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ITRANS
version 5.1
freeware
Developed by: Avinash Chopde, © 1991-1997

A package for printing text in Indian Language Scripts.


14 Sep 1998
Note: ITRANS 5.2 is now available, it is the current release of ITRANS. For info on 5.20, visit the ITRANS 5.2 home page.


29 June 1998
Note: I am starting a new project, to develop a new software package that will make it easier to support all Indic Scripts in all sorts of Display (X11, MS-Windows, Mac, etc.) as well as Print (TeX, PostScript, etc.) systems.
Visit the Indic Scripting Package - IScript home page for more information.


Index of info on this page...

[[-->]] WWW ITRANS Documents Archives

Many documents in ITRANS format are now available on the Web, in various collections-- Hindi film song lyrics, Sanskrit documents, etc.

[[-->]] ITRANS 5.1 -- released May 1997.

[[-->]] ITRANS Tools

These are tools that make it easier to use ITRANS. There is one tool that provides direct ITRANS processing using your WWW browser, and another that provides a ITRANS by e-mail server, etc. You may prefer using these tools for ITRANS processing, instead of installing and using ITRANS directly!

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ITRANS - Indian Language Transliteration Package
Version 5.1

© 1991-1997 by Avinash Chopde. All Rights Reserved.

Devanagari (Sanskrit/Hindi/Marathi), Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, and Romanized Sanskrit script output.

The input text to ITRANS is in a transliterated form, each letter in an Indian Script is assigned an English equivalent, and the English letters are used to construct what will eventually print out in the Indian Language Script.

ITRANS offers a choice of two input encodings: ITRANS Encoding, and the CS/CSX encoding. ITRANS encoding is a 7-bit ASCII encoding, while the CS/CSX encoding is a 8-bit encoding. The ITRANS encoding requires multi-character English code be used to represent each Indic Script letter, while the CS/CSX encoding uses a one-character code to represent each Indic Script letter. [See ITRANS/doc/icsx.itx in the ITRANS archive for more details regarding CS/CSX.]

ITRANS has three kinds of input interfaces: one or TeX documents, one for raw PostScript commands documents, and a third for HTML documents. The TeX interface is available for all languages, while the PostScript interface is available for PostScript fonts only, and the HTML interface is available for PostScript or TrueType fonts only. Currently, the PostScript and HTML interfaces are available for these languages: Devanagari (Xdvng), Bengali (ItxBeng), Gujarati (ItxGuj), and Romanized Sanskrit (CSutopir or Wnri).



ITRANS 5.1 New Features

ITRANS 5.1 is completely compatible with the older ITRANS 4.04 release, so any documents encoded in ITRANS 4.04 will work correctly with ITRANS 5.1.

Here's a list of major new features added to ITRANS 5.1 (for a complete list, download the ITRANS archive, and consult the CHANGES file):

[[*]] New fonts added.

[[*]] Input encoding extended with new codes.

ITRANS 5.1 is fully compatibile with ITRANS 4.04 encoding. A few new codes are now also accepted: w (== v), kSh (== ksh), ~N (== JN), ~n (== N^), dny (== GY), ^r (== .r == hindi-half-ra).

Jump to the Transliteration Map for a complete listing of the ITRANS encoding.

[[*]] #include= command added.

#include=<filename> added as a new ITRANS command, this command will behave as if the given file name was copied in at that point. Can appear anywhere in the document, and can have nested #include commands (to some maximum).

[[*]] Direct text (html) output mode for WWW document display.

Itrans now has a -7 and -8 option (Direct Text/HTML Output). This can be used to convert any ITRANS text into Devanagari, Bengali, Gujarati, or Romanized-Devanagari output, which can be viewed on the PC/Mac/Unix systems using the TrueType or Type 1 fonts.

This mode allows viewing Itrans encoded texts directly in WWW HTML browsers, such as Netscape 3.x. It is now also possible to import these documents into PC/Mac word-processing applications (by cutting and pasting text from your HTML browser into your word-processing program). Note that only these language scripts will be supported in ITRANS 5.1 - Devanagari, Gujarati, Bengali, and Romanized Devanagari.

[[*]] #output= command added.

