Using the iconv utility and ICONV CLIST for C/C++

The iconv utility uses the iconv_open(), iconv(), and iconv_close() functions to convert the input file records from the coded character set definition for the input code page to the coded character set definition for the output code page. There is one record in the output file for each record in the input file. No padding or truncation of records is performed.

The iconv utility can also perform BiDi layout transformation (for example, shaping and reordering) on the data to be converted according to the two environment variables, _BIDION and _BIDIATTR. See "Bidirectional Language Support" in z/OS XL C/C++ Programming Guide for more information on BiDi layout transformation. See "Using Environment Variables" in z/OS XL C/C++ Programming Guide for a description of _BIDION and _BIDIATTR.

See z/OS XL C/C++ User's Guide for information on the iconv utility.

When conversions are performed between single-byte code pages, the output records are the same length as the input records. When conversions are performed between double-byte code pages, the output records could be longer or shorter than the input records because the shift-out and shift-in characters could be added or removed.

The ICONV CLIST invokes the iconv utility to copy the input data set to the output data set and convert the characters from the input code page to the output code page.