Syntax¶

The charmap file starts with a header, that may consist of the following keywords:

<codeset>

is followed by the name of the codeset.

<mb_cur_max>

is followed by the max number of bytes for a multibyte-character. Multibyte characters are currently not supported. The default value is 1.

<mb_cur_min>

is followed by the min number of bytes for a character. This value must be less or equal than mb_cur_max. If not specified, it defaults to mb_cur_max.

<escape_char>

is followed by a character that should be used as the escape-character for the rest of the file to mark characters that should be interpreted in a special way. It defaults to the backslash (  ).

<comment_char>

is followed by a character that will be used as the comment-character for the rest of the file. It defaults to the number sign ( # ).

The charmap-definition itself starts with the keyword CHARMAP in column 1.

The following lines may have one of the two following forms to define the character-encodings:

<symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>

This form defines exactly one character and its encoding.

<symbolic-name>...<symbolic-name> <encoding> <comments>

This form defines a couple of characters. This is only useful for multibyte-characters, which are currently not implemented.

The last line in a charmap-definition file must contain END CHARMAP.

Symbolic Names¶

A symbolic name for a character contains only characters of the portable character set. The name itself is enclosed between angle brackets. Characters following an <escape_char> are interpreted as itself; for example, the sequence <\\\>> represents the symbolic name \> enclosed in angle brackets.

Character Encoding¶

The encoding may be in each of the following three forms:

<escape_char>d<number>

with a decimal number

<escape_char>x<number>

with a hexadecimal number

<escape_char><number>

with an octal number.