Charset(3pm)						User Contributed Perl Documentation					      Charset(3pm)

NAME

       MIME::Charset - Charset Information for MIME

SYNOPSIS

	   use MIME::Charset:

	   $charset = MIME::Charset->new("euc-jp");

       Getting charset information:

	   $benc = $charset->body_encoding; # e.g. "Q"
	   $cset = $charset->as_string; # e.g. "US-ASCII"
	   $henc = $charset->header_encoding; # e.g. "S"
	   $cset = $charset->output_charset; # e.g. "ISO-2022-JP"

       Translating text data:

	   ($text, $charset, $encoding) =
	       $charset->header_encode(
		  "xc9xc2xc5xaaxc0xdexc3xefxc5xaa".
		  "xc7xd1xcaxaaxbdxd0xcexcfxb4xef",
		  Charset => 'euc-jp');
	   # ...returns e.g. (<converted>, "ISO-2022-JP", "B").

	   ($text, $charset, $encoding) =
	       $charset->body_encode(
		   "Collectioneur pathxe9tiquement ".
		   "xe9clectique de dxe9chets",
		   Charset => 'latin1');
	   # ...returns e.g. (<original>, "ISO-8859-1", "QUOTED-PRINTABLE").

	   $len = $charset->encoded_header_len(
	       "Perlxe8xa8x80xe8xaax9e",
	       Charset => 'utf-8',
	       Encoding => "b");
	   # ...returns e.g. 28.

       Manipulating module defaults:

	   MIME::Charset::alias("csEUCKR", "euc-kr");
	   MIME::Charset::default("iso-8859-1");
	   MIME::Charset::fallback("us-ascii");

       Non-OO functions (may be deprecated in near future):

	   use MIME::Charset qw(:info);

	   $benc = body_encoding("iso-8859-2"); # "Q"
	   $cset = canonical_charset("ANSI X3.4-1968"); # "US-ASCII"
	   $henc = header_encoding("utf-8"); # "S"
	   $cset = output_charset("shift_jis"); # "ISO-2022-JP"

	   use MIME::Charset qw(:trans);

	   ($text, $charset, $encoding) =
	       header_encode(
		  "xc9xc2xc5xaaxc0xdexc3xefxc5xaa".
		  "xc7xd1xcaxaaxbdxd0xcexcfxb4xef",
		  "euc-jp");
	   # ...returns (<converted>, "ISO-2022-JP", "B");

	   ($text, $charset, $encoding) =
	       body_encode(
		   "Collectioneur pathxe9tiquement ".
		   "xe9clectique de dxe9chets",
		   "latin1");
	   # ...returns (<original>, "ISO-8859-1", "QUOTED-PRINTABLE");

	   $len = encoded_header_len(
	       "Perlxe8xa8x80xe8xaax9e", "b", "utf-8"); # 28

DESCRIPTION

       MIME::Charset provides information about character sets used for MIME messages on Internet.

   Definitions
       The charset is ``character set'' used in MIME to refer to a method of converting a sequence of octets into a sequence of characters.  It
       includes both concepts of ``coded character set'' (CCS) and ``character encoding scheme'' (CES) of ISO/IEC.

       The encoding is that used in MIME to refer to a method of representing a body part or a header body as sequence(s) of printable US-ASCII
       characters.

   Constructor
       $charset = MIME::Charset->new([CHARSET [, OPTS]])
	   Create charset object.

	   OPTS may accept following key-value pair.  NOTE: When Unicode/multibyte support is disabled (see "USE_ENCODE"), conversion will not be
	   performed.  So this option do not have any effects.

	   Mapping => MAPTYPE
	       Whether to extend mappings actually used for charset names or not.  "EXTENDED" uses extended mappings.  "STANDARD" uses
	       standardized strict mappings.  Default is "EXTENDED".

   Getting Information of Charsets
       $charset->body_encoding
       body_encoding CHARSET
	   Get recommended transfer-encoding of CHARSET for message body.

	   Returned value will be one of "B" (BASE64), "Q" (QUOTED-PRINTABLE), "S" (shorter one of either) or "undef" (might not be transfer-
	   encoded; either 7BIT or 8BIT).  This may not be same as encoding for message header.

       $charset->as_string
       canonical_charset CHARSET
	   Get canonical name for charset.

       $charset->decoder
	   Get "Encode::Encoding" object to decode strings to Unicode by charset.  If charset is not specified or not known by this module, undef
	   will be returned.

       $charset->dup
	   Get a copy of charset object.

       $charset->encoder([CHARSET])
	   Get "Encode::Encoding" object to encode Unicode string using compatible charset recommended to be used for messages on Internet.

