--- name: "2UTF" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "2utf" version: "1.10" release: "Debian 2.1 (Slink)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/2UTF" --- # 2UTF(1) translates char-sets to/from unicode(7), decodes MIME messages ## NAME 2UTF, fromUTF - translates char-sets to/from [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md), decodes MIME messages ## SYNOPSIS \[**2UTF**\|**fromUTF**\] \[*options*\] \[*charmap\_file\_or\_alias*\] **\<***input* **\>***output* ## DESCRIPTION **2UTF** is a filter which converts char-sets to [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) (UCS - Universal Character Set) and reverse if possible. It can also display char-maps, console font and a range of [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) glyphs in [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md) encoding. It gets char-map for single-byte char-sets from **locales** or **wg15-locale** package database, from tables found at **ftp://ftp.unicode.org/** or other similar files with user defined format. It can invoke external filters specified in configuration file. *charmap\_file\_or\_alias* is pathname, alias or filename for the file with char-map definition. Alias or filename is converted to uppercase. Aliases specified in **locales** char-maps are cached in special file if directory/file permissions allow this. If exact match for alias or filename isn't found, *\*alias\** or *\*filename\** glob pattern is used (except for aliases found in configuration file). **-** (hyphen-minus) and **\_** (low line, spacing underscore) characters in aliases are ignored. When invoked without char-map specified a mail message is assumed on standard input. I do *not* provide any warranty and recommend you to backup your mail if you use **2UTF** as automatic mail filter. See *procmailrc* file in *examples* subdirectory. It should handle common text and multi-part types, MIME style encrypted and not 8-bit headers. Everything is converted to [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md) encoding. Messages with MIME style **pgp**(1) signatures should be passed untouched. ## OPTIONS - **--** stops option checking for the rest of the command line. - **-2 --UCS-2 --ucs-2** output (input if **--reverse** specified) 2 byte wide characters. - **-4 --UCS-4 --ucs-4** output (input if **--reverse** specified) 4 byte wide characters. - **-8 --UTF-8 --utf-8** **(default)** output (input if **--reverse** specified) multi-byte [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md) characters. - **-c***FILENAME* **--charmap-file=***FILENAME* the alternative way to specify filename or pathname for char-map file. - **-C --create-aliases** rescans all available char-map files and (re)creates aliases file. You should have write permission for this file. - **-d**\[*N*\] **--debug**\[**=***N*\] *Outputs debugging info to stderr. Implies* **--verbose**. *N* *is debug level from 1 to 9. Default is 1.* - **-f**\[*FORMAT*\] **--format**\[**=***FORMAT*\] [**sscanf**(3)](/sscanf/3.md) *format string for reading char-map file. If not specified the default format as output by* **2UTF -h** *(used by char-maps from* **WG15** *locales) is assumed. Aliases specified in locale char-map files are recognized.* *Lines beginning with* **%** *or* **#** *and lines not matching format* *are ignored. In case of duplicated lines the last line takes precedence.* *" 0x%x 0x%X "* [**sscanf**(3)](/sscanf/3.md) *format string is always assumed* *for char-map files ending in* *.TXT*, *.X* *or* *.x*. *This corresponds to char-maps you can get from* **ftp://ftp.unicode.org.** - **-o --forward** **(default)** *converts \*to\** [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) *if invoked as* **2UTF,** *and tries convert \*from\** [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) *if invoked as* **fromUTF.** - **-H --HTML --html** *This aplies to approximations when converting from* [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md). *Special HTML characters appearing after approximations are changed* *to < > " and &.* - **-h -? --? --help -help** *Prints the program's version number, default parameters,* *and a short usage message to the program's standard error output and exits.* - **-l --list-charmaps** *Lists char-maps and aliases currently in aliases database, then exits.* *This includes only char-maps usable by* **2UTF**. - **-p --pathnames** *Prints pathnames for configuration file, default compiled-in directories for* *char-map files, actually used directories for char-map files,* *pathname for aliases cache.