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(libc.info)Generic Charset Conversion

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Generic Charset Conversion
==========================

   The conversion functions mentioned so far in this chapter all had in
common that they operate on character sets that are not directly
specified by the functions.  The multibyte encoding used is specified by
the currently selected locale for the `LC_CTYPE' category.  The wide
character set is fixed by the implementation (in the case of GNU C
library it is always UCS-4 encoded ISO 10646.

   This has of course several problems when it comes to general
character conversion:

   * For every conversion where neither the source nor the destination
     character set is the character set of the locale for the `LC_CTYPE'
     category, one has to change the `LC_CTYPE' locale using
     `setlocale'.

     Changing the `LC_TYPE' locale introduces major problems for the
     rest of the programs since several more functions (e.g., the
     character classification functions, Note: Classification of
     Characters) use the `LC_CTYPE' category.

   * Parallel conversions to and from different character sets are not
     possible since the `LC_CTYPE' selection is global and shared by all
     threads.

   * If neither the source nor the destination character set is the
     character set used for `wchar_t' representation, there is at least
     a two-step process necessary to convert a text using the functions
     above.  One would have to select the source character set as the
     multibyte encoding, convert the text into a `wchar_t' text, select
     the destination character set as the multibyte encoding, and
     convert the wide character text to the multibyte (= destination)
     character set.

     Even if this is possible (which is not guaranteed) it is a very
     tiring work.  Plus it suffers from the other two raised points
     even more due to the steady changing of the locale.

   The XPG2 standard defines a completely new set of functions, which
has none of these limitations.  They are not at all coupled to the
selected locales, and they have no constraints on the character sets
selected for source and destination.  Only the set of available
conversions limits them.  The standard does not specify that any
conversion at all must be available.  Such availability is a measure of
the quality of the implementation.

   In the following text first the interface to `iconv' and then the
conversion function, will be described.  Comparisons with other
implementations will show what obstacles stand in the way of portable
applications.  Finally, the implementation is described in so far as
might interest the advanced user who wants to extend conversion
capabilities.

Generic Conversion Interface

Generic Character Set Conversion Interface.

iconv Examples

A complete `iconv' example.

Other iconv Implementations

Some Details about other `iconv'

Implementations.

glibc iconv Implementation

The `iconv' Implementation in the GNU C

library.