November 13th, 2023
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What is the difference between UuidToString, StringFromCLSID, StringFromIID, and StringFromGUID2?

Raymond Chen

This is the counterpart article to What’s the difference between UuidFromString, IIDFromString, CLSIDFromString, GUIDFromString….

Here’s the table:

Function Output
Buffer management Character set support
Uuid­To­String xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
Free with Rpc­String­Free ANSI and Unicode
String­From­IID {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
Free with Co­Task­Mem­Free Unicode only
String­From­CLSID {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
Free with Co­Task­Mem­Free Unicode only
String­From­GUID2 {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
Provided by caller Unicode only

Since the size of a stringized GUID/UUID/IID is fixed, String­From­GUID2 is probably the most convenient function to use, since you can just have it generate the string into its final destination.

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Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

2 comments

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  • Solomon Ucko

    What’s the difference between 

    String­From­IID

    and 

    String­From­CLSID

    ?

  • Neil Rashbrook · Edited

    (The atom feed contains a leading newline, which makes the XML invalid.)

    (Edit: Since fixed, thank you!)

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