMaxCount

Specifies the maximum number of characters to copy to the buffer, including the NULL character. If the text exceeds this limit, it is truncated.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is the length, in characters, of the copied string, not including the terminating null character. If the window has no title bar or text, if the title bar is empty, or if the window or control handle is invalid, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

This function cannot retrieve the text of an edit control in another application.

Remarks

If the target window is owned by the current process, GetWindowText causes a WM_GETTEXT message to be sent to the specified window or control. If the target window is owned by another process and has a caption, GetWindowText retrieves the window caption text. If the window does not have a caption, the return value is a null string.

QuickInfo

  Windows NT: Requires version 3.1 or later.
  Windows: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Windows CE: Requires version 1.0 or later.
  Header: Declared in winuser.h.
  Import Library: Use user32.lib.
  Unicode: Implemented as Unicode and ANSI versions on Windows NT.

See Also

Windows Overview, Window Functions, GetWindowTextLength, SetWindowText, WM_GETTEXT