	   If optional CHARSET is specified, replace encoder (and output charset name) of $charset object with those of CHARSET, therefore,
	   $charset object will be a converter between original charset and new CHARSET.

       $charset->header_encoding
       header_encoding CHARSET
	   Get recommended encoding scheme of CHARSET for message header.

	   Returned value will be one of "B", "Q", "S" (shorter one of either) or "undef" (might not be encoded).  This may not be same as
	   encoding for message body.

       $charset->output_charset
       output_charset CHARSET
	   Get a charset which is compatible with given CHARSET and is recommended to be used for MIME messages on Internet (if it is known by
	   this module).

	   When Unicode/multibyte support is disabled (see "USE_ENCODE"), this function will simply return the result of "canonical_charset".

   Translating Text Data
       $charset->body_encode(STRING [, OPTS])
       body_encode STRING, CHARSET [, OPTS]
	   Get converted (if needed) data of STRING and recommended transfer-encoding of that data for message body.  CHARSET is the charset by
	   which STRING is encoded.

	   OPTS may accept following key-value pairs.  NOTE: When Unicode/multibyte support is disabled (see "USE_ENCODE"), conversion will not be
	   performed.  So these options do not have any effects.

	   Detect7bit => YESNO
	       Try auto-detecting 7-bit charset when CHARSET is not given.  Default is "YES".

	   Replacement => REPLACEMENT
	       Specifies error handling scheme.  See "Error Handling".

	   3-item list of (converted string, charset for output, transfer-encoding) will be returned.  Transfer-encoding will be either "BASE64",
	   "QUOTED-PRINTABLE", "7BIT" or "8BIT".  If charset for output could not be determined and converted string contains non-ASCII byte(s),
	   charset for output will be "undef" and transfer-encoding will be "BASE64".  Charset for output will be "US-ASCII" if and only if string
	   does not contain any non-ASCII bytes.

       $charset->decode(STRING [,CHECK])
	   Decode STRING to Unicode.

	   Note: When Unicode/multibyte support is disabled (see "USE_ENCODE"), this function will die.

       detect_7bit_charset STRING
	   Guess 7-bit charset that may encode a string STRING.  If STRING contains any 8-bit bytes, "undef" will be returned.	Otherwise, Default
	   Charset will be returned for unknown charset.

       $charset->encode(STRING [,CHECK])
	   Encode STRING (Unicode or non-Unicode) using compatible charset recommended to be used for messages on Internet (if this module knows
	   it).  Note that string will be decoded to Unicode then encoded even if compatible charset was equal to original charset.

	   Note: When Unicode/multibyte support is disabled (see "USE_ENCODE"), this function will die.

       $charset->encoded_header_len(STRING [, ENCODING])
       encoded_header_len STRING, ENCODING, CHARSET
	   Get length of encoded STRING for message header (without folding).

	   ENCODING may be one of "B", "Q" or "S" (shorter one of either "B" or "Q").

       $charset->header_encode(STRING [, OPTS])
       header_encode STRING, CHARSET [, OPTS]
	   Get converted (if needed) data of STRING and recommended encoding scheme of that data for message headers.  CHARSET is the charset by
	   which STRING is encoded.

	   OPTS may accept following key-value pairs.  NOTE: When Unicode/multibyte support is disabled (see "USE_ENCODE"), conversion will not be
	   performed.  So these options do not have any effects.

	   Detect7bit => YESNO
	       Try auto-detecting 7-bit charset when CHARSET is not given.  Default is "YES".

	   Replacement => REPLACEMENT
	       Specifies error handling scheme.  See "Error Handling".

	   3-item list of (converted string, charset for output, encoding scheme) will be returned.  Encoding scheme will be either "B", "Q" or
	   "undef" (might not be encoded).  If charset for output could not be determined and converted string contains non-ASCII byte(s), charset
	   for output will be "8BIT" (this is not charset name but a special value to represent unencodable data) and encoding scheme will be
	   "undef" (should not be encoded).  Charset for output will be "US-ASCII" if and only if string does not contain any non-ASCII bytes.

       $charset->undecode(STRING [,CHECK])
	   Encode Unicode string STRING to byte string by input charset of $charset.  This is equivalent to "$charset->decoder->encode()".

	   Note: When Unicode/multibyte support is disabled (see "USE_ENCODE"), this function will die.

   Manipulating Module Defaults
       alias ALIAS [, CHARSET]
	   Get/set charset alias for canonical names determined by "canonical_charset".

	   If CHARSET is given and isn't false, ALIAS will be assigned as an alias of CHARSET.	Otherwise, alias won't be changed.  In both cases,
	   current charset name that ALIAS is assigned will be returned.

       default [CHARSET]
	   Get/set default charset.

