The iconv utility
The iconv utility
reads characters from the input file, converts them from fromCodeSet
encoding
to toCodeSet
encoding, and writes them to the output file.
The conversion is performed by the code conversion functions of the runtime library. They are
described in Code conversion functions. The tables used are determined by the
CC
codes of the fromCodeSet
and toCodeSet
appended to the four-character prefix. The prefix is EDCU
for non-XPLINK
converters, CEHU
for XPLINK converters, and CEQU
for AMODE 64 converters. See z/OS XL C/C++ User's Guide for descriptions of the genxlt
and iconv utilities. There is also a UNIX System Services
iconv utility, which is described in z/OS UNIX System Services Command Reference.
The iconv utility can also perform bidirectional layout transformation (such as shaping and reordering) while converting from fromCodeSet to toCodeSet according to the value of an environment variable called _BIDION. The value of this variable is either set to TRUE to activate the BiDi layout transformation or FALSE to prevent the bidirectional layout transformation. If this variable is not defined in the environment it defaults to FALSE. The _BIDIATTR environment variable can be used to contain the bidirectional attributes (for information on bidirectional layout transformation see Bidirectional language support) which will determine the way the bidirectional transformation takes place. These two environment variables are described in Using environment variables.