iconv(1) User Commands iconv(1)NAMEiconv - code set conversion utility
SYNOPSISiconv [-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 imple‐
mentation-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(5) 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 fol‐
lowing 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(5). 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 char‐
acter 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 from‐
codeset 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 inter‐
preted 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(5). If the pathname does not repre‐
sent 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 speci‐
fied, 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(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of iconv: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES‐
SAGES, 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 conver‐
sion tables
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWcs │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │Committed │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Standard │See standards(5). │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOiconv(3C), iconv_open(3C), attributes(5), charmap(5), environ(5),
iconv(5), iconv_unicode(5), standards(5)NOTES
Make sure that both charmap files use the same symbolic names for char‐
acters 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 conver‐
sion table. As for the supported codeset conversion by iconv_open(3C),
please refer to iconv(5) and iconv_locale(5).
SunOS 5.11 14 Nov 2003 iconv(1)