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

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(P)
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