charmap(5) manual page
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charmap - character set description file
A character
set description file or charmap defines characteristics for a coded character
set. Other information about the coded character set may also be in the
file. Coded character set character values are defined using symbolic character
names followed by character encoding values.
The character set description
file provides:
- The capability to describe character set attributes (such
as collation order or character classes) independent of character set encoding,
and using only the characters in the portable character set. This makes
it possible to create generic localedef(1)
source files for all codesets
that share the portable character set.
- Standardized symbolic names for all
characters in the portable character set, making it possible to refer to
any such character regardless of encoding.
Each symbolic
name is included in the file and is mapped to a unique encoding value
(except for those symbolic names that are shown with identical glyphs).
If the control characters commonly associated with the symbolic names in
the following table are supported by the implementation, the symbolic names
and their corresponding encoding values are included in the file. Some of
the encodings associated with the symbolic names in this table may be the
same as characters in the portable character set table.
| <ACK> | <DC2> | <ENQ> | <FS> | <IS4> | <SOH> |
| <BEL> | <DC3> | <EOT> | <GS> | <LF> | <STX> |
| <BS> | <DC4> | <ESC> | <HT> | <NAK> | <SUB> |
| <CAN> | <DEL> | <ETB> | <IS1> | <RS> | <SYN> |
| <CR> | <DLE> | <ETX> | <IS2> | <SI> | <US> |
| <DC1> | <EM> | <FF> | <IS3> | <SO> | <VT> |
The following declarations can precede the character definitions.
Each must consist of the symbol shown in the following list, starting in
column 1, including the surrounding brackets, followed by one or more blank
characters, followed by the value to be assigned to the symbol.
- <code_set_name>
- The name of the coded character set for which the character set description
file is defined.
- <mb_cur_max>
- The maximum number of bytes in a multi-byte character.
This defaults to 1.
- <mb_cur_min>
- An unsigned positive integer value that defines
the minimum number of bytes in a character for the encoded character set.
- <escape_char>
- The escape character used to indicate that the characters following
will be interpreted in a special way, as defined later in this section.
This defaults to backslash (\), which is the character glyph used in all
the following text and examples, unless otherwise noted.
- <comment_char>
- The
character that when placed in column 1 of a charmap line, is used to indicate
that the line is to be ignored. The default character is the number sign
(#).
The character set mapping definitions will be all the lines
immediately following an identifier line containing the string CHARMAP
starting in column 1, and preceding a trailer line containing the string
END
starting in column 1. Empty lines and lines containing a <comment_char>
in the first column will be ignored. Each non-comment line of the character
set mapping definition (that is, between the CHARMAP
and END
lines of
the file) must be in either of two forms:
"%s %s %s\n",<symbolic-name>,<encoding>,<comments>
or
"%s...%s %s %s\n",<symbolic-name>,<symbolic-name>, <encoding>,<comments>
In the
first format, the line in the character set mapping definition defines
a single symbolic name and a corresponding encoding. A character following
an escape character is interpreted as itself; for example, the sequence
<\\\>> represents the symbolic name \> enclosed between angle brackets.
In the second
format, the line in the character set mapping definition defines a range
of one or more symbolic names. In this form, the symbolic names must consist
of zero or more non-numeric characters, followed by an integer formed by
one or more decimal digits. The characters preceding the integer must be
identical in the two symbolic names, and the integer formed by the digits
in the second symbolic name must be equal to or greater than the integer
formed by the digits in the first name. This is interpreted as a series
of symbolic names formed from the common part and each of the integers
between the first and the second integer, inclusive. As an example, <j0101>...<j0104>
is interpreted as the symbolic names <j0101>, <j0102>, <j0103>, and <j0104>, in
that order.
A character set mapping definition line must exist for all symbolic
names and must define the coded character value that corresponds to the
character glyph indicated in the table, or the coded character value that
corresponds with the control character symbolic name. If the control characters
commonly associated with the symbolic names are supported by the implementation,
the symbolic name and the corresponding encoding value must be included
in the file. Additional unique symbolic names may be included. A coded character
value can be represented by more than one symbolic name.
The encoding part
is expressed as one (for single-byte character values) or more concatenated
decimal, octal or hexadecimal constants in the following formats:
"%cd%d",<escape_char>,<decimal
byte value>
"%cx%x",<escape_char>,<hexadecimal byte value>
"%c%o",<escape_char>,<octal byte value>
Decimal constants
must be represented by two or three decimal digits, preceded by the escape
character and the lower-case letter d; for example, \d05, \d97, or \d143. Hexadecimal
constants must be represented by two hexadecimal digits, preceded by the
escape character and the lower-case letter x; for example, \x05, \x61, or
\x8f. Octal constants must be represented by two or three octal digits, preceded
by the escape character; for example, \05, \141, or \217. In a portable charmap
file, each constant must represent an 8-bit byte. Implementations supporting
other byte sizes may allow constants to represent values larger than those
that can be represented in 8-bit bytes, and to allow additional digits in
constants. When constants are concatenated for multi-byte character values,
they must be of the same type, and interpreted in byte order from first
to last with the least significant byte of the multi-byte character specified
by the last constant.
In lines defining ranges
of symbolic names, the encoded value is the value for the first symbolic
name in the range (the symbolic name preceding the ellipsis). Subsequent
symbolic names defined by the range will have encoding values in increasing
order. For example, the line
<j0101>...<j0104> \d129\d254
will be interpreted as:
<j0101> \d129\d254
<j0102> \d129\d255
<j0103> \d130\d0
<j0104> \d130\d1
Note that this line will be interpreted as the example even
on systems with bytes larger than 8 bits. The comment is optional.
locale(1)
,
localedef(1)
, nl_langinfo(3C)
, locale(5)
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