https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=38678
--- Comment #6 from Jonathan Wakely <redi at gcc dot gnu.org> --- MSVC and libc++ both behave the same as libstdc++, calling rdbuf()->sgetn(): https://github.com/microsoft/STL/blob/e36ee6c2b9bc6f5b1f70776c18cf5d3a93a69798/stl/inc/istream#L522 https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/525c25acd364f018b4fa55e941bd702587478b1c/libcxx/include/istream#L897 I think at this point it seems pretty clear we should open a new issue as the istream counterpart to https://cplusplus.github.io/LWG/issue165 and make the spec match reality. I can't find an issue on the topic from Martin, so I don't think it was ever opened.