charmap - Linux

Overview

The charmap command displays a graphical character map that allows users to visually browse and select Unicode characters with their corresponding code points. It is a useful tool for developers, designers, and anyone working with text and character encoding.

Syntax

charmap [options]

Options/Flags

• –unicode (None): Display Unicode characters. This is the default mode.
• –ascii (None): Display only ASCII characters.
• –blocks (None): Display a list of Unicode blocks.
• –code-points (None): Show code points of characters.
• –font ("Terminus"): Specify the font to use in the character map.
• –height (24): Set the height of the character map in lines.
• –width (80): Set the width of the character map in columns.
• –scale (1): Scale the character map by the given factor.
• –help (None): Print help information and exit.
• –version (None): Print version information and exit.

Examples

• Display the Unicode character map:

charmap

• Display only ASCII characters:

charmap --ascii

• List Unicode blocks:

charmap --blocks

• Show code points of characters:

charmap --code-points

• Use a different font:

charmap --font Menlo

Common Issues

• If the character map does not display correctly, try adjusting the terminal font settings or updating your terminal emulator.
• Some fonts may not support all Unicode characters. If a character is missing, try using a different font.

Integration

The charmap command can be piped to other commands for further processing. For example, to save the character map as an image file:

charmap | convert -trim +repage BMP3:charmap.bmp

Related Commands

• hexdump: Display a file in different formats, including character encoding.
• od: Print the contents of a file in octal, decimal, hexadecimal, and other formats.
• unichar: Identify and display Unicode characters.