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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)
COLOPHON
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