NAME

       charmap - character symbols to define character encodings

DESCRIPTION

       A  character set description (charmap) defines a character set of available characters and
       their encodings.  All supported character sets should have the portable character set as a
       proper subset.

   Syntax
       The charmap file starts with a header, that may consist of the following keywords:

       <codeset>
              is followed by the name of the codeset.

       <mb_cur_max>
              is  followed  by  the  max  number  of  bytes for a multibyte-character.  Multibyte
              characters are currently not supported.  The default value is 1.

       <mb_cur_min>
              is followed by the min number of bytes for a character.  This value must be less or
              equal than mb_cur_max.  If not specified, it defaults to mb_cur_max.

       <escape_char>
              is followed by a character that should be used as the escape-character for the rest
              of the file to mark characters that should be interpreted in  a  special  way.   It
              defaults to the backslash ( \ ).

       <comment_char>
              is  followed by a character that will be used as the comment-character for the rest
              of the file.  It defaults to the number sign ( # ).

       The charmap-definition itself starts with the keyword CHARMAP in column 1.

       The following lines may have one of the two  following  forms  to  define  the  character-
       encodings:

       <symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>
              This form defines exactly one character and its encoding.

       <symbolic-name>...<symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>
              This  form  defines  a  couple  of  characters.  This is useful only for multibyte-
              characters, which are currently not implemented.

       The last line in a charmap-definition file must contain END CHARMAP.

   Symbolic names
       A symbolic name for a character contains only characters of the  portable  character  set.
       The name itself is enclosed between angle brackets.  Characters following an <escape_char>
       are interpreted as itself; for example, the sequence <\\\>> represents the  symbolic  name
       \> enclosed in angle brackets.

   Character encoding
       The encoding may be in each of the following three forms:

       <escape_char>d<number>
              with a decimal number

       <escape_char>x<number>
              with a hexadecimal number

       <escape_char><number>
              with an octal number.

FILES

       /usr/share/i18n/charmaps/*

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.2.

SEE ALSO

       locale(1), localedef(1), localeconv(3), setlocale(3), locale(5)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 3.54 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project,    and    information    about    reporting    bugs,    can    be    found     at
       http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

                                            1994-11-28                                 CHARMAP(5)