# man > iconv(1) > **TLDR:** Convert text from one encoding to another. > - Convert file to a specific encoding, and print to `stdout`: `iconv {{-f|--from-code}} {{from_encoding}} {{-t|--to-code}} {{to_encoding}} {{input_file}}` - Convert file to the current locale's encoding, and output to a file: `iconv {{-f|--from-code}} {{from_encoding}} {{input_file}} > {{output_file}}` - List supported encodings: `iconv {{-l|--list}}` *Source: tldr-pages* --- [_iconv_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconv/1/markdown) General Commands Manual [_iconv_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconv/1/markdown) ## NAME iconv - convert text from one character encoding to another ## SYNOPSIS **iconv **[_options_] [-f _from-encoding_] [-t _to-encoding_] [_inputfile_]... ## DESCRIPTION The **iconv **program reads in text in one encoding and outputs the text in another encoding. If no input files are given, or if it is given as a dash (-), **iconv **reads from standard input. If no output file is given, **iconv **writes to standard output. If no _from-encoding_ is given, the default is derived from the current locale's character en‐ coding. If no _to-encoding_ is given, the default is derived from the current locale's charac‐ ter encoding. ## OPTIONS **--from-code=_**from-encoding_ ### -f _ Use _from-encoding_ for input characters. **--to-code=_**to-encoding_ ### -t _ Use _to-encoding_ for output characters. If the string **//IGNORE **is appended to _to-encoding_, characters that cannot be converted are discarded and an error is printed after conversion. If the string **//TRANSLIT **is appended to _to-encoding_, characters being converted are transliterated when needed and possible. This means that when a character cannot be represented in the target character set, it can be approximated through one or several similar looking characters. Characters that are outside of the target character set and cannot be transliterated are replaced with a question mark (?) in the output. ### --list ### -l ### -c countering such characters. **--output=_**outputfile_ ### -o _ Use _outputfile_ for output. ### --silent ### -s ### --verbose Print progress information on standard error when processing multiple files. ### --help **-? **Print a usage summary and exit. ### --usage Print a short usage summary and exit. ### --version ### -V ## EXIT STATUS Zero on success, nonzero on errors. ## ENVIRONMENT Internally, the **iconv **program uses the [**iconv**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconv/3/markdown) function which in turn uses _gconv_ modules (dynamically loaded shared libraries) to convert to and from a character set. Before calling [**iconv**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconv/3/markdown), the **iconv **program must first allocate a conversion descriptor using [**iconv_open**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconvopen/3/markdown). The operation of the latter function is influenced by the setting of the **GCONV_PATH **environ‐ ment variable: • If **GCONV_PATH **is not set, [**iconv_open**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconvopen/3/markdown) loads the system gconv module configuration cache file created by [**iconvconfig**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconvconfig/8/markdown) and then, based on the configuration, loads the gconv mod‐ ules needed to perform the conversion. If the system gconv module configuration cache file is not available then the system gconv module configuration file is used. • If **GCONV_PATH **is defined (as a colon-separated list of pathnames), the system gconv module configuration cache is not used. Instead, [**iconv_open**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconvopen/3/markdown) first tries to load the configu‐ ration files by searching the directories in **GCONV_PATH **in order, followed by the system default gconv module configuration file. If a directory does not contain a gconv module configuration file, any gconv modules that it may contain are ignored. If a directory contains a gconv module configuration file and it is determined that a module needed for this conversion is available in the directory, then the needed module is loaded from that directory, the order being such that the first suitable module found in **GCONV_PATH **is used. This allows users to use custom modules and even replace system-provided modules by providing such modules in **GCONV_PATH **directories. ## FILES _/usr/lib/gconv_ Usual default gconv module path. _/usr/lib/gconv/gconv-modules_ Usual system default gconv module configuration file. _/usr/lib/gconv/gconv-modules.cache_ Usual system gconv module configuration cache. Depending on the architecture, the above files may instead be located at directories with the path prefix _/usr/lib64_. ## STANDARDS POSIX.1-2008. ## HISTORY POSIX.1-2001. ## EXAMPLES Convert text from the ISO/IEC 8859-15 character encoding to UTF-8: $ **iconv -f ISO-8859-15 -t UTF-8 < input.txt > output.txt** The next example converts from UTF-8 to ASCII, transliterating when possible: $ **echo abc ß α € àḃç | iconv -f UTF-8 -t ASCII//TRANSLIT** abc ss ? EUR abc ## SEE ALSO [**locale**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/locale/1/markdown), [**uconv**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/uconv/1/markdown), [**iconv**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconv/3/markdown), [**nl_langinfo**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/nllanginfo/3/markdown), [**charsets**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/charsets/7/markdown), [**iconvconfig**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconvconfig/8/markdown) Linux man-pages 6.7 2024-01-28 [_iconv_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/iconv/1/markdown)