Unicode::MapUTF8(3)

NAME
Unicode::MapUTF8 - Conversions to and from arbitrary character sets and UTF8

SYNOPSIS
 use Unicode::MapUTF8 qw(to_utf8 from_utf8 utf8_supported_charset);

 # Convert a string in 'ISO-8859-1' to 'UTF8'
 my $output = to_utf8({ -string => 'An example', -charset => 'ISO-8859-1' });

 # Convert a string in 'UTF8' encoding to encoding 'ISO-8859-1'
 my $other  = from_utf8({ -string => 'Other text', -charset => 'ISO-8859-1' });

 # List available character set encodings
 my @character_sets = utf8_supported_charset;

 # Add a character set alias
 utf8_charset_alias({ 'ms-japanese' => 'sjis' });

 # Convert between two arbitrary (but largely compatible) charset encodings
 # (SJIS to EUC-JP)
 my $utf8_string   = to_utf8({ -string =>$sjis_string, -charset => 'sjis'});
 my $euc_jp_string = from_utf8({ -string => $utf8_string, -charset => 'euc-jp' })

 # Verify that a specific character set is supported
 if (utf8_supported_charset('ISO-8859-1') {
     # Yes
 }

DESCRIPTION
Provides an adapter layer between core routines for converting to and from UTF8 and other encodings. In essence, a way to give multiple existing Unicode modules a single common interface so you don't have to know the underlaying implementations to do simple UTF8 to-from other character set encoding conversions. As such, it wraps the Unicode::String, Unicode::Map8, Unicode::Map and Jcode modules in a standardized and simple API.

This also provides general character set conversion operation based on UTF8 - it is possible to convert between any two compatible and supported character sets via a simple two step chaining of conversions.

As with most things Perlish - if you give it a few big chunks of text to chew on instead of lots of small ones it will handle many more characters per second.

By design, it can be easily extended to encompass any new charset encoding conversion modules that arrive on the scene.

CHANGES
1.09 2001.08.22 - Fixed multiple typo occurances of 'uft'
                  where 'utf' was meant in code. Problem affected
                  utf16 and utf7 encodings. Problem found
                  by devon smith <devon@taller.PSCL.cwru.edu>

1.08 2000.11.06 - Added 'utf8_charset_alias' function to
                  allow for runtime setting of character
                  set aliases. Added several alternate
                  names for 'sjis' (shiftjis, shift-jis,
                  shift_jis, s-jis, and s_jis).

                  Corrected 'croak' messages for
                  'from_utf8' functions to appropriate
                  function name.

                  Tightened up initialization encapsulation

                  Corrected fatal problem in jcode from
                  unicode internals. Problem and fix
                  found by Brian Wisti <wbrian2@uswest.net>.

1.07 2000.11.01 - Added 'croak' to use Carp declaration to
                  fix error messages. Problem and fix
                  found by Brian Wisti
                  <wbrian2@uswest.net>.

1.06 2000.10.30 - Fix to handle change in stringification
                  of overloaded objects between Perl 5.005
                  and 5.6. Problem noticed by Brian Wisti
                  <wbrian2@uswest.net>.

1.05 2000.10.23 - Error in conversions from UTF8 to
                  multibyte encodings corrected

1.04 2000.10.23 - Additional diagnostic messages added
                  for internal error conditions

1.03 2000.10.22 - Bug fix for load time autodetction of
                  Unicode::Map8 encodings

1.02 2000.10.22 - Added load time autodetection of
                  Unicode::Map8 supported character set
                  encodings.

                  Fixed internal calling error for some
                  character sets with 'from_utf8'. Thanks
                  goes to Ilia Lobsanov
                  <ilia@lobsanov.com> for reporting this
                  problem.

1.01 2000.10.02 - Fixed handling of empty strings and
                  added more identification for error
                  messages.

1.00 2000.09.29 - Pre-release version

FUNCTIONS

utf8_charset_alias({ $alias => $charset });
    Used for runtime assignment of character set aliases.

    Called with no parameters, returns a hash of defined aliases and the character sets they map to.

    Example:

      my $aliases     = utf8_charset_alias;
      my @alias_names = keys %$aliases;

    If called with ONE parameter, returns the name of the 'real' charset if the alias is defined. Returns undef if it is not found in the aliases.

    Example:

        if (! utf8_charset_alias('VISCII')) {
            # No alias for this
        }

    If called with a list of 'alias' => 'charset' pairs, defines those aliases for use.

    Example:

        utf8_charset_alias({ 'japanese' => 'sjis', 'japan' => 'sjis' });

    Note: It will croak if a passed pair does not map to a character set defined in the predefined set of character encoding. It is NOT allowed to alias something to another alias.

    Multiple character set aliases can be set with a single call.

    To clear an alias, pass a character set mapping of undef.

    Example:

        utf8_charset_alias({ 'japanese' => undef });

    While an alias is set, the 'utf8_supported_charset' function will return the alias as if it were a predefined charset.

    Overriding a base defined character encoding with an alias will generate a warning message to STDERR.

utf8_supported_charset($charset_name);
    Returns true if the named charset is supported (including user defiend aliases).

    Returns false if it is not.

    Example:

        if (! utf8_supported_charset('VISCII')) {
            # No support yet
        }

    If called in a list context with no parameters, it will return a list of all supported character set names (including user defined aliases).

    Example:

        my @charsets = utf8_supported_charset;

to_utf8({ -string => $string, -charset => $source_charset });
    Returns the string converted to UTF8 from the specified source charset.

from_utf8({ -string => $string, -charset => $target_charset});
    Returns the string converted from UTF8 to the specified target charset.

VERSION
1.09 2001.08.22

COPYRIGHT
Copyright September, 2000 Benjamin Franz. All rights reserved.

This software is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHOR
Benjamin Franz <snowhare@nihongo.org>

TODO
Regression tests for Jcode, 2-byte encodings and encoding aliases

SEE ALSO
Unicode::String Unicode::Map8 Unicode::Map Jcode