---
name: "convrtrs.txt"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "icu"
version: "2.1-2.1"
release: "Debian 3.1 (Sarge)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/convrtrs.txt"
---

# convrtrs.txt(5)

ICU converters aliases file cnvalias.dat - binary ICU converters aliases file

## NAME

**convrtrs.txt** - ICU converters aliases file\
 **cnvalias.dat** - binary ICU converters aliases file

## DESCRIPTION

The file **convrtrs.txt** lists the names of the converters that ICU can handle, along with their known aliases. ICU can open a converter given either its real name or any of its aliases. **convrtrs.txt** is read by [**gencnval**(8)](/gencnval/8.md) in order to generate the binary data that ICU uses to represent the converters aliases information.

Each converter and its aliases are described on a separate lines; fields on each line are separated by white space. The order of records in **convrtrs.txt** is significant: if a given name appears multiple times, the last one prevails. Names of converters and aliases are compared without considering case; the characters dash (U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS), underscore (U+005F LOW LINE), and space (U+0020 SPACE) are also ignored during comparison (even though spaces cannot be used in **convrtrs.txt** since white space is significant as a field delimiter). Thus the names **UTF-8**, **utf\_8**, and **Utf 8** are equivalent converters names.

The format of **convrtrs.txt** can be described by the following BNF grammar:

```
converters ::= { converter | comment }
converter ::= name [ tags ] { alias } [ comment ]
alias ::= name [ tags ]
tags ::= '{' { name } '}'
comment ::= '#' anything
```

A *name* can use any character other than white space and the '{' and '#' delimiters. In practice, names are usually restricted to the set of uppercase and lowercase latin letters plus arabic digits, the dash, the underscore, and the colon characters. It is recommended to follow this convention when naming new converters or their aliases.

A *comment* starts with the pound character '#' and ends with the current line. Comments are ignored.

The *name* of a given *converter* must match its algorithmic name if the converter is algorithmic, or its file name if the converter is table-driven. The table for the converter **ibm-912** for example, is expected to be in the **ibm-912.cnv** file. An *alias* has no such restriction, as aliases are just arbitrary names associated to a given converter.

The presence of a *tag* after a converter or alias name means that this name is associated to a given standard set of names. Two well-known such standards are the **MIME** and **IANA** registries of names. The default ICU **convrtrs.txt** file already uses these tags. Note that tags do not need to be declared, they are collected as they appear. Names appropriate for a given standard can be retrieved programmatically by using the **ucnv\_getStandardName**(3) function.

## CAVEATS

The **convrtrs.txt** file is not directly read by ICU. It must be transformed into a binary file by **gencnval**(5) first. Also, depending on the way ICU was packaged, even the resulting **cnvalias.dat** file may not be read by ICU. Please refer to the ICU manual for more information on which files are effectively read by ICU at runtime, and how to produce them.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2000 IBM, Inc. and others.

## SEE ALSO

[**gencnval**(8)](/gencnval/8.md), [**pkgdata**(8)](/pkgdata/8.md)