iconv - convert text from one character encoding to another
iconv [
options] [-f
from-encoding] [-t
to-encoding]
[
inputfile]...
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.
- -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 converted 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.
Zero on success, nonzero on errors.
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
configuration 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 module 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 system-provided modules by providing such modules
in GCONV_PATH directories.
- /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.
POSIX.1-2001.
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
locale(1),
iconv(3),
nl_langinfo(3),
charsets(7),
iconvconfig(8)
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description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest
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https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.