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ICONV(1P)                  POSIX Programmer's Manual                 ICONV(1P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the  corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
       iconv - codeset conversion
SYNOPSIS
       iconv [-cs] -f frommap -t tomap [file ...]
       iconv -f fromcode [-cs] [-t tocode [file ...]
       iconv -t tocode [-cs] [-f fromcode] [file ...]
       iconv -l

DESCRIPTION
       The iconv utility shall convert the encoding of characters in file from
       one codeset to another and write the results to standard output.
       When  the  options  indicate that charmap files are used to specify the
       codesets (see OPTIONS), the codeset conversion shall be accomplished by
       performing  a  logical  join on the symbolic character names in the two
       charmaps. The implementation need not support the use of charmap  files
       for codeset conversion unless the POSIX2_LOCALEDEF symbol is defined on
       the system.
OPTIONS
       The iconv utility shall conform  to  the  Base  Definitions  volume  of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
       The following options shall be supported:
       -c     Omit any characters that are invalid in the codeset of the input
              file from the output. When  -c  is  not  used,  the  results  of
              encountering  invalid  characters  in  the  input stream (either
              those that are not characters in the codeset of the  input  file
              or  that  have  no corresponding character in the codeset of the
              output file) shall be specified in the system documentation. The
              presence  or  absence  of -c shall not affect the exit status of
              iconv.
       -f  fromcodeset
              Identify the codeset of the input file. The implementation shall
              recognize  the  following  two  forms of the fromcodeset option-
              argument:
       fromcode
              The fromcode option-argument must not contain a slash character.
              It  shall  be  interpreted  as  the  name  of one of the codeset
              descriptions provided by the implementation  in  an  unspecified
              format. Valid values of fromcode are implementation-defined.
       frommap
              The  frommap option-argument must contain a slash character.  It
              shall be interpreted as  the  pathname  of  a  charmap  file  as
              defined  in the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
              Section 6.4, Character Set Description  File.  If  the  pathname
              does  not  represent a valid, readable charmap file, the results
              are undefined.

       If this option is omitted, the codeset of the current locale  shall  be
       used.
       -l     Write  all supported fromcode and tocode values to standard out-
              put in an unspecified format.
       -s     Suppress any  messages  written  to  standard  error  concerning
              invalid  characters. When -s is not used, the results of encoun-
              tering invalid characters in the input stream (either those that
              are  not  valid  characters  in the codeset of the input file or
              that have no corresponding character in the codeset of the  out-
              put  file)  shall  be specified in the system documentation. The
              presence or absence of -s shall not affect the  exit  status  of
              iconv.
       -t  tocodeset
              Identify  the codeset to be used for the output file. The imple-
              mentation shall recognize the following two forms of the tocode-
              set option-argument:
       tocode
              The semantics shall be equivalent to the -f fromcode option.
       tomap
              The semantics shall be equivalent to the tomap option.

       If  this  option is omitted, the codeset of the current locale shall be
       used.

       If either -f or -t represents a charmap file, but the  other  does  not
       (or  is  omitted), or both -f and -t are omitted, the results are unde-
       fined.
OPERANDS
       The following operand shall be supported:
       file   A pathname of an input file. If no file operands are  specified,
              or if a file operand is '-', the standard input shall be used.

STDIN
       The  standard  input  shall be used only if no file operands are speci-
       fied, or if a file operand is '-' .
INPUT FILES
       The input file shall be a text file.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment  variables  shall  affect  the  execution  of
       iconv:
       LANG   Provide  a  default value for the internationalization variables
              that are unset or null. (See  the  Base  Definitions  volume  of
              IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  Section  8.2,  Internationalization Vari-
              ables for the precedence of internationalization variables  used
              to determine the values of locale categories.)
       LC_ALL If  set  to a non-empty string value, override the values of all
              the other internationalization variables.
       LC_CTYPE
              Determine the locale for  the  interpretation  of  sequences  of
              bytes  of  text  data as characters (for example, single-byte as
              opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments). During  transla-
              tion  of the file, this variable is superseded by the use of the
              fromcode option-argument.
       LC_MESSAGES
              Determine the locale that should be used to  affect  the  format
              and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
       NLSPATH
              Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
              LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.
STDOUT
       When the -l option is used, the standard output shall contain all  sup-
       ported fromcode and tocode values, written in an unspecified format.
       When  the  -l option is not used, the standard output shall contain the
       sequence of characters read from the input  files,  translated  to  the
       specified  codeset.  Nothing else shall be written to the standard out-
       put.
STDERR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
       None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.
EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:
        0     Successful completion.
       >0     An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.
       The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
       The user must ensure that both charmap  files  use  the  same  symbolic
       names for characters the two codesets have in common.
EXAMPLES
       The  following example converts the contents of file mail.x400 from the
       ISO/IEC 6937:1994 standard codeset to the ISO/IEC 8859-1:1998  standard
       codeset, and stores the results in file mail.local:

              iconv -f IS6937 -t IS8859 mail.x400 > mail.local
RATIONALE
       The  iconv utility can be used portably only when the user provides two
       charmap files as option-arguments. This is  because  a  single  charmap
       provided by the user cannot reliably be joined with the names in a sys-
       tem-provided character set description. The valid values  for  fromcode
       and tocode are implementation-defined and do not have to have any rela-
       tion to the charmap mechanisms. As an aid to interactive users, the  -l
       option was adopted from the Plan 9 operating system. It writes informa-
       tion concerning these  implementation-defined  values.  The  format  is
       unspecified  because  there are many possible useful formats that could
       be chosen, such as a matrix  of  valid  combinations  of  fromcode  and
       tocode.  The -l option is not intended for shell script usage; conform-
       ing applications will have to use charmaps.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.
SEE ALSO
       gencat
COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in  electronic  form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX),  The  Open  Group  Base
       Specifications  Issue  6,  Copyright  (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open  Group.  In  the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard
       is  the  referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
       at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group                  2003                            ICONV(1P)