BIND_TEXTDOMAIN_CODESET(3)

💖 BIND_TEXTDOMAIN_CODESET 💖

okay bestie so you're in the bind_textdomain_codeset girlies now, and honestly? welcome. this one lives in section 3 of the manual (Library Functions Manual), so it's a library function, not a command — she's a C function fr fr. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

bind_textdomain_codeset — set the encoding of your message translations. literally what it says on the tin, no cap.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <libintl.h>

char * bind_textdomain_codeset (const char * domainname,
                                const char * codeset);

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the bind_textdomain_codeset function sets the output codeset for message catalogs belonging to the domain domainname. that's the whole vibe.

now let's talk about what a message domain even is: it's a set of translatable msgid messages. usually every software package has its own message domain, so like... each project gets her own little zone. main character energy per package, honestly. 👑

by default, the whole gettext family of functions returns translated messages in the locale's character encoding — and you can grab that encoding via nl_langinfo (CODESET). so why would anyone call bind_textdomain_codeset? great question, bestie. the need arises for programs that store strings in a locale independent way (think UTF-8, iconic) and want to avoid an extra character set conversion on the returned translated messages. it's giving efficiency. it's giving i-don't-want-to-convert-twice. ✨

domainname must be a non-empty string. that's not a suggestion, that's a requirement. 🙅‍♀️

if codeset is not NULL, it must be a valid encoding name that can be used for the iconv_open function. and then bind_textdomain_codeset sets the output codeset for the message catalogs belonging to domain domainname to codeset. the function makes copies of the argument strings as needed — so yes, she copies, she doesn't borrow. responsible queen. 💅

if codeset is NULL, the function returns the previously set codeset for domain domainname. and the default is NULL, which denotes the locale's character encoding.

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💫 RETURN VALUE 💫

if it's successful, bind_textdomain_codeset returns the current codeset for domain domainname, after possibly changing it. cute, right? she gives you the receipt.

the resulting string is valid until the next bind_textdomain_codeset call for the same domainname and must not be modified or freed. do not touch. do not free. hands off. 🛑

if a memory allocation failure occurs, it sets errno to ENOMEM and returns NULL. sad girl hours. 😭

and if no codeset has been set for domain domainname, it returns NULL.

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🔥 ERRORS 🔥

the following error can occur, among others:

• ENOMEM — not enough memory available. that's it, that's the error. go touch some grass and free something up. 💀

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🙈 BUGS 🙈

the return type ought to be const char *, but it's char * instead — and the reason is to avoid warnings in C code predating ANSI C. so yeah, it's a little historical relic, a vintage moment, we love her anyway. periodt.

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

gettext(3), dgettext(3), dcgettext(3), ngettext(3), dngettext(3), dcngettext(3), textdomain(3), nl_langinfo(3), iconv_open(3)

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ok that's the whole page bestie, you ate that. go forth and set your codesets responsibly 💖

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this has been GNU gettext 1.0, dated November 2024 — mwah, love u, bye!! 🎀🦋✨