{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "charmap",
    "section": "5",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/charmap/5/json",
    "generated": "2026-07-07T02:41:38Z",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "charmap - character set description file\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "A character set description (charmap) defines all available characters and their encodings in\na character set.  localedef(1) can use charmaps to create locale variants for different char‐\nacter sets.\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "Syntax",
                    "content": "The charmap file starts with a header that may consist of the following keywords:\n\n<codesetname>\nis followed by the name of the character map.\n\n<commentchar>\nis  followed by a character that will be used as the comment character for the rest of\nthe file.  It defaults to the number sign (#).\n\n<escapechar>\nis followed by a character that should be used as the escape character for the rest of\nthe  file to mark characters that should be interpreted in a special way.  It defaults\nto the backslash (\\).\n\n<mbcurmax>\nis followed by the maximum number of bytes for a character.  The default value is 1.\n\n<mbcurmin>\nis followed by the minimum number of bytes for a character.  This value must  be  less\nthan or equal than <mbcurmax>.  If not specified, it defaults to <mbcurmax>.\n\nThe character set definition section starts with the keyword CHARMAP in the first column.\n\nThe following lines may have one of the two following forms to define the character set:\n\n<character> byte-sequence comment\nThis form defines exactly one character and its byte sequence, comment being optional.\n\n<character>..<character> byte-sequence comment\nThis form defines a character range and its byte sequence, comment being optional.\n\nThe character set definition section ends with the string END CHARMAP.\n\nThe character set definition section may optionally be followed by a section to define widths\nof characters.\n\nThe WIDTHDEFAULT keyword can be used to define the default width for all characters not  ex‐\nplicitly listed.  The default character width is 1.\n\nThe  width  section for individual characters starts with the keyword WIDTH in the first col‐\numn.\n\nThe following lines may have one of the two following forms to define the widths of the char‐\nacters:\n\n<character> width\nThis form defines the width of exactly one character.\n\n<character>...<character> width\nThis form defines the width for all the characters in the range.\n\nThe width definition section ends with the string END WIDTH.\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "/usr/share/i18n/charmaps\nUsual default character map path.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "CONFORMING TO": {
            "content": "POSIX.2.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "EXAMPLES": {
            "content": "The Euro sign is defined as follows in the UTF-8 charmap:\n\n<U20AC>     /xe2/x82/xac EURO SIGN\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "iconv(1), locale(1), localedef(1), locale(5), charsets(7)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "COLOPHON": {
            "content": "This  page  is  part  of  release  5.10 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the\nproject, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be  found\nat https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.\n\n\n\nGNU                                          2020-06-09                                   CHARMAP(5)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "charmap - character set description file",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [
        "The Euro sign is defined as follows in the UTF-8 charmap:",
        "<U20AC>     /xe2/x82/xac EURO SIGN"
    ],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "iconv",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconv/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "locale",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/locale/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "localedef",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/localedef/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "locale",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/locale/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "charsets",
            "section": "7",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/charsets/7/json"
        }
    ]
}