ICONV_OPEN
Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 2008-08-11
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NAME
iconv_open - allocate descriptor for character set conversion
SYNOPSIS
#include <iconv.h>
iconv_t iconv_open(const char *tocode, const char *fromcode);
DESCRIPTION
The
iconv_open()
function allocates a conversion descriptor suitable
for converting byte sequences from character encoding
fromcode
to
character encoding
tocode.
The values permitted for
fromcode
and
tocode
and the supported
combinations are system-dependent.
For the GNU C library, the permitted
values are listed by the
iconv --list
command, and all combinations
of the listed values are supported.
Furthermore the GNU C library and the
GNU libiconv library support the following two suffixes:
- //TRANSLIT
-
When the string "//TRANSLIT" is appended to
tocode,
transliteration
is activated.
This means that when a character cannot be represented in the
target character set, it can be approximated through one or several
similarly looking characters.
- //IGNORE
-
When the string "//IGNORE" is appended to
tocode,
characters that
cannot be represented in the target character set will be silently discarded.
The resulting conversion descriptor can be used with
iconv(3)
any number of times.
It remains valid until deallocated using
iconv_close(3).
A conversion descriptor contains a conversion state.
After creation using
iconv_open(),
the state is in the initial state.
Using
iconv(3)
modifies the descriptor's conversion state.
(This implies that a conversion
descriptor can not be used in multiple threads simultaneously.)
To bring the state back to the initial state, use
iconv(3)
with NULL as
inbuf
argument.
RETURN VALUE
The
iconv_open()
function returns a freshly allocated conversion
descriptor.
In case of error, it sets
errno
and returns
(iconv_t) -1.
ERRORS
The following error can occur, among others:
- EINVAL
-
The conversion from
fromcode
to
tocode
is not supported by the
implementation.
VERSIONS
This function is available in glibc since version 2.1.
CONFORMING TO
UNIX98, POSIX.1-2001.
SEE ALSO
iconv(1),
iconv(3),
iconv_close(3)
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- RETURN VALUE
-
- ERRORS
-
- VERSIONS
-
- CONFORMING TO
-
- SEE ALSO
-
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