iconv(1) DG/UX R4.11MU05 iconv(1)
NAME
iconv - code set conversion
SYNOPSIS
iconv -f fromcode -t tocode [-m mode] [file(s)]
DESCRIPTION
Iconv converts the encoding of characters in file(s) from one code
set to another and writes the results to standard output.
The required arguments fromcode and tocode identify the input and
output code sets, respectively. The optional argument mode provides
a further distinction between multiple code set maps for the same
fromcode and tocode. If no file(s) arguments are specified on the
command line, iconv reads the standard input.
Iconv uses the database file /usr/lib/kbd/iconvdata. This file has
4 required fields fromcode, tocode, table, file and one optional
field mode. The order of the database fields is as named above. The
database fields are separated by spaces or tabs, and the database
rows are separated by newlines.
Iconv matches the required arguments fromcode and tocode and the
optional argument mode to the corresponding fields in the database.
The field mode does not have to be uniformly included or excluded
from the database, i.e. it may be included in some rows and not in
others. If the argument mode is not included in the iconv command
line, iconv will match the first row found that contains the correct
fromcode and tocode fields, ignoring any mode fields.
The naming conventions in the database are left entirely up to the
user. However, absolute pathnames are required for the file fields
not located in /usr/lib/kbd, as kbdpipe assumes that any file in the
"-f file" argument that does not begin with "/" will be found in
/usr/lib/kbd.
The codeset conversions supported in the supplied database are given
in the table below.
+---------------------------------------------+
| Code Set Conversions Supported |
|fromcode tocode modes comment |
+---------------------------------------------+
|ASCII 88591 d b e p |
|88591 ASCII d b e p |
|6937 88591 Teletext |
|88591 6937 Teletext |
|646 88591 d US Ascii |
|646DE 88591 d German |
|646DK 88591 d Danish |
|646GB 88591 d English Ascii |
|646ES 88591 d Spanish |
|646FR 88591 d French |
|646IT 88591 d Italian |
|646NO 88591 d Norwegian |
|646SE 88591 d Swedish |
|646PT 88591 d Portuguese |
|646YU 88592 d Serbo Croatian |
|88591 646 d b e p 7 bit Ascii |
|88592 646 d b e |
|88591 646DE d b e p German |
|88591 646DK d b e p Danish |
|88591 646GB d b e p English Ascii |
|88591 646ES d b e p Spanish |
|88591 646FR d b e p French |
|88591 646IT d b e p Italian |
|88591 646NO d b e p Norwegian |
|88591 646SE d b e p Swedish |
|88591 646PT d b e Portuguese |
|88592 646YU d Serbo Croatian |
|PC437 88591 d b e p |
|88591 PC437 d b e p |
|PC850 88591 d b e |
|88591 PC850 d b e p |
|PC860 88591 d b e |
|88591 PC860 d b e |
|PC863 88591 d b e |
|88591 PC863 d b e |
|PC865 88591 d b e |
|88591 PC865 d b e |
+-+---------------------------------------------+-+
| Code Set Conversions Supported |
|fromcode tocode modes comment |
+-------------------------------------------------+
|PC437 ASCII d b e |
|PC850 ASCII d b e |
|PC860 ASCII d b e |
|PC863 ASCII d b e |
|PC865 ASCII d b e |
|ASCII 88591 d b e |
|ASCII EBCDIC d |
|EBCDIC ASCII d |
|ASCII IBM_EBCDIC d |
|PC437 EBCDIC d |
|EBCDIC PC437 d |
|PC437 IBM_EBCDIC d |
|88591 ROMAN8 d HP LaserJet II |
|88591 VT220 d b e |
|VT220 88591 d b e |
|88592 646 d b e |
|88593 646 d b e |
|88594 646 d b e |
|88595 646 d b e |
|88597 646 d b e |
|dgi 88591 d b e p |
|88591 dgi d b e p |
+-------------------------------------------------+
The fromcodes and tocodes 88591, 646 and 6937 correspond to the
International Standards ISO 8859-1, ISO 646 and ISO 6937
respectively.
The optional modes, d, b, e and p, have the following meaning:
d default
Any character that cannot be represented is mapped to the
"Ultimate fall back character" which in the tables supplied
is the underscore character '_'.
b best fit with no expansion
Characters are where possible, mapped to the closest
approximation of that character but always without
expansion, i.e., all the character mappings are one-to-one.
This will be important, for example, when using curses-
based applications where any expansion of a character
representation would affect the screen
management. [If such code set mapping are
performed by the STREAMS-module in the TTY sub-system then
such mappings will be transparent, and the application will
have no knowledge that these mappings take place.]
e best fit with expansion
Characters of the source code set are, where possible,
mapped to the closest approximation of that character in
the target code set. Where necessary, the character in the
source code set is expanded to a sequence of characters in
the target code set.
p Printer mode - with overstriking.
If there is a non-destructive backspace, as exists on many
printers, then some characters that are not available can
be displayed by overstriking. In this way many accented
characters can be displayed.
EXAMPLES
An example of a database for iconv is below, with the following
fields:
fromcode tocode table file mode
(the above field names are not included in the database).
----------------------------------------------------------
88591 6937 88591.6937.b pubfile b
88591 6937 pubtable 88591.6937.d.t d
646 646DE togerman /mydir/togerman
Using the above database, the following converts the contents of
files mail1 and mail2 from code set 88591 to 6937 using b mode and
stores the results in file mail.local.
iconv -f 88591 -t 6937 -m b mail1 mail2 > mail.local
The following will accomplish the same result as above, as the b mode
from code set 88591 to 6937 will be the first row found containing
the correct match.
iconv -f 88591 -t 6937 mail1 mail2 > mail.local
FILES
/usr/lib/kbd/iconvdata default database
EXIT CODES
The exit status will be set with 0 upon successful completion, 1
otherwise.
SEE ALSO
kbdcomp(1M), kbdset(1), kbdload(1M), kbdpipe(1), conv(3C),
attkbd(7).
Licensed material--property of copyright holder(s)