vis, strvis, strvisx, svis, strsvis, strsvisx - visually encode characters
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
#include <vis.h>
char *
vis(char *dst, int c, int flag, int nextc);
int
strvis(char *dst, const char *src, int flag);
int
strvisx(char *dst, const char *src, size_t len, int flag);
char *
svis(char *dst, int c, int flag, int nextc, const char *extra);
int
strsvis(char *dst, const char *src, int flag, const char *extra);
int
strsvisx(char *dst, const char *src, size_t len, int flag,
const char *extra);
The vis() function copies into dst a string which represents the character
c. If c needs no encoding, it is copied in unaltered. The string is
null terminated, and a pointer to the end of the string is returned. The
maximum length of any encoding is four characters (not including the
trailing NUL); thus, when encoding a set of characters into a buffer, the
size of the buffer should be four times the number of characters encoded,
plus one for the trailing NUL. The flag parameter is used for altering
the default range of characters considered for encoding and for altering
the visual representation. The additional character, nextc, is only used
when selecting the VIS_CSTYLE encoding format (explained below).
The strvis() and strvisx() functions copy into dst a visual representation
of the string src. The strvis() function encodes characters from
src up to the first NUL. The strvisx() function encodes exactly len
characters from src (this is useful for encoding a block of data that may
contain NUL's). Both forms NUL terminate dst. The size of dst must be
four times the number of characters encoded from src (plus one for the
NUL). Both forms return the number of characters in dst (not including
the trailing NUL).
The functions svis(), strsvis(), and strsvisx() correspond to vis(),
strvis(), and strvisx() but have an additional argument extra, pointing
to a NUL terminated list of characters. These characters will be copied
encoded or backslash-escaped into dst. These functions are useful e. g.
to remove the special meaning of certain characters to shells.
The encoding is a unique, invertible representation composed entirely of
graphic characters; it can be decoded back into the original form using
the unvis(3) or strunvis(3) functions.
There are two parameters that can be controlled: the range of characters
that are encoded (applies only to vis(), strvis(), and strvisx()), and
the type of representation used. By default, all non-graphic characters,
except space, tab, and newline are encoded. (See isgraph(3).) The following
flags alter this:
VIS_SP Also encode space.
VIS_TAB Also encode tab.
VIS_NL Also encode newline.
VIS_WHITE Synonym for VIS_SP | VIS_TAB | VIS_NL.
VIS_SAFE Only encode "unsafe" characters. Unsafe means control characters
which may cause common terminals to perform unexpected
functions. Currently this form allows space, tab, newline,
backspace, bell, and return - in addition to all graphic
characters - unencoded.
(The above flags have no effect for svis(), strsvis(), and strsvisx().
When using these functions, place all graphic characters to be encoded in
an array pointed to by extra. In general, the backslash character should
be included in this array, see the warning on the use of the VIS_NOSLASH
flag below).
There are four forms of encoding. All forms use the backslash character
`\' to introduce a special sequence; two backslashes are used to represent
a real backslash, except VIS_HTTPSTYLE that uses `$'. These are the
visual formats:
(default) Use an `M' to represent meta characters (characters with the
8th bit set), and use caret `^' to represent control characters
see (iscntrl(3)). The following formats are used:
\^C Represents the control character `C'. Spans characters
`\000' through `\037', and `\177' (as `\^?').
\M-C Represents character `C' with the 8th bit set. Spans
characters `\241' through `\376'.
\M^C Represents control character `C' with the 8th bit set.
Spans characters `\200' through `\237', and `\377' (as
`\M^?').
\040 Represents ASCII space.
\240 Represents Meta-space.
VIS_CSTYLE Use C-style backslash sequences to represent standard nonprintable
characters. The following sequences are used to
represent the indicated characters:
\a - BEL (007)
\b - BS (010)
\f - NP (014)
\n - NL (012)
\r - CR (015)
\t - HT (011)
\v - VT (013)
\0 - NUL (000)
When using this format, the nextc parameter is looked at to
determine if a NUL character can be encoded as `\0' instead
of `\000'. If nextc is an octal digit, the latter representation
is used to avoid ambiguity.
VIS_OCTAL Use a three digit octal sequence. The form is `\ddd' where d
represents an octal digit.
VIS_HTTPSTYLE
Use URI encoding as described in RFC 1808. The form is `%xx'
where x represents a hexadecimal digit.
There is one additional flag, VIS_NOSLASH, which inhibits the doubling of
backslashes and the backslash before the default format (that is, control
characters are represented by `^C' and meta characters as `M-C'). With
this flag set, the encoding is ambiguous and non-invertible.
unvis(1), vis(1), unvis(3)
R. Fielding, Relative Uniform Resource Locators, RFC1808.
The vis, strvis, and strvisx functions first appeared in 4.4BSD. The
svis, strsvis, and strsvisx functions appeared in NetBSD 1.5.
BSD June 9, 1993 BSD
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