\# Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Loic Dachary <loic@senga.org>
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.TH unac 3 local
.SH NAME
unac \- remove accents from string or character
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.ft CW
#include <unac.h>
const char* unac_version();
int unac_string(const char* charset,
const char* in, int in_length,
char** out, int* out_length);
int unac_string_utf16(const char* in, int in_length,
char** out, int* out_length);
/* MACRO: side effect on unaccented and length arguments */
unac_char_utf16(unsigned short c,
unsigned short* unaccented,
int length);
const char* unac_version()
/*
* The level argument can be one of:
* UNAC_DEBUG_NONE UNAC_DEBUG_LOW UNAC_DEBUG_HIGH
*/
void unac_debug(int level)
typedef void (*unac_debug_print_t)(const char* message, void* data);
void unac_debug_callback(int level, unac_debug_print_t function, void* data)
.ft R
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I unac
is a C library that removes accents from characters, regardless of the
character set (ISO-8859-15, ISO-CELTIC, KOI8-RU...) as long as
.I iconv(3)
is able to convert it into UTF-16 (Unicode).
The
.B unac_string
function is given a charset (ISO-8859-15 for instance) and a string. It
converts the string into UTF-16 and calls the
.B unac_string_utf16
function to remove all accents from the UTF-16 version. The unaccented
string is then converted into the original charset (ISO-8859-15 for
instance) and returned to the caller of
.B unac_string.
.I unac
does a little more than removing accents:
every character that is made of two character such as
.B æ
(ISO-8859-15 octal code 346)
will be expanded in two characters
.B a
and
.B e.
Should a character be made of three characters, it would be
decomposed in the same way.
The conversion from and to UTF-16 is
done with
.I iconv(3).
The
.B iconv -l
command will list all available charsets. Using UTF-16 as a pivot implies an
overhead but ensures that accents can be removed from all character
for which there is an equivalent character in Unicode.
.B unac_char_utf16
is a CPP macro that returns a pointer to the unaccented equivalent
of a given UTF-16 character. It is the basic building block of
.I unac.
.B unac_string_utf16
repeatidly applies the
.B unac_char_utf16
macro to each character of an UTF-16 string.
.SH FUNCTIONS
.TP
.B int unac_string(const char* charset, const char* in, size_t in_length, char** out, size_t* out_length)
Returns the unaccented equivalent of the string
.B 'in'
of length
.B 'in_length'
bytes.
The returned string is stored in the pointer pointed by the
.B 'out'
argument and the length of the
.B 'out'
string, in bytes, is stored in the integer pointed by
the
.B 'out_length '
argument.
If the
.B '*out'
pointer is not null, it must point to an area allocated by
.I malloc(3)
and the length of the array must be specified in the
.B '*out_length'
argument. Both arguments
.B '*out'
and
.B '*out_length'
will be replaced with the return values when the function returns
on success. The
.B '*out'
pointer may point to a memory location that has been reallocated (using
.I realloc(3))
by the
.B unac_string
function. There is no guarantee that '*out' is identical to the value
given by the caller. The pointer provided as '*out' by the caller
may not be useable when the function returns (either error or
success). If the
.B '*out'
pointer is null, the
.B unac_string
function allocates a new memory block using
.I malloc(3).
It is the responsibility of the caller to deallocate the area returned
in the
.B '*out'
pointer.
The return value of
.B unac_string
is 0 on success and -1 on error, in which case
the errno variable is set to the corresponding error code. See
the ERROR section below for more information. The
.I iconv(3)
manual page may also help.
.TP
.B int unac_string_utf16(const char* in, int in_length, char** out, int* out_length)
Has the same effect as
.B unac_string("UTF-16", in, in_length, out, out_length).
Since the
.B unac_string_utf16
is the backend function of the
.B unac_string
function it is more efficient because no charset conversion of the
input string (from and to UTF-16) is necessary.
.TP
.B unac_char_utf16(const unsigned short c, unsigned short* p, int l)
.B Warning: this is a macro, each argument may be evaluated more than once.
Returns the unaccented equivalent of the UTF-16 character
.B 'c'
in the pointer
.B 'p'.
The length of the unsigned short array pointed by
.B 'p'
is returned in the
.B 'l'
argument.
.TP
.B const char* unac_version()
Return the version number of
.B unac.
.TP
.B void unac_debug(int level)
Set the debug level of the unac library to
.B 'level'.
Possible values are: UNAC_DEBUG_NONE for no debug at all, UNAC_DEBUG_LOW
for terse human readable information, UNAC_DEBUG_HIGH for very detailed
information only usable when translating a few strings.
unac_debug_callback with anything but UNAC_DEBUG_NONE is not
thread safe.
.TP
.B void unac_debug_callback(int level, unac_debug_print_t function, void* data)
Set the debug level and define a printing function callback.
The
.B 'level'
is the same as in unac_debug. The
.B 'function'
is in charge of dealing with the debug messages,
presumably to print them to the user.
The
.B 'data'
is an opaque pointer that is passed along to
.B function,
should it need to manage a persistent context.
The prototype of
.B 'function'
accepts two arguments. The first
is the debug message
.I (const char*),
the second is the opaque
pointer given as
.B 'data'
argument to
.B unac_debug_callback.
If
.B 'function'
is NULL, messages are printed on the standard
error output using fprintf(stderr...).
unac_debug_callback with anything but UNAC_DEBUG_NONE is not
thread safe.
.B
.SH ERRORS
.TP
EINVAL
the requested conversion pair is not available. For instance, when
specifying the ISO-0000 charset (imaginary), it means it is not possible to
convert from ISO-0000 to UTF-16.
