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ICONV(1) Linux User Manual ICONV(1)
NAME
iconv - convert text from one character encoding to another
SYNOPSIS
iconv [options] [-f from-encoding] [-t to-encoding] [inputfile]...
DESCRIPTION
The iconv program reads in text in one encoding and outputs the text in another encoding.
If no input files are given, or if it is given as a dash (-), iconv reads from standard
input. If no output file is given, iconv writes to standard output.
If no from-encoding is given, the default is derived from the current locale's character
encoding. If no to-encoding is given, the default is derived from the current locale's
character encoding.
OPTIONS
-f from-encoding, --from-code=from-encoding
Use from-encoding for input characters.
-t to-encoding, --to-code=to-encoding
Use to-encoding for output characters.
If the string //IGNORE is appended to to-encoding, characters that cannot be con‐
verted are discarded and an error is printed after conversion.
If the string //TRANSLIT is appended to to-encoding, characters being converted are
transliterated when needed and possible. This means that when a character cannot
be represented in the target character set, it can be approximated through one or
several similar looking characters. Characters that are outside of the target
character set and cannot be transliterated are replaced with a question mark (?) in
the output.
-l, --list
List all known character set encodings.
-c Silently discard characters that cannot be converted instead of terminating when
encountering such characters.
-o outputfile, --output=outputfile
Use outputfile for output.
-s, --silent
This option is ignored; it is provided only for compatibility.
--verbose
Print progress information on standard error when processing multiple files.
-?, --help
Print a usage summary and exit.
--usage
Print a short usage summary and exit.
-V, --version
Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty for iconv.
EXIT STATUS
Zero on success, non-zero on errors.
ENVIRONMENT
Internally, the iconv program uses the iconv(3) function which in turn uses gconv modules
(dynamically loaded shared libraries) to convert to and from a character set. Before
calling iconv(3), the iconv program must first allocate a conversion descriptor using
iconv_open(3). The operation of the latter function is influenced by the setting of the
GCONV_PATH environment variable:
* If GCONV_PATH is not set, iconv_open(3) loads the system gconv module configuration
cache file created by iconvconfig(8) and then, based on the configuration, loads the
gconv modules needed to perform the conversion. If the system gconv module configura‐
tion cache file is not available then the system gconv module configuration file is
used.
* If GCONV_PATH is defined (as a colon-separated list of pathnames), the system gconv
module configuration cache is not used. Instead, iconv_open(3) first tries to load the
configuration files by searching the directories in GCONV_PATH in order, followed by
the system default gconv module configuration file. If a directory does not contain a
gconv module configuration file, any gconv modules that it may contain are ignored. If
a directory contains a gconv module configuration file and it is determined that a mod‐
ule needed for this conversion is available in the directory, then the needed module is
loaded from that directory, the order being such that the first suitable module found
in GCONV_PATH is used. This allows users to use custom modules and even replace sys‐
tem-provided modules by providing such modules in GCONV_PATH directories.
FILES
/usr/lib/gconv
Usual default gconv module path.
/usr/lib/gconv/gconv-modules
Usual system default gconv module configuration file.
/usr/lib/gconv/gconv-modules.cache
Usual system gconv module configuration cache.
CONFORMING TO
POSIX.1-2001.
EXAMPLE
Convert text from the ISO 8859-15 character encoding to UTF-8:
$ iconv -f ISO-8859-15 -t UTF-8 < input.txt > output.txt
The next example converts from UTF-8 to ASCII, transliterating when possible:
$ echo abc ß α € àḃç | iconv -f UTF-8 -t ASCII//TRANSLIT
abc ss ? EUR abc
SEE ALSO
locale(1), iconv(3), nl_langinfo(3), charsets(7), iconvconfig(8)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.74 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the
project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be
found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
GNU 2014-07-08 ICONV(1)
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