What is the L for in wcout<

Question

What is the difference between

std::wcout << "some text" ;

and

std::wcout <<L "some text";

?

I couldn't find information on what the L is used for.

Answer 1

The L doesn't belong to the wcout but to the string literal.

See from the reference linked above

2) Wide string literal. The type of a L"..." string literal is const wchar_t[]

Answer 2

L "blah blah" is a wide string literal (const wchar_t[]), hence why you're using wcout rather than cout.