.SH EXAMPLES
Convert the
.B été
string into
.B ete.
.nf
.ft CW
#include <unac.h>
char* out = 0;
int out_length = 0;
if(unac_string("ISO-8859-1", "été", strlen("été"), &out, &out_length)) {
perror("unac_string");
} else {
printf("%.*s\n", out_length, out);
free(out);
}
.ft R
.fi
.SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
The endianness of the UTF-16 strings manipulated by
.I unac
must always be big endian. When using
.I iconv(3)
to translate strings, UTF-16BE should be used instead of UTF-16 to make sure
it is big endian (BE). On some systems where UTF-16BE is not available,
.B unac
will rely on UTF-16 and hope it is properly big endian encoded.
For more information check RFC2781 (http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2781.html: UTF-16,
an encoding of ISO 10646).
The
.I unac
library uses the Unicode database to map accented letters to their unaccented
equivalent. Mapping tables are generated from the
.I UnicodeData-4.0.0.txt
file (as found at http://www.unicode.org/Public/4.0-Update/) by the
.I builder
perl script. The
.I builder
script inserts these tables in the
.I unac.h
and
.I unac.c
files, replacing the existing ones. Looking for the
.B 'Generated by builder'
string in the
.I unac.[ch]
files allows it to spot the various parts handled by the builder script.
Some desirable decompositions may not be included in the UnicodeData
file, such as AE. To complement the standard decompositions for the
purpose of the unac library, the
.I unaccent-local-map.perl
script is used. It maps character names (such as
.B LATIN SMALL LETTER AE)
to an array of character names into which it will be decomposed.
This script is used by the
.I builder
script and has precedence over decomposition rules defined in the
Unicode data file.
The library data occupies 30KB where a simple minded table would
occupy around 512Kbytes. The idea used to compress the tables is that
many Unicode characters do not have unaccented equivalent. Instead of
relying on a table mapping each Unicode character to the corresponding
unaccented character, an intermediate array of pointers is created. In
the drawing below, the range of UTF-16 character is not accurate but
illustrates the method. The
.B unac_data_table
points to a set of
.B unac_dataXX
arrays. Each pointer covers a range of UTF-16 characters (4 in the example
below). When a range of character does not contain any accented character,
unac_data_table always points to the same array : unac_data0. Since there
are many characters without accents, this is enough to achieve a good
compression.
.nf
.ft CW
unac_data15 unac_data16
[ NULL, NULL, NULL, e ] <----\ /------> [ a, NULL, NULL, NULL ]
| |
| |
^ ^
|-----| |-----| |-----| |-----| |-----| |-----|
[ ... a b c d e f g h i j k é à 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A... ] unac_data_table
|-----| |-----| |-----| |-----| |-----| |-----|
v v v v
| | | |
| | | |
\--------------------------------------/
|
V
[ NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL ]
unac_data0
.ft R
.fi
Beside this simple optimization, a table (unac_positions) listing the
actual position of the unaccented replacement within a block
(unac_dataXX) is necessary because they are not of fixed length. Some
characters such as
.B æ
will
be replaced by two characters
.B a
and
.B e
therefore unac_dataXX has a variable size.
The unaccented equivalent of an UTF-16 character is calculated by
applying a
.I compatibility decomposition
and then stripping all characters that belong to the
.I mark
category. For a precise definition see the Unicode-4.0 normalization
forms at http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/.
All original Unicode data files were taken from
http://www.unicode.org/Public and are subject to the
.B UCD Terms of Use.
http://www.unicode.org/Public/4.0-Update/UCD-4.0.0.html#UCD_Terms
.B Disclaimer
The Unicode Character Database is provided as is by Unicode,
Inc. No claims are made as to fitness for any particular purpose. No
warranties of any kind are expressed or implied. The recipient agrees
to determine applicability of information provided. If this file has
been purchased on magnetic or optical media from Unicode, Inc., the
sole remedy for any claim will be exchange of defective media within
90 days of receipt.
This disclaimer is applicable for all other data files
accompanying the Unicode Character Database, some of which have been
compiled by the Unicode Consortium, and some of which have been
supplied by other sources.
.B Limitations on Rights to Redistribute This Data
Recipient is granted the right to make copies in any form for
internal distribution and to freely use the information supplied in
the creation of products supporting the UnicodeTM Standard. The files
in the Unicode Character Database can be redistributed to third
parties or other organizations (whether for profit or not) as long as
this notice and the disclaimer notice are retained. Information can be
extracted from these files and used in documentation or programs, as
long as there is an accompanying notice indicating the source.
The file Unihan.txt contains older and inconsistent Terms of
Use. That language is overridden by these terms.
.SH BUGS
The input string must not contain partially formed characters, there is
no support for this case.
UTF-16 surrogates are not handled.
Unicode may contain bugs in the decomposition of characters. When
you suspect such a bug on a given string, add a test case with the
faulty string in the
.B t_unac.in
test script (you will find it in the source distribution) and run
.I make check.
It will describe, in a very verbose way, how the string was
unaccented. You may then fix the UnicodeData-4.0.0.txt file and
run
.I make check
again to make sure the problem is solved. Please
send such fixes to the author and to the Unicode consortium.
.SH SEE ALSO
unaccent(1), iconv(3)
.nf
.ft CW
http://www.unicode.org/
http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu/
http://www.gnu.org/manual/glibc-2.2.5/libc.html
.ft R
.fi
.SH AUTHOR
Loic Dachary loic@senga.org
.nf
.ft CW
http://www.senga.org/unac/
.ft R
.fi