What does "L" in front of string mean?

[Three5Eight]

I used Visual C++ Express 2005 and seen this code.

this->Name = S"Form1";

Now I am using Visual C++ Express 2008 and I see this code.

this->Name = L"Form1";

I do not understand what the "S" and "L" are used for. I use C# mainly and have never seen this before. I searched on the Internet and found some examples. I read two articles about wide-character literals or something similar.

Neither of the articles made any since to me. I'm more confused now then I was before I read them.

Why do I need those characters in front of my strings, and what happens if I don't use them?


I think this might even be a Managed C++ issue, but I'm not sure where it fits.

[TheCPUWizard]

They are used to control UNICODE with respect to literals.

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