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README.md

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+# Lua-iconv
+
+Perform character set conversions in Lua
+
+(c) 2005-11 Alexandre Erwin Ittner <[email protected]>
+
+
+## Introduction
+
+Lua-iconv provides POSIX 'iconv' bindings for the Lua Programming Language.
+The iconv library converts a sequence of characters from one codeset into a sequence of corresponding characters in another codeset.
+The codesets are those specified in the `iconv.new()` call that returned the conversion descriptor, `cd`.
+
+Lua-iconv 7 *requires* Lua 5.1 or Lua 5.2. For Lua 5.0, use the first release (lua-iconv-r1).
+
+Details on iconv may be obtained in the [Open Group's interface definition](http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007908799/xsh/iconv.h.html).
+
+
+## Download and installation
+
+Lua-iconv can be obtained from [its GitHub project page](https://github.com/lunarmodules/lua-iconv), from a LuaRocks server, or from some Linux distributions which already provide it (eg. Debian).
+
+Unless you downloaded a compiled package, you must build the library for your system.
+If you have LuaRocks installed, all the process is automatic; just fire up your favourite shell and type, as root:
+
+```console
+luarocks install lua-iconv
+```
+
+and the package will be downloaded from a rock server, installed and configured.
+Otherwise, you must compile and install the package.
+In a system with pkg-config (as many Linux distributions and Unix flavors) open a shell, untar the distribution package and, within the program directory, type:
+
+```console
+make install
+```
+
+as root.
+The library will be compiled and installed on the in the correct path (which is defined in lua5.x.pc).
+Compiling on systems without pkg-config requires manual changes in the Makefile (this includes Windows).
+
+
+## Loading and initialization
+
+Lua-iconv is a shared library that must be loaded in the Lua interpreter before use.
+You can simply do a
+
+```lua
+local iconv = require("iconv")
+```
+
+call to load up the library (that, of course, must be installed in a directory from `package.cpath`).
+
+
+## API documentation
+
+```lua
+cd = iconv.new(to, from)
+cd = iconv.open(to, from)
+```
+
+Opens a new conversion descriptor, from the 'from' charset to the 'to' charset.
+Concatenating "//TRANSLIT" to the first argument will enable character transliteration and concatenating "//IGNORE" to the first argument will cause iconv to ignore any invalid characters found in the input string.
+
+This function returns a new converter or nil on error.
+
+
+```lua
+nstr, err = cd:iconv(str)
+```
+
+Converts the 'str' string to the desired charset.
+This method always returns two arguments: the converted string and an error code, which may have any of the following values:
+
+* `nil`
+
+ No error. Conversion was successful.
+
+* `iconv.ERROR_NO_MEMORY`
+
+ Failed to allocate enough memory in the conversion process.
+
+* `iconv.ERROR_INVALID`
+
+ An invalid character was found in the input sequence.
+
+* `iconv.ERROR_INCOMPLETE`
+
+ An incomplete character was found in the input sequence.
+
+* `iconv.ERROR_FINALIZED`
+
+ Trying to use an already-finalized converter. This usually means
+ that the user was tweaking the garbage collector private methods.
+
+* `iconv.ERROR_UNKNOWN`
+
+ There was an unknown error.
+
+
+## License
+
+Lua-iconv is copyrighted free software: it can be used for both academic
+and commercial purposes at absolutely no cost. There are no royalties
+or GNU-like "copyleft" restrictions. The legal details are below:
+
+ Lua-iconv is (c) 2005-11 Alexandre Erwin Ittner
+
+ Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
+ a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+ "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+ without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+ distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+ permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject
+ to the following conditions:
+
+ The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
+ included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+ THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
+ EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+ MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
+ IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY
+ CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
+ TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
+ SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+ If you use this package in a product, an acknowledgment in the product
+ documentation would be greatly appreciated (but it is not required).
+