iast(1)
=======
:manmanual: sanskrit-iast

NAME
----
iast - a helper for Sanskrit transliteration


SYNOPSIS
--------
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iast [-h] [-v] [-e] [-c] [--] [text arguments]
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OPTIONS
-------
*-h*::
show help and exit

*-v*::
show version number and exit

*-c*::
use Czech transliteration instead of plain IAST scheme

*-e*::
convert symbolic ASCII text to IAST representation

*--*::
read data from the standard input


DESCRIPTION
-----------
iast is a tool for the lossless transliteration of Sanskrit terms written in
Devanagari into Latin using the International Alphabet of Sanskrit
Transliteration (IAST).

By default, the program takes all input arguments written in Devanagari and
transliterates them to IAST version.


ENCODING
--------
When the flag "-e" is set on, the program converts purely ASCII-encoded strings
into the special characters of the IAST alphabet. For example, it converts
"sam.skr.tam" to "saṃskṛtam" or "s,a-stram" to "śāstram".

The encoding scheme is based on the following principle: characters "-", ".",
"," and "~" are considered to be modifiers that modify a letter that stands
before the modifier. For example, if the string to be encoded contains "a-",
it will be encoded as "ā" and sequence "n~" as "ñ". The only exception from
the rule is the letter "n" because it can be encoded both with an over-dot (ṅ)
and under-dot (ṇ). For the over-dot variant, the conversion sequence is "n^.".

Alternatively, the Czech characters "á", "í", "ú", "š" and "ň" can be used as
shortcuts to encode the letters "ā", "ī", "ū", "ś" and "ñ" respectively.


COPYRIGHT
---------
Copyright (c) 2018  Vlasta Vesely


LICENSING AND WARRANTY
----------------------
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published
by the Free Software Foundation.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
