Ubuntu Manpage: iconv - convert text from one character encoding to another

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

--from-code=from-encoding
-f from-encoding
Use from-encoding for input characters.

--to-code=to-encoding
-t 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.

--list
-l List all known character set encodings.

-c Silently discard characters that cannot be converted instead of terminating when encountering such
characters.

--output=outputfile
-o outputfile
Use outputfile for output.

--silent
-s 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.

--version
-V Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty for iconv.

EXIT STATUS

       Zero on success, nonzero 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 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.

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.

       Depending on the architecture, the above files may instead be located at directories with the path prefix
       /usr/lib64.

STANDARDS

       POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY

       POSIX.1-2001.

EXAMPLES

       Convert text from the ISO/IEC 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