Searching for a better character encoding technique?

One of the best options is to use iconv Application Programming Interface. It converts character encoding with the help of Unicode conversion.

PHP also contains an iconv extension that uses iconv character set conversion facility.

At Bobcares, we often receive requests to setup iconv extension in PHP as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, let’s get deep into the iconv extension and discuss how our Support Engineers set it up for our customers.

Why we use PHP iconv extension?

Iconv converts character encoding by setting a unique number for every character.

The module contains an interface to iconv character set conversion facility. We use this module to transfer the character set of a string from a local character set to another character set.

This extension comes with various utility functions that help you to write multilingual scripts.

Recently, one of our customers approached us with an error related to the Magento installation. He tried to install Magento 2.0 but all his attempts showed the same error.

Required PHP extension not found: iconv

Our Support Engineers checked and found that the customer uses PHP version 7. The error occurred due to the absence of iconv PHP module.

This module is vital for the installation of Magento in all PHP 7x versions.

How we enable php iconv extension?

The iconv function on different systems works differently. Usually, the supported character sets depend on the iconv implementation of the system in use.

So, we need to use different methods to enable the iconv extension on different platforms.

Let’s see how our Support Engineers enable it effectively for our customers.

1. In Linux

It is quite easy to enable iconv extension on Linux servers.

At first, we check whether the iconv module is already present or not using the command,

php -m | grep iconv

If there is no such module, we install it using the command,

yum install php7x-iconv

After that, we restart the webserver to reflect the changes.

2. In Windows

Windows use dll file format to hold multiple codes and procedures for its programs. So, we first make sure that the dll file is present in the server.

To enable iconv extension, we initially open the php.ini file.

We add the entry for iconv extension,

extension=php_iconv.dll

The changes take effect when we restart the webserver.

3. Using cPanel

Similarly, if we have the root access, we can install iconv via WHM.

First, we log in to WHM.

Then, we choose EasyApache 4 or EasyApache 3 depending on the WHM version.

After that, choose PHP extensions from the list of options available.

Next, we choose the iconv extension based on the PHP version we use.

Finally, we click on the Provision option at the bottom of the window. And, this will install the iconv extension successfully.

[Need more help to enable iconv extension in PHP?- We’ll help you.]

Conclusion

In short, PHP iconv extension converts character encoding with the help of Unicode conversion. Also, in today’s write-up we saw how our Support Engineers enable iconv extension in various platforms.