libiconv (1.17)
Browse
Usage
VersionsICONV(1) Linux Programmer's Manual ICONV(1)
NAME
iconv - character set conversion
SYNOPSIS
iconv [OPTION...] [-f encoding] [-t encoding] [inputfile ...]
iconv -l
DESCRIPTION
The iconv program converts text from one encoding to another encoding. More precisely, it converts from the en‐
coding given for the -f option to the encoding given for the -t option. Either of these encodings defaults to the
encoding of the current locale. All the inputfiles are read and converted in turn; if no inputfile is given, the
standard input is used. The converted text is printed to standard output.
The encodings permitted are system dependent. For the libiconv implementation, they are listed in the
iconv_open(3) manual page.
Options controlling the input and output format:
-f encoding, --from-code=encoding
Specifies the encoding of the input.
-t encoding, --to-code=encoding
Specifies the encoding of the output.
Options controlling conversion problems:
-c When this option is given, characters that cannot be converted are silently discarded, instead of leading
to a conversion error.
--unicode-subst=formatstring
When this option is given, Unicode characters that cannot be represented in the target encoding are re‐
placed with a placeholder string that is constructed from the given formatstring, applied to the Unicode
code point. The formatstring must be a format string in the same format as for the printf command or the
printf() function, taking either no argument or exactly one unsigned integer argument.
--byte-subst=formatstring
When this option is given, bytes in the input that are not valid in the source encoding are replaced with
a placeholder string that is constructed from the given formatstring, applied to the byte's value. The
formatstring must be a format string in the same format as for the printf command or the printf() func‐
tion, taking either no argument or exactly one unsigned integer argument.
--widechar-subst=formatstring
When this option is given, wide characters in the input that are not valid in the source encoding are re‐
placed with a placeholder string that is constructed from the given formatstring, applied to the byte's
value. The formatstring must be a format string in the same format as for the printf command or the
printf() function, taking either no argument or exactly one unsigned integer argument.
Options controlling error output:
-s, --silent
When this option is given, error messages about invalid or unconvertible characters are omitted, but the
actual converted text is unaffected.
The iconv -l or iconv --list command lists the names of the supported encodings, in a system dependent format.
For the libiconv implementation, the names are printed in upper case, separated by whitespace, and alias names of
an encoding are listed on the same line as the encoding itself.
EXAMPLES
iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8
converts input from the old West-European encoding ISO-8859-1 to Unicode.
iconv -f KOI8-R --byte-subst="<0x%x>"
--unicode-subst="<U+%04X>"
converts input from the old Russian encoding KOI8-R to the locale encoding, substituting an angle bracket
notation with hexadecimal numbers for invalid bytes and for valid but unconvertible characters.
iconv --list
lists the supported encodings.
CONFORMING TO
POSIX:2001
SEE ALSO
iconv_open(3), locale(7)
GNU March 31, 2007 ICONV(1)
NAME
iconv - character set conversion
SYNOPSIS
iconv [OPTION...] [-f encoding] [-t encoding] [inputfile ...]
iconv -l
DESCRIPTION
The iconv program converts text from one encoding to another encoding. More precisely, it converts from the en‐
coding given for the -f option to the encoding given for the -t option. Either of these encodings defaults to the
encoding of the current locale. All the inputfiles are read and converted in turn; if no inputfile is given, the
standard input is used. The converted text is printed to standard output.
The encodings permitted are system dependent. For the libiconv implementation, they are listed in the
iconv_open(3) manual page.
Options controlling the input and output format:
-f encoding, --from-code=encoding
Specifies the encoding of the input.
-t encoding, --to-code=encoding
Specifies the encoding of the output.
Options controlling conversion problems:
-c When this option is given, characters that cannot be converted are silently discarded, instead of leading
to a conversion error.
--unicode-subst=formatstring
When this option is given, Unicode characters that cannot be represented in the target encoding are re‐
placed with a placeholder string that is constructed from the given formatstring, applied to the Unicode
code point. The formatstring must be a format string in the same format as for the printf command or the
printf() function, taking either no argument or exactly one unsigned integer argument.
--byte-subst=formatstring
When this option is given, bytes in the input that are not valid in the source encoding are replaced with
a placeholder string that is constructed from the given formatstring, applied to the byte's value. The
formatstring must be a format string in the same format as for the printf command or the printf() func‐
tion, taking either no argument or exactly one unsigned integer argument.
--widechar-subst=formatstring
When this option is given, wide characters in the input that are not valid in the source encoding are re‐
placed with a placeholder string that is constructed from the given formatstring, applied to the byte's
value. The formatstring must be a format string in the same format as for the printf command or the
printf() function, taking either no argument or exactly one unsigned integer argument.
Options controlling error output:
-s, --silent
When this option is given, error messages about invalid or unconvertible characters are omitted, but the
actual converted text is unaffected.
The iconv -l or iconv --list command lists the names of the supported encodings, in a system dependent format.
For the libiconv implementation, the names are printed in upper case, separated by whitespace, and alias names of
an encoding are listed on the same line as the encoding itself.
EXAMPLES
iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8
converts input from the old West-European encoding ISO-8859-1 to Unicode.
iconv -f KOI8-R --byte-subst="<0x%x>"
--unicode-subst="<U+%04X>"
converts input from the old Russian encoding KOI8-R to the locale encoding, substituting an angle bracket
notation with hexadecimal numbers for invalid bytes and for valid but unconvertible characters.
iconv --list
lists the supported encodings.
CONFORMING TO
POSIX:2001
SEE ALSO
iconv_open(3), locale(7)
GNU March 31, 2007 ICONV(1)