CHARMAP(5) Linux User Manual CHARMAP(5)
NAME
charmap - character symbols to define character encodings
DESCRIPTION
A character set description (charmap) defines a character set of avail-
able characters and their encodings. All supported character sets
should have the portable character set as a proper subset.
SYNTAX
The charmap file starts with a header, that may consist of the follow-
ing keywords:
<codeset>
is followed by the name of the codeset.
<mb_cur_max>
is followed by the max number of bytes for a multibyte-charac-
ter. Multibyte characters are currently not supported. The
default value is 1.
<mb_cur_min>
is followed by the min number of bytes for a character. This
value must be less or equal than mb_cur_max. If not specified,
it defaults to mb_cur_max.
<escape_char>
is followed by a character that should be used as the escape-
character for the rest of the file to mark characters that
should be interpreted in a special way. It defaults to the back-
slash ( \ ).
<comment_char>
is followed by a character that will be used as the comment-
character for the rest of the file. It defaults to the number
sign ( # ).
The charmap-definition itself starts with the keyword CHARMAP in column
1.
The following lines may have one of the two following forms to define
the character-encodings:
<symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>
This form defines exactly one character and its encoding.
<symbolic-name>...<symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>
This form defines a couple of characters. This is only useful
for mutlibyte-characters, which are currently not implemented.
The last line in a charmap-definition file must contain END CHARMAP.
SYMBOLIC NAMES
A symbolic name for a character contains only characters of the
portable character set. The name itself is enclosed between angle
brackets. Characters following an <escape_char> are interpreted as
itself; for example, the sequence '<\\\>>' represents the symbolic name
'\>' enclosed in angle brackets.
CHARACTER ENCODING
The encoding may be in each of the following three forms:
<escape_char>d<number>
with a decimal number
<escape_char>x<number>
with a hexadecimal number
<escape_char><number>
with an octal number.
FILES
/usr/share/i18n/charmaps/*
AUTHOR
Jochen Hein (jochen.hein@delphi.central.de)
CONFORMING TO
POSIX.2
SEE ALSO
locale(1), localedef(1), localeconv(3), setlocale(3), locale(5)
National Language Support 1994-11-28 CHARMAP(5)