Added #output=<tag> The is now no need to provide input arguments like -P or -7 or -8 to ITRANS, the input file itself can tell ITRANS what kind of output to produce - "TeX" (is default), or "PostScript", or for HTML: "HTML_7" or "HTML_8". There are only four possible choies:

    #output=HTML_7        or
    #output=HTML_8        or
    #output=PostScript    or
    #output=TeX
    

[[*]] #endwordvowel= command added.

#endwordvowel=a
OR
#endwordvowel=.h
commands added. These are useful for allowing use of the same IFM file for multiple languages where the only difference is how a word encoded without any ending vowel is to be handled. For Hindi/Marathi, use: #endwordvowel=a in your input text, for Sanskrit (to add a viraam at end of words without a ending vowel), use: #endwordvowel=.h Normally, the IFM file will provide a reasonable default value, which is "a" for the scripts similar to Devanagari. If left unspecified in the IFM file, the default is ".h". These #endwordvowel commands will override the DEFAULTVOWEL assignment read from the IFM file.

[[*]] ## command is now context-sensitive.

## (the "short marker") is now always enabled, by default. Also, ## can be used to turn on and off any language marker -- it is no longer restricted to #indian alone. A ## that is meant to start Indic Text processing will assume that the last seen language marker tag is to be restarted.

    Ex:
    #gujarati 
    .................. 
    ##    [this implies, turn off gujarati --> #endgujarati]
    .....
    ##    [this implies turn on #gujarati again. In 4.04, this would imply #indian]
    #endgujarati
    etc..
    

[[*]] Marathi usage now much easier.

There is no longer any need for separate Marathi IFM files, so mdvng.ifm and mdvnc.ifm have been removed from the package. The basic devanagari IFM files: dvng.ifm and dvnc.ifm offer both the marathi half-ra (as "R"), and the second LA, LDA (as "L").

[[*]] Three or more consonant-conjunts can now be explicitly defined in the IFM file.

Older versions of ITRANS (4.04 and earlier) only allowed explicit definitions of two-consonant conjuncts; and it used implicit rules to handle when the input contained 3 or more consonant conjuncts. Since this implicit mechanism would sometimes fail, I've added the capability to explicity define 3 or more consonant conjuncts in the IFM file. For an example of this, see the itxbeng.ifm file in the ITRANS archive -- right now, only Bengali makes use of this feature.

[[*]] Tamil encoding has been changed slightly.

TAMIL encoding changed. I had the 5 "n" sounds all incorrect, I think the stuff is more correct now.

	4.x     5.x    Unicode Name
	--      --     ------------
	ng -->  ~N     NGA
	ny -->  ~n     NYA
	N  -->  N      NNA
	n  -->  ^n     NNNA
	n^ -->  n      NA
    




Download ITRANS 5.1 from here.

Warning: Installing and using ITRANS is a non-trivial task, and unless you already know TeX or PostScript, and have installed freeware packages such as TeX or GhostScript, it may not be worth your while to enter into a struggle with ITRANS!
Instead, it may be easier to use the ITRANS-WWW interactive tool, or the ITRANS-Email server; tools that are described elsewhere on this page.

ITRANS archives may be available in GZIPed tar'ed format only (.tgz or .tar.gz file extension). This package is distributed as source code, and includes two executables: itrans.linux for Linux (ELF format) systems, itrans.exe for MS-DOS x86 systems. Users on other platforms need to have access to a compiler and other development tools to create an executable.

The itrans51 archive contains source code and documentation. The itransfn archive contains all the fonts needed to use all supported language scripts of ITRANS. The itransps archive contain PostScript printer ready documents, you can use this to print or view the manuals for all language scripts supported by ITRANS, without installing ITRANS and all the fonts, etc.

The current version of ITRANS 5.1 is now available, and you can FTP it using anonymous FTP from

ftp.aczone.com
, directory
pub/itrans/51/
or you click on the following links:

[Note: use your browsers "Save to Disk" command instead of directly clicking on the following links - for Netscape on Unix, click with the Right-Mouse button over link.]

[Source Code] itrans51.tar.gz (330 Kbytes)
This includes two executables: itrans.linux for Linux (ELF format) systems, itrans.exe for MS-DOS x86 systems.

