Command Line Interface

charset-normalizer ship with a CLI that should be available as normalizer . This is a great tool to fully exploit the detector capabilities without having to write Python code.

Possible use cases: #. Quickly discover probable originating charset from a file. #. I want to quickly convert a non Unicode file to Unicode. #. Debug the charset-detector.

Down bellow, we will guide you through some basic examples.

Arguments

You may simply invoke normalizer -h (with the h(elp) flag) to understand the basics. 

usage: normalizer [-h] [-v] [-a] [-n] [-m] [-r] [-f] [-t THRESHOLD]
                  file [file ...]
The Real First Universal Charset Detector. Discover originating encoding used
on text file. Normalize text to unicode.
positional arguments:
  files                 File(s) to be analysed
optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         Display complementary information about file if any.
                        Stdout will contain logs about the detection process.
  -a, --with-alternative
                        Output complementary possibilities if any. Top-level
                        JSON WILL be a list.
  -n, --normalize       Permit to normalize input file. If not set, program
                        does not write anything.
  -m, --minimal         Only output the charset detected to STDOUT. Disabling
                        JSON output.
  -r, --replace         Replace file when trying to normalize it instead of
                        creating a new one.
  -f, --force           Replace file without asking if you are sure, use this
                        flag with caution.
  -t THRESHOLD, --threshold THRESHOLD
                        Define a custom maximum amount of chaos allowed in
                        decoded content. 0. <= chaos <= 1.
  --version             Show version information and exit.