* - **-r --reverse** *tries convert back \*from\** [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) *if invoked as* **2UTF,** *and converts \*to\** [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) *if invoked as* **fromUTF.** - **-W --show-charmap** *outputs table of char-map characters in* [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md) *encoding.* **.** *(period) is substituted for 0x0000-0x001F and 0x007F.* **?** *(question mark) is substituted for undefined characters.* - **-S --spit-glyphs** *outputs table of characters in* [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md) *encoding at F000-F1FF* [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) *private use area. This corresponds to current console font in Linux.* - **-S**\[*min*\]\[**-**\]\[*max*\] **--spit-glyphs=**\[*min*\]\[**-**\]\[*max*\] outputs table of characters in [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md) encoding at given range. *min* and *max* is [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) hex numbers from 0 to 7FFFFFFF. *min* defaults to 0. *max* defaults to *min* + 511 if **-** is present. - **-s --switch-to-UTF-8** tries to switch to [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md) mode by writing \%G to the program's standard error output. Use **echo -ne '\\ 33%@'** to switch back if required. This is Linux console escape sequences. - **-u**\[*X*\] **--unknown-char**\[**=***X*\] *substitute* *X* *for unknown single byte characters and errors.* *If* *X* *isn't specified the default* *character as output by* **2UTF -h** *is assumed.* *X* *can be a single character, hex (0x80), octal (0200) or* *decimal (128) number. This can be usefull when translating* *to single-byte encoding.* - **-v --verbose** *verbose mode.* - **-V --version** *shows program's version and some copyright information.* *Rightmost option or alias takes precedence. Long options may be abbreviated. Short options may be grouped.* *Default* [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md) *character for errors and unknown characters is 0xFFFD.* *Approximations can be performed if conversion is from Unicode to single-byte* *char-sets. US-ASCII strings up to 4 bytes length is substituted for characters* *undefined in the output charset. These strings are defined at the compile time.* ## EXAMPLES *To view ISO\_8859-3:1988 document use:* **2UTF --verbose --switch-to-UTF-8 8859-3 \<***document* **\| less -r** *To translate from CP1257 to BALTIC (ISO-IR-179) use:* **2UTF -2 1257 \<***cp1257\_file* **\| fromUTF -2 baltic \>***baltic\_charset\_file* *To call a BBS using 869 "code page" use:* **minicom -l -t linux \|2UTF --switch-to-UTF-8 IBM869** *To convert everything from UTF-8 to US-ASCII:* **fromUTF us-ascii \<***UTF-8\_file* *See also* *examples* *subdirectory.* ## FILES *There can be self-explanatory configuration file* *2UTF.config*. *It is searched in /usr/local/etc/, /usr/etc/, /etc/ or other directories* *defined at compile time. It can specify directory names for char-map files* *and external filters for conversion to and from multi-byte char-sets and* *encodings.* ## SEE ALSO **2UTF**(1), [**unicode**(7)](/unicode/7.md), [**utf-8**(7)](/utf-8/7.md), [**tcs**(1)](/tcs/1.md), **recode** *info page* **Yudit** *editor and converter at* **http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/Incoming** *or* **http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/editors/X/** **ftp://ftp.cnd.org/pub/ifcss.org/software/unix/convert/** \`**trans**' *program at* **ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/doc/charsets/** [**console\_codes**(4)](/console_codes/4.md), [**charsets**(4)](/charsets/4.md) *Look at* **ftp://dkuug.dk/i18n/WG15-collection/charmaps/** *and* **ftp://ftp.unicode.org/** *for char-map files.* ## BUG REPORTS *Bug reports, comments and suggestions please send to:* **Ricardas Cepas \** *or* **\** ## BUGS *Due to the* [**popen**(3)](/popen/3.md) *bug in Linux libc inexistent commands in configuration file are not detected.* *So please check configuration file by hand.* *Transformation from UTF-8 can be slow.* *If char-map files you are using are incomplete characters can be lost.* *Reverse transformation is not perfect.* *See also* *TODO* *file.* *Please use at* **your own risk.** ## COPYING *This program (including this man page) is distributed under* **BSD style license** *(see* *BSD\_style\_license* *file in the documentation directory)* *or* **GNU General Public License V2** *except* *hdr.h*, *plan9.h* and *utf.c* *files (if used) from* [**tcs**(1)](/tcs/1.md), *public domain code from* *mimedecode.c* *file. Copyright statements should be* *keeped unchanged.* *For the copyright information see file* *copyright*.