[Fonts] itransfn.tar.gz (990 Kbytes)

[PostScript printer-ready documentation] itransps.tar.gz (1,110 Kbytes)

[Power Macintosh Executable] itrans51.hqx (240 Kbytes)
This contains a executable for the Power Mac, provided by Yasuhiro Okazaki, Japan. His e-mail address is: kappa-y@sh0.po.iijnet.or.jp or khb12400@niftyserve.or.j The itrans51.hqx file contains a small README at the beginning of the .hqx file.




ITRANS 5.1 Encoding for Devanagari (Hindi/Marathi/Sanskrit)

This section describes the ITRANS encoding, for Devanagari. This is the basic encoding used for all Indic language scripts. Consult the individual language manuals in the ITRANS archive (ITRANS/doc/*.itx files) for exact details on every language supported by ITRANS.
Vowels (dependent and independent):
-------
a      aa / A    i      ii / I     u       uu / U 
R^i    R^I       L^i    L^I
e      ai        o      au         aM      aH

Consonants:
----------- 
k     kh     g     gh     ~N
ch    Ch     j     jh     ~n
T     Th     D     Dh     N
t     th     d     dh     n
p     ph     b     bh     m
y     r      l     v / w
sh    Sh     s     h      L
x / kSh     GY / j~n / dny     shr
R (for marathi half-RA)
L / ld (marathi LLA)

Consonants with a nukta (dot) under them (mainly for Urdu devanagari):
-----------------------------------------
k  with a dot:      q
kh with a dot:      K
g  with a dot:      G
j  with a dot:      z
p  with a dot:      f
D  with a dot:      .D
Dh with a dot:      .Dh

Specials/Accents:
-----------------
Anusvara:       .n / M / .m  (dot on top of previous consonant/vowel)
Avagraha:       .a    (`S' like symbol basically to replace a after o)
Ardhachandra:   .c    (for vowel sound as in english words `cat' or `talk')
Chandra-Bindu:  .N    (chandra-bindu on top of previous letter)
Halant:		.h    (to get half-form of the consonant - no vowel - virama)
Visarga:        H     (visarga - looks like a colon character)
Om:		OM, AUM (Om symbol)

For more information, see the documentation in the ITRANS package.




Installing fonts for X11R6/PC/Mac

All these fonts are present in the ITRANS "lib/fonts" directory. So, to get these fonts, you've to first download the ITRANS 5.1 package.

This section explains how to install the TrueType or Type1 fonts so that Itrans output can be viewed directly using WWW browsers such as Netscape 3.x

At this time (release 5.04), only four language scripts are supported. The Devanagari (Xdvng), Bengali (ItxBeng), Romanized Devanagari (CSUtopia) fonts, and the Gujarati (ItxGuj) font.

These fonts have been tested to be working on X11R6 systems, PC Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 machines, and Apple Macintoshes, using the Netscape 3.0 HTML browser. Netscape is recommended, this stuff may or may not work with any other browser.

The basic procedure is to install the PostScript Type 1 or TrueType font on your system.

More details on font installation and troubleshooting.




List of sites that archive ITRANS documents

There are many WWW and FTP sites that store documents in ITRANS format. The documents can be retrieved in their input format which is the transliterated form in English, or in the output format which displays the text in the Indian Language Script. The Indian Language Script output is generally in the form of a PostSript file or a GIF image.

The documents in all these archives have been created by hundreds of WWW net-citizens, and these archives of Indian Language documents continue to grow with the efforts of numerous interested people all over the world... all this is yet another example that reflects the power of the Internet!

Here is the list of the archives:




ITRANS tools: WWW, E-mail processing, etc

As has been pointed out many times by many people, ITRANS is very cumbersome to install and very hard to use. So, naturally, as time passes, we find that some enterprising people have developed tools to get around that problem of ``being difficult-to-use''!

Here's the list of some tools that make using ITRANS easier:


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Last modified: 18 May, 1997

Copyright © 1995-97 Avinash Chopde, avinash@acm.org. All rights reserved.

Page URL: http://www.aczone.com/itrans/index.html