---
name: "detox.tbl"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "detox"
version: "3.0.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/detox.tbl"
---

# detox.tbl(5)

translation table for detox(1)

## NAME

**detox.tbl** – translation table for [detox(1)](/detox/1.md)

## OVERVIEW

**detox** allows for configuration of how the safe, ISO-8859-1, and UTF-8 (Unicode) filters operate. Through text-based translation tables, it is possible to tune how these character sets are interpreted.

## SYNTAX

The format of the translation tables is simple. There are two levels: one containing meta data and one containing the actual translations.

- **default** *\_*

  Default specifies the default translation for a character. An empty or non-existent default indicates that any unknown character should fall through to the next filter. In this manner, it is possible to chain together multiple translation tables in a sequence.

- **start**

  Indicates the start of a value list within the translation table.

- **start** *lang*

  Indicates the start of a language specific value list within the translation table.

- **end**

  Indicates the end of a value list within the translation table.

- *value* *translation*

  Value can be specified in decimal (1), hex (0x01) or octal (01). The same rules that apply to sscanf apply here.

  Translation can be a string or a quoted string, with either single or double quotes.

## EXAMPLES

The following example shows a portion of a *safe* table, with only a few character replacements specified.

```
#
# This is a simple example of a "safe" table.  It only translates 4 characters.
#
# The default is commented out, so any character that is not in this table will
# be ignored.
#
# default   _
#
# This is the main replacement block.  Each line specifies a character and a
# string to replace it with.
#
start
0x09	_tab_		# comments work on lines, too
0x24	_dollar_	# $$$
0x26	_and_		# ampersand
end
#
# Starts an optional, language-specific translation block.  detox will read
# your locale and load the block if the word after start matches the language
# portion of your locale.
#
# In the example here, the character $ will be replaced with "_money_" if the
# user is working in English.  If the user is using a different language, $
# will be replaced with the value configured in the previous block, "_dollar_".
#
start en
0x24	_money_		# money money
end
# EOF
```

You could then enable this table in your *~/.detoxrc*, in conjunction with other filters.

```
# Sample detoxrc
sequence default {
	safe {
		filename "/home/MYUSERNAME/.local/share/detox/safe.tbl";
	};
	safe;
	wipeup;
};
# EOF
```

When **detox** is run, it will run the custom safe filter first, then run the default *safe* filter, and the finally the *wipeup* filter. See [detoxrc(5)](/detoxrc/5.md) for more details on the various filter types.

## SEE ALSO

[detox(1)](/detox/1.md), [detoxrc(5)](/detoxrc/5.md), [ascii(7)](/ascii/7.md), [iso\_8859-1(7)](/iso_8859-1/7.md), [unicode(7)](/unicode/7.md), [utf-8(7)](/utf-8/7.md)

## AUTHORS

detox was written by Doug Harple.