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Version: 2.0

isofile_iso_to_utf

Overview​

isofile_iso_to_utf is a CISIS utility designed to read ISO-2709 files encoded in ISO-8859-1 (or compatible single-byte encodings) and produce a new ISO-2709 file normalized to UTF-8 encoding.

This tool is especially useful in ABCD environments where legacy databases or imported records may still be encoded in ISO or Latin character sets, while modern deployments increasingly require UTF-8–compliant ISO files for interoperability and indexing.

Purpose​

The utility performs the following tasks:

  • Reads an ISO-2709 input file record by record

  • Parses:

    • Leader
    • Directory entries
    • Variable fields

  • Converts textual data from ISO encoding to UTF-8

  • Writes a new ISO-2709 output file with:

    • Correct record structure
    • Normalized field and record terminators
    • UTF-8 encoded content

Supported Standards​

  • Input format: ISO 2709 (MARC-compatible)
  • Input encoding: ISO-8859-1 (or compatible)
  • Output format: ISO 2709
  • Output encoding: UTF-8

Command-Line Usage​

isofile_iso_to_utf -i <input.iso> -o <output.iso> [options]

Command-Line Options​

OptionDescription
-iPath to the ISO input file
-oPath to the ISO output file
-nNormalize record structure and directory offsets
-f <num>Maximum number of fields to process per record
-t <mode>Terminator mode for the output file
-vDisplays version information
-hDisplays help and usage information

Terminator Modes (-t)​

The -t option defines how field and record terminators are written in the output file:

hash (default)​

  • Field terminator: #
  • Record terminator: #

norm​

  • Field terminator: IS2 (RS – Record Separator)
  • Record terminator: IS3 (GS – Group Separator)

This mode produces an ISO-2709 file strictly compliant with the standard.

Examples​

Basic conversion​

./isofile_iso_to_utf -i mydownload.iso -o myupload.iso

Normalized ISO-2709 output​

./isofile_iso_to_utf -i mydownload.iso -o myupload.iso -n -t norm -f 3

Internal Processing Flow​

  1. Open input ISO file

  2. Read record leader

  3. Calculate directory size and entry count

  4. Read directory entries

    • Includes internal validation
    • Stops execution if directory exceeds internal limits

  5. Read and convert variable fields

    • Converts ISO-encoded strings to UTF-8

  6. Write converted record to output ISO file

  7. Repeat until EOF

Error Handling​

The utility performs consistency checks, including:

  • Directory entry overflow
  • Invalid directory entry length
  • Unexpected record terminators

Example error message:

*** Record <n>: too many directory entries for this program
*** Computed <x> entries. Program limit is <y>

If an error is detected, processing stops to prevent output corruption.

Limitations​

  • Maximum number of directory entries is bounded by an internal constant (MaxDeEntries)
  • Assumes a single-byte character encoding on input
  • Does not attempt automatic encoding detection

Typical Use Cases in ABCD​

  • Migrating legacy ISO databases to UTF-8
  • Preparing ISO files for Solr indexing
  • Normalizing records exchanged between heterogeneous library systems
  • Preventing character corruption during import/export operations

Compilation​

This utility is normally compiled together with the CISIS toolchain:

gcc -o isofile_iso_to_utf isofile_iso_to_utf.c [cisis libraries]

Exact compilation flags depend on your CISIS build environment.

  • mx
  • i2id
  • isisutf8
  • isofile_normalize