	   Default charset is used by this module when charset context is unknown.  Modules using this module are recommended to use this charset
	   when charset context is unknown or implicit default is expected.  By default, it is "US-ASCII".

	   If CHARSET is given and isn't false, it will be set to default charset.  Otherwise, default charset won't be changed.  In both cases,
	   current default charset will be returned.

	   NOTE: Default charset should not be changed.

       fallback [CHARSET]
	   Get/set fallback charset.

	   Fallback charset is used by this module when conversion by given charset is failed and "FALLBACK" error handling scheme is specified.
	   Modules using this module may use this charset as last resort of charset for conversion.  By default, it is "UTF-8".

	   If CHARSET is given and isn't false, it will be set to fallback charset.  If CHARSET is "NONE", fallback charset will be undefined.
	   Otherwise, fallback charset won't be changed.  In any cases, current fallback charset will be returned.

	   NOTE: It is useful that "US-ASCII" is specified as fallback charset, since result of conversion will be readable without charset
	   information.

       recommended CHARSET [, HEADERENC, BODYENC [, ENCCHARSET]]
	   Get/set charset profiles.

	   If optional arguments are given and any of them are not false, profiles for CHARSET will be set by those arguments.	Otherwise,
	   profiles won't be changed.  In both cases, current profiles for CHARSET will be returned as 3-item list of (HEADERENC, BODYENC,
	   ENCCHARSET).

	   HEADERENC is recommended encoding scheme for message header.  It may be one of "B", "Q", "S" (shorter one of either) or "undef" (might
	   not be encoded).

	   BODYENC is recommended transfer-encoding for message body.  It may be one of "B", "Q", "S" (shorter one of either) or "undef" (might
	   not be transfer-encoded).

	   ENCCHARSET is a charset which is compatible with given CHARSET and is recommended to be used for MIME messages on Internet.	If
	   conversion is not needed (or this module doesn't know appropriate charset), ENCCHARSET is "undef".

	   NOTE: This function in the future releases can accept more optional arguments (for example, properties to handle character widths, line
	   folding behavior, ...).  So format of returned value may probably be changed.  Use "header_encoding", "body_encoding" or
	   "output_charset" to get particular profile.

   Constants
       USE_ENCODE
	   Unicode/multibyte support flag.  Non-empty string will be set when Unicode and multibyte support is enabled.  Currently, this flag will
	   be non-empty on Perl 5.7.3 or later and empty string on earlier versions of Perl.

   Error Handling
       "body_encode" and "header_encode" accept following "Replacement" options:

       "DEFAULT"
	   Put a substitution character in place of a malformed character.  For UCM-based encodings, <subchar> will be used.

       "FALLBACK"
	   Try "DEFAULT" scheme using fallback charset (see "fallback").  When fallback charset is undefined and conversion causes error, code
	   will die on error with an error message.

       "CROAK"
	   Code will die on error immediately with an error message.  Therefore, you should trap the fatal error with eval{} unless you really
	   want to let it die on error.  Synonym is "STRICT".

       "PERLQQ"
       "HTMLCREF"
       "XMLCREF"
	   Use "FB_PERLQQ", "FB_HTMLCREF" or "FB_XMLCREF" scheme defined by Encode module.

       numeric values
	   Numeric values are also allowed.  For more details see "Handling Malformed Data" in Encode.

       If error handling scheme is not specified or unknown scheme is specified, "DEFAULT" will be assumed.

   Configuration File
       Built-in defaults for option parameters can be overridden by configuration file: MIME/Charset/Defaults.pm.  For more details read
       MIME/Charset/Defaults.pm.sample.

VERSION

       Consult $VERSION variable.

       Development versions of this module may be found at http://hatuka.nezumi.nu/repos/MIME-Charset/ <http://hatuka.nezumi.nu/repos/MIME-
       Charset/>.

   Incompatible Changes
       Release 1.001
	   o   new() method returns an object when CHARSET argument is not specified.

       Release 1.005
	   o   Restrict characters in encoded-word according to RFC 2047 section 5(3).  This also affects return value of encoded_header_len()
	       method.

       Release 1.008.2
	   o   body_encoding() method may also returns "S".

	   o   Return value of body_encode() method for UTF-8 may include "QUOTED-PRINTABLE" encoding item that in earlier versions was fixed to
	       "BASE64".

SEE ALSO

       Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME).

AUTHOR

       Hatuka*nezumi - IKEDA Soji <hatuka(at)nezumi.nu>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2006-2011 Hatuka*nezumi - IKEDA Soji.  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
       terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.14.2							    2012-06-08							      Charset(3pm)