ICONV_OPEN(3P)

PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
iconv_open — codeset conversion allocation function

SYNOPSIS

#include <iconv.h>

iconv_t iconv_open(const char *tocode, const char *fromcode);

DESCRIPTION
The iconv_open() function shall return a conversion descriptor that describes a conversion from the codeset specified by the string pointed to by the fromcode argument to the codeset specified by the string pointed to by the tocode argument. For state-dependent encodings, the conversion descriptor shall be in a codeset-dependent initial shift state, ready for immediate use with iconv().

Settings of fromcode and tocode and their permitted combinations are implementation-defined.

A conversion descriptor shall remain valid until it is closed by iconv_close() or an implicit close.

If a file descriptor is used to implement conversion descriptors, the FD_CLOEXEC flag shall be set; see <fcntl.h>.

RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, iconv_open() shall return a conversion descriptor for use on subsequent calls to iconv(). Otherwise, iconv_open() shall return (iconv_t)-1 and set errno to indicate the error.

ERRORS
The iconv_open() function may fail if:

EMFILE
    All file descriptors available to the process are currently open.

ENFILE
    Too many files are currently open in the system.

ENOMEM
    Insufficient storage space is available.

EINVAL
    The conversion specified by fromcode and tocode is not supported by the implementation.

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES
None.

APPLICATION USAGE
Some implementations of iconv_open() use malloc() to allocate space for internal buffer areas. The iconv_open() function may fail if there is insufficient storage space to accommodate these buffers.

Conforming applications must assume that conversion descriptors are not valid after a call to one of the exec functions.

Application developers should consult the system documentation to determine the supported codesets and their naming schemes.

RATIONALE
None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.

SEE ALSO
iconv(), iconv_close()

The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, <fcntl.h>, <iconv.h>

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .