charmap(5)

1CHARMAP(5)                     Linux User Manual                    CHARMAP(5)
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NAME

6       charmap - character symbols to define character encodings
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DESCRIPTION

9       A character set description (charmap) defines a character set of avail‐
10       able characters and  their  encodings.  All  supported  character  sets
11       should have the portable character set as a proper subset.
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SYNTAX

14       The  charmap file starts with a header, that may consist of the follow‐
15       ing keywords:
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17       <codeset>
18              is followed by the name of the codeset.
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20       <mb_cur_max>
21              is followed by the max number of bytes for  a  multibyte-charac‐
22              ter.   Multibyte  characters  are  currently  not supported. The
23              default value is 1.
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25       <mb_cur_min>
26              is followed by the min number of bytes  for  a  character.  This
27              value  must be less or equal than mb_cur_max.  If not specified,
28              it defaults to mb_cur_max.
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30       <escape_char>
31              is followed by a character that should be used  as  the  escape-
32              character  for  the  rest  of  the  file to mark characters that
33              should be interpreted in a special way. It defaults to the back‐
34              slash ( \ ).
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36       <comment_char>
37              is  followed  by  a  character that will be used as the comment-
38              character for the rest of the file. It defaults  to  the  number
39              sign ( # ).
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42       The charmap-definition itself starts with the keyword CHARMAP in column
43       1.
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45       The following lines may have one of the two following forms  to  define
46       the character-encodings:
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48       <symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>
49              This form defines exactly one character and its encoding.
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52       <symbolic-name>...<symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>
53              This  form  defines  a couple of characters. This is only useful
54              for mutlibyte-characters, which are currently not implemented.
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57       The last line in a charmap-definition file must contain END CHARMAP.
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SYMBOLIC NAMES

60       A symbolic name for a character contains only characters of the  porta‐
61       ble character set.  The name itself is enclosed between angle brackets.
62       Characters following an <escape_char> are interpreted  as  itself;  for
63       example,  the  sequence  '<\\\>>'  represents  the  symbolic  name '\>'
64       enclosed in angle brackets.
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CHARACTER ENCODING

67       The encoding may be in each of the following three forms:
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69       <escape_char>d<number>
70              with a decimal number
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72       <escape_char>x<number>
73              with a hexadecimal number
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75       <escape_char><number>
76              with an octal  number.
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FILES

79       /usr/share/i18n/charmaps/*
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AUTHOR

82       Jochen Hein (jochen.hein@delphi.central.de)
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CONFORMING TO

85       POSIX.2
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