Command Section

ICONV(3)               FreeBSD Library Functions Manual               ICONV(3)

NAME
     iconv_open, iconv_open_into, iconv_close, iconv - codeset conversion
     functions

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <iconv.h>

     iconv_t
     iconv_open(const char *dstname, const char *srcname);

     int
     iconv_open_into(const char *dstname, const char *srcname,
         iconv_allocation_t *ptr);

     int
     iconv_close(iconv_t cd);

     size_t
     iconv(iconv_t cd, char ** restrict src, size_t * restrict srcleft,
         char ** restrict dst, size_t * restrict dstleft);

     size_t
     __iconv(iconv_t cd, char ** restrict src, size_t * restrict srcleft,
         char ** restrict dst, size_t * restrict dstleft, uint32_t flags,
         size_t * invalids);

DESCRIPTION
     The iconv_open() function opens a converter from the codeset srcname to
     the codeset dstname and returns its descriptor.  The arguments srcname
     and dstname accept "" and "char", which refer to the current locale
     encoding.

     The iconv_open_into() creates a conversion descriptor on a preallocated
     space.  The iconv_allocation_t is used as a spaceholder type when
     allocating such space.  The dstname and srcname arguments are the same as
     in the case of iconv_open().  The ptr argument is a pointer of
     iconv_allocation_t to the preallocated space.

     The iconv_close() function closes the specified converter cd.

     The iconv() function converts the string in the buffer *src of length
     *srcleft bytes and stores the converted string in the buffer *dst of size
     *dstleft bytes.  After calling iconv(), the values pointed to by src,
     srcleft, dst, and dstleft are updated as follows:

     *src      Pointer to the byte just after the last character fetched.

     *srcleft  Number of remaining bytes in the source buffer.

     *dst      Pointer to the byte just after the last character stored.

     *dstleft  Number of remainder bytes in the destination buffer.

     If the string pointed to by *src contains a byte sequence which is not a
     valid character in the source codeset, the conversion stops just after
     the last successful conversion.  If the output buffer is too small to
     store the converted character, the conversion also stops in the same way.
     In these cases, the values pointed to by src, srcleft, dst, and dstleft
     are updated to the state just after the last successful conversion.

     If the string pointed to by *src contains a character which is valid
     under the source codeset but can not be converted to the destination
     codeset, the character is replaced by an "invalid character" which
     depends on the destination codeset, e.g., `?', and the conversion is
     continued.  iconv() returns the number of such "invalid conversions".

     There are two special cases of iconv():

     src == NULL || *src == NULL
           If the source and/or destination codesets are stateful, iconv()
           places these into their initial state.

           If both dst and *dst are non-NULL, iconv() stores the shift
           sequence for the destination switching to the initial state in the
           buffer pointed to by *dst.  The buffer size is specified by the
           value pointed to by dstleft as above.  iconv() will fail if the
           buffer is too small to store the shift sequence.

           On the other hand, dst or *dst may be NULL.  In this case, the
           shift sequence for the destination switching to the initial state
           is discarded.

     The __iconv() function works just like iconv() but if iconv() fails, the
     invalid character count is lost there.  This is a not bug rather a
     limitation of IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1"), so __iconv() is provided
     as an alternative but non-standard interface.  It also has a flags
     argument, where currently the following flags can be passed:

     __ICONV_F_HIDE_INVALID
           Skip invalid characters, instead of returning with an error.

RETURN VALUES
     Upon successful completion of iconv_open(), it returns a conversion
     descriptor.  Otherwise, iconv_open() returns (iconv_t)-1 and sets errno
     to indicate the error.

     Upon successful completion of iconv_open_into(), it returns 0.
     Otherwise, iconv_open_into() returns -1, and sets errno to indicate the
     error.

     Upon successful completion of iconv_close(), it returns 0.  Otherwise,
     iconv_close() returns -1 and sets errno to indicate the error.

     Upon successful completion of iconv(), it returns the number of "invalid"
     conversions.  Otherwise, iconv() returns (size_t)-1 and sets errno to
     indicate the error.

ERRORS
     The iconv_open() function may cause an error in the following cases:

     [ENOMEM]           Memory is exhausted.

     [EINVAL]           There is no converter specified by srcname and
                        dstname.
     The iconv_open_into() function may cause an error in the following cases:

     [EINVAL]           There is no converter specified by srcname and
                        dstname.

     The iconv_close() function may cause an error in the following case:

     [EBADF]            The conversion descriptor specified by cd is invalid.

     The iconv() function may cause an error in the following cases:

     [EBADF]            The conversion descriptor specified by cd is invalid.

     [EILSEQ]           The string pointed to by *src contains a byte sequence
                        which does not describe a valid character of the
                        source codeset.

     [E2BIG]            The output buffer pointed to by *dst is too small to
                        store the result string.

     [EINVAL]           The string pointed to by *src terminates with an
                        incomplete character or shift sequence.

SEE ALSO
     iconv(1), mkcsmapper(1), mkesdb(1), __iconv_get_list(3),
     iconv_canonicalize(3), iconvctl(3), iconvlist(3)

STANDARDS
     The iconv_open(), iconv_close(), and iconv() functions conform to IEEE
     Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").

     The iconv_open_into() function is a GNU-specific extension and it is not
     part of any standard, thus its use may break portability.  The __iconv()
     function is an own extension and it is not part of any standard, thus its
     use may break portability.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6         August 4, 2014         FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6

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