genxlt(1)

NAME

genxlt — generate iconv translation tables

SYNOPSIS

genxlt [-f output_filename] [input_filename]

DESCRIPTION

genxlt generates a compiled, nonreadable binary version of the iconv table that is suitable for use by iconv(1) and iconv(3C). If input_filename or output_filename is not supplied, standard input and/or standard output will be used.

Since the output of genxlt is a binary, nonreadable file, if the -f option is not used, the redirection symbol > may be used to redirect the standard output to a file.

Options

genxlt recognizes the following options:

-f output_filename: If this option is not selected, the data will be sent to standard output, from where it could be redirected to a file.

genxlt creates tables that are in a prescribed format and which can be interpreted by the default conversion routines of iconv(3C). The input file has two columns, giving the filecode mapping between the two code sets. The entries are in hexadecimal.

The input file must be formatted as two columns of hexadecimal digits. Characters in the first column are translated into the characters in the second column. Lines preceded with # in the first column are ignored as comments on all lines except in the case of the following keywords: #Galley: and #What:

In addition to the data, which defines the filecode mapping, a Galley character (see iconv(3C)) may also be defined for that particular conversion. This is done by adding the line #Galley: 0xnnnn, to the beginning of the input file. The nnnn is any multibyte character (see EXAMPLES). A What string (see what(1)), may also be defined in the input file using the entry #What: <any_string>. This string may contain information like version number, type of conversion, etc., which are not used in any way for the conversions. Note that if the What string is defined, it should appear before the Galley definition.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Environment Variables

LANG provides a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the default value of "C" (see lang(5)) is used. If any of the internationalization variables contains an invalid setting, genxlt will behave as if all internationalization variables are set to "C" (see environ(5)).

If LC_ALL is set to a nonempty string value, it overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.

LC_MESSAGES determines the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error and informative messages written to standard output.

NLSPATH determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

International Code Set Support

Single and multibyte character code sets are supported.

RETURN VALUE

The exit values are:

0: Successful completion.
>0: Error condition occurred.

EXAMPLES

This example compiles the iconv_input and puts the output binary in /usr/lib/nls/iconv/tables/roma8=iso81. The following iconv statement uses the roma8=iso81 table to convert the data_file from code set roman8 to code set iso8859-1.

% genxlt iconv_input > /usr/lib/nls/iconv/tables/roma8=iso81 
% iconv -f roma8 -t iso81 data_file 

This is an example of the input_file:

#What: CodesetA to CodesetB: version 1.0 
#Galley:   0xffff 
# the conversion data is as follows: 
0x01     0x01 
0x02     0x42 
... 
0xff87     0x4567 
... 
etc. 

WARNINGS

Because genxlt will write over the existing table, it is wise to save the existing table into another file before using genxlt.

Warnings are not given for incorrect data in the input_file.

You must have superuser privileges to install files in /usr/lib/nls/iconv/tables.

FILES

/usr/lib/nls/iconv/tables: All tables must be installed in this directory.

STANDARDS COMPLIANCE

genxlt: XPG4