.\" Copyright (c) Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org>
.\"
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.\" modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
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.\"   GNU glibc-2 source code and manual
.\"   GNU gettext source code and manual
.\"   LI18NUX 2000 Globalization Specification
.\"
.TH BIND_TEXTDOMAIN_CODESET 3 "May 2001" "GNU gettext 0.16"
.SH NAME
bind_textdomain_codeset \- set encoding of message translations
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <libintl.h>
.sp
.BI "char * bind_textdomain_codeset (const char * " domainname ,
.BI "                                const char * " codeset );
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBbind_textdomain_codeset\fP function sets the output codeset for message
catalogs for domain \fIdomainname\fP.
.PP
A message domain is a set of translatable \fImsgid\fP messages. Usually,
every software package has its own message domain.
.PP
By default, the \fBgettext\fP family of functions returns translated messages
in the locale's character encoding, which can be retrieved as
\fBnl_langinfo(CODESET)\fP. The need for calling \fBbind_textdomain_codeset\fP
arises for programs which store strings in a locale independent way (e.g.
UTF-8) and want to avoid an extra character set conversion on the returned
translated messages.
.PP
\fIdomainname\fP must be a non-empty string.
.PP
If \fIcodeset\fP is not NULL, it must be a valid encoding name which can be
used for the \fBiconv_open\fP function. The \fBbind_textdomain_codeset\fP
function sets the output codeset for message catalogs belonging to domain
\fIdomainname\fP to \fIcodeset\fP. The function makes copies of the argument
strings as needed.
.PP
If \fIcodeset\fP is NULL, the function returns the previously set codeset for
domain \fIdomainname\fP. The default is NULL, denoting the locale's character
encoding.
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
If successful, the \fBbind_textdomain_codeset\fP function returns the current
codeset for domain \fIdomainname\fP, after possibly changing it. The resulting
string is valid until the next \fBbind_textdomain_codeset\fP call for the same
\fIdomainname\fP and must not be modified or freed. If a memory allocation
failure occurs, it sets \fBerrno\fP to \fBENOMEM\fP and returns NULL. If no
codeset has been set for domain \fIdomainname\fP, it returns NULL.
.SH ERRORS
The following error can occur, among others:
.TP
.B ENOMEM
Not enough memory available.
.SH BUGS
The return type ought to be \fBconst char *\fP, but is \fBchar *\fP to avoid
warnings in C code predating ANSI C.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR gettext (3),
.BR dgettext (3),
.BR dcgettext (3),
.BR ngettext (3),
.BR dngettext (3),
.BR dcngettext (3),
.BR textdomain (3),
.BR nl_langinfo (3),
.BR iconv_open (3)