.\"
.\" Sun Microsystems, Inc. gratefully acknowledges The Open Group for
.\" permission to reproduce portions of its copyrighted documentation.
.\" Original documentation from The Open Group can be obtained online at
.\" http://www.opengroup.org/bookstore/.
.\"
.\" The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and The Open
.\" Group, have given us permission to reprint portions of their
.\" documentation.
.\"
.\" In the following statement, the phrase ``this text'' refers to portions
.\" of the system documentation.
.\"
.\" Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
.\" in the SunOS Reference Manual, from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition,
.\" Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System
.\" Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6,
.\" Copyright (C) 2001-2004 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
.\" Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  In the event of any discrepancy
.\" between these versions and the original IEEE and The Open Group
.\" Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee
.\" document.  The original Standard can be obtained online at
.\" http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html.
.\"
.\" This notice shall appear on any product containing this material.
.\"
.\" The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the
.\" Common Development and Distribution License (the "License").
.\" You may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
.\"
.\" You can obtain a copy of the license at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE
.\" or http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing.
.\" See the License for the specific language governing permissions
.\" and limitations under the License.
.\"
.\" When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each
.\" file and include the License file at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE.
.\" If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the
.\" fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying
.\" information: Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
.\"
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1992, X/Open Company Limited.  All Rights Reserved.
.\" Portions Copyright (c) 2001, Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved
.\"
.TH ICONV_OPEN 3C "Oct 2, 2001"
.SH NAME
iconv_open \- code conversion allocation function
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
#include <iconv.h>

\fBiconv_t\fR \fBiconv_open\fR(\fBconst char *\fR\fItocode\fR, \fBconst char *\fR\fIfromcode\fR);
.fi

.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
.LP
The \fBiconv_open()\fR function returns a conversion descriptor that describes
a conversion from the codeset specified by the string pointed to by the
\fIfromcode\fR argument to the codeset specified by the string pointed to by
the \fItocode\fR argument. For state-dependent encodings, the conversion
descriptor will be in  a codeset-dependent initial shift state, ready for
immediate use with the  \fBiconv\fR(3C) function.
.sp
.LP
Settings of \fIfromcode\fR and \fItocode\fR and their permitted combinations
are implementation-dependent.
.sp
.LP
The \fBiconv_open()\fR function supports the alias of the encoding name
specified in \fItocode\fR and \fIfromcode\fR.  The alias table of the encoding
name is described in the file \fB/usr/lib/iconv/alias\fR. See \fBalias\fR(4).
.sp
.LP
A conversion descriptor remains valid in a process until that process closes
it.
.sp
.LP
For examples using the  \fBiconv_open()\fR function, see \fBiconv\fR(3C).
.SH RETURN VALUES
.sp
.LP
Upon successful completion  \fBiconv_open()\fR returns a conversion descriptor
for use on subsequent calls to  \fBiconv()\fR. Otherwise, \fBiconv_open()\fR
returns \fB(iconv_t)\fR \fB\(mi1\fR and sets \fBerrno\fR to indicate the error.
.SH ERRORS
.sp
.LP
The  \fBiconv_open\fR function may fail if:
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBEMFILE\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 10n
\fB{OPEN_MAX}\fR files descriptors are currently open in the calling process.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBENFILE\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 10n
Too many files are currently open in the system.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBENOMEM\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 10n
Insufficient storage space is available.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBEINVAL\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 10n
The conversion specified by \fIfromcode\fR and \fItocode\fR is not supported by
the implementation.
.RE

.SH FILES
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB/usr/lib/iconv/alias\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 24n
alias table file of the encoding name
.RE

.SH ATTRIBUTES
.sp
.LP
See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
.sp

.sp
.TS
box;
c | c
l | l .
ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
_
Interface Stability	Standard
_
MT-Level	MT-Safe
.TE

.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
.LP
\fBexec\fR(2), \fBiconv\fR(3C), \fBiconv_close\fR(3C), \fBmalloc\fR(3C),
\fBalias\fR(4), \fBattributes\fR(5)
.SH NOTES
.sp
.LP
The \fBiconv_open()\fR function uses \fBmalloc\fR(3C) to allocate space for
internal buffer areas. \fBiconv_open()\fR may fail if there is insufficient
storage space to accommodate these buffers.
.sp
.LP
Portable applications must assume that conversion descriptors are not valid
after a call to one of the \fBexec\fR functions (see \fBexec\fR(2)).