iconv - code set conversion utility
iconv [-cs] -f frommap -t tomap [file]...
iconv -f fromcode [-cs] [-t tocode] [file]...
iconv -t tocode [-cs] [-f fromcode] [file]...
iconv -l
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
The following exit values are returned:
0
Successful completion.
1
An error has occurred.
/usr/lib/iconv/iconv_data
list of conversions supported by conversion tables
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
| ATTRIBUTE
TYPE |
ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
| Interface Stability |
Standard |
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).