ICONV(3)

🎀 ICONV(3) · Library Functions Manual · perform character set conversion 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

iconv — perform character set conversion. periodt, that's the whole vibe.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

okay bestie, start with this include:

#include <iconv.h>

the main character signature is:

size_t iconv (iconv_t cd,
              const char* * inbuf, size_t * inbytesleft,
              char* * outbuf, size_t * outbytesleft);

or, for POSIX compatibility:

size_t iconv (iconv_t cd,
              char* * inbuf, size_t * inbytesleft,
              char* * outbuf, size_t * outbytesleft);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so the argument cd must be a conversion descriptor created using the function iconv_open. no random descriptor, bestie.

The main case is when inbuf is not NULL and *inbuf is not NULL. In this case, iconv converts the multibyte sequence starting at *inbuf to a multibyte sequence starting at *outbuf. At most *inbytesleft bytes, starting at *inbuf, will be read. At most *outbytesleft bytes, starting at *outbuf, will be written.

The iconv function converts one multibyte character at a time, and for each character conversion it increments *inbuf and decrements *inbytesleft by the number of converted input bytes, it increments *outbuf and decrements *outbytesleft by the number of converted output bytes, and it updates the conversion state contained in cd. If the character encoding of the input is stateful, iconv can also convert a sequence of input bytes to an update of the conversion state without producing any output bytes; such input is called a shift sequence. The conversion can stop for five reasons:

1. Invalid multibyte sequence in the input, bestie. An invalid multibyte sequence is encountered in the input. In this case it sets errno to EILSEQ and returns (size_t)(-1). *inbuf is left pointing to the beginning of the invalid multibyte sequence.
2. Valid input that just cannot be translated. A multibyte sequence is encountered that is valid but that cannot be translated to the character encoding of the output. This condition depends on the implementation and on the conversion descriptor. In the GNU C library and GNU libiconv, if cd was created without the suffix //TRANSLIT or //IGNORE or //NON_IDENTICAL_DISCARD, the conversion is strict: lossy conversions produce this condition. If the suffix //TRANSLIT was specified, transliteration can avoid this condition in some cases. In the musl C library, this condition cannot occur because a conversion to '*' is used as a fallback. In the FreeBSD, NetBSD, and Solaris implementations of iconv, this condition cannot occur either, because a conversion to '?' is used as a fallback. When this condition is met, the iconv function sets errno to EILSEQ and returns (size_t)(-1). *inbuf is left pointing to the beginning of the unconvertible multibyte sequence.
3. Input fully converted, slay. The input byte sequence has been entirely converted, i.e. *inbytesleft has gone down to 0. In this case iconv returns the number of non-reversible conversions performed during this call.
4. Incomplete multibyte sequence at the end. An incomplete multibyte sequence is encountered in the input, and the input byte sequence terminates after it. In this case it sets errno to EINVAL and returns (size_t)(-1). *inbuf is left pointing to the beginning of the incomplete multibyte sequence.
5. Output buffer is full, no room for the next converted character. In this case it sets errno to E2BIG and returns (size_t)(-1).

A different case is when inbuf is NULL or *inbuf is NULL, but outbuf is not NULL and *outbuf is not NULL. In this case, the iconv function attempts to set cd's conversion state to the initial state and store a corresponding shift sequence at *outbuf. At most *outbytesleft bytes, starting at *outbuf, will be written. If the output buffer has no more room for this reset sequence, it sets errno to E2BIG and returns (size_t)(-1). Otherwise it increments *outbuf and decrements *outbytesleft by the number of bytes written.

A third case is when inbuf is NULL or *inbuf is NULL, and outbuf is NULL or *outbuf is NULL. In this case, the iconv function sets cd's conversion state to the initial state.

🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

The iconv function returns the number of characters converted in a non-reversible way during this call; reversible conversions are not counted. In case of error, it sets errno and returns (size_t)(-1).

💀 ERRORS 💀

The following errors can occur, among others:

• E2BIG — There is not sufficient room at *outbuf.
• EILSEQ — An invalid multibyte sequence has been encountered in the input.
• EINVAL — An incomplete multibyte sequence has been encountered in the input.

💖 CONFORMING TO 💖

POSIX:2024

Note: In the functions iconv, execv, execve, execvp, POSIX uses the type char ** in place of the more correct const char **, thus forcing programs which use const as usual to add a cast in the second argument of an iconv invocation. GNU libiconv uses const char ** or char **, depending on the platform.

Packages that use the GNU Build System can determine which of the two choices the declaration of iconv in <iconv.h> actually uses. To do this, the package can use the Autoconf macro AM_ICONV, documented in the GNU gettext manual and also available from the module iconv in GNU gnulib, and then use the C preprocessor symbol ICONV_CONST.

🌈 NOTES 🌈

In each series of calls to the iconv function, the last should be one with inbuf or *inbuf equal to NULL, in order to complete the conversion of any partially converted input.

Although inbuf and outbuf are typed as const char ** and char **, respectively, this does not mean that the objects they point can be interpreted as C strings or as arrays of characters: the interpretation of character byte sequences is handled internally by the conversion functions. In some encodings, a zero byte may be a valid part of a multibyte character.

The caller of the iconv function must ensure that the pointers passed to the function are suitable for accessing characters in the appropriate character set. For the encodings UCS-2-INTERNAL, UCS-4-INTERNAL, and wchar_t, this includes ensuring correct alignment.

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

• iconv_open(3)
• iconvctl(3)
• iconv_close(3)

🫶 cute sign-off: source/version GNU · date May 30, 2025 · ICONV(3) — go convert something iconic, bestie 💅✨