Tribblix: manual page: iconv.1

ICONV(1) User Commands ICONV(1)

NAME

iconv - code set conversion utility

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 converts the characters or sequences of characters
in file from one code set to another and writes the results to
standard output. If no conversion exists for a particular character,
an implementation-defined conversion is performed on this character.

The list of supported conversions and the locations of the associated
conversion tables are provided in the iconv(7) manual page.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-c
Omits 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 depend on the
specified codesets for the conversion. Invalid
characters can be either those that are not valid
characters in the codeset of the input file or
those that have no corresponding character in the
codeset of the output file. The presence or absence
of -c does not affect the exit status of iconv.
When fromcode is specified for the fromcodeset of
the -f option or tocode is specified for the
tocodeset of the -t option, the specification of -c
may be ignored.

-f fromcodeset
Identifies the code set of the input file. The
following two forms of the fromcodeset option-
argument are recognized:

fromcode
The fromcode option-argument must not
contain a slash (/) character. It is
interpreted as the name of one of the
codeset descriptions.

frommap
The frommap option-argument must
contain a slash character. It is
interpreted as the pathname of a
charmap file as defined in charmap(7).
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 is used.

-l
Writes all supported fromcode and tocode values to
standard output.

-s
Suppresses any messages written to standard error
concerning invalid characters. When -s is not used,
the results of encountering invalid characters in
the input stream depend on the specified codesets
for the conversion. Invalid characters can be
either those that are not valid characters in the
codeset of the input file or those that have no
corresponding character in the codeset of the
output file. The presence or absence of -s does not
affect the exit status of iconv. When fromcode is
specified for the fromcodeset of the -f option or
tocode is specified for the tocodeset of the -t
option, the specification of -s may be ignored.

-t tocodeset
Identifies the code set used for the output file.
The following two forms of the tocodeset option-
argument are recognized:

tocode
The tocode option-argument must not
contain a slash (/) character. It is
interpreted as the name of one of the
codeset descriptions.

tomap
The tomap option-argument must contain a
slash character. It is interpreted as the
pathname of a charmap file as defined in
charmap(7). 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 is used.

If either -f or -t represents a charmap file but the other does not,
or is omitted, or if both -f and -t are omitted, iconv fails as an
error.

OPERANDS

The following operands are supported:

file
A path name of an input file. If no file operands are
specified, or if a file operand is '-', the standard input is
used.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Converting and storing files

The following example converts the contents of file mail1 from code
set 8859 to 646fr and stores the results in file mail.local:

example% iconv -f 8859 -t 646fr mail1 > mail.local

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of iconv: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion.

1
An error has occurred.

FILES

/usr/lib/iconv/iconv_data
list of conversions supported by
conversion tables

ATTRIBUTES

NOTES

Make sure that both charmap files use the same symbolic names for
characters the two codesets have in common.

The output format of the -l option is unspecified. The -l option is
not intended for shell script usage.

When fromcode or tocode is specified for the codeset conversion,
iconv uses the iconv_open(3C) function. If iconv_open(3C) fails to
open the specified codeset conversion, iconv searches for an
appropriate conversion table. As for the supported codeset conversion
by iconv_open(3C), please refer to iconv(7) and iconv_locale(7).

November 14, 2003 ICONV(1)