Re: how to change file coding system

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 16.08.2005 um 11:22 schrieb Martin Monsorno:

> ,----
> | monsorno@mmdev ~/work/workspace.c/gmx $ file bla*
> | bla.eclipse: UTF-8 Unicode text
> | bla.emacs:   ISO-8859 text
> `----
>
> Opening "bla.eclipse" with emacs, shows me the string
> "�berfall".  Changing the file encoding with "C-x <RET> f
> iso-latin-1-unix" and saving leads to:

The correct way would have been, once you've opened the file 
bla.eclipse and Emacs came up showing `-0:´ as start of the mode-line 
(stating ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-15 encoding), C-x <RET> r utf-8-unix 
<RET>: re-open the file in UTF-8 encoding, to view it in its natural 
mood.

When you now save the file in ISO Latin-1 encoding, having applied C-x 
<RET> f (set-buffer-file-coding-system), GNU Emacs does the conversion. 
Instead of C3 BC it writes only FC. The file size will be reduced by 
one byte.

The C-x RET commands *do not* change a buffer's (or a file's) contents, 
they just put some new skin on the buffer so that your view on the 
buffer's (i.e. file's) contents is adapted in a certain way: you can 
see a buffer's (or file's) whatever contents in green, blue, red, 
yellow, cyan ... utf-8, Mac-Roman, NeXT, koi-r8, euc-jp-unix ... 
encoding/view.


Eclipse might be fooling you. The character `ü´ is encoded in UTF-8 as 
C3 BC or, translating the two hex codes into ISO Latin-1 (or -15) 
characters, as: à ³. What you cite in your eMail, � or in HTML 
&iuml;&iquest;&frac12;, is *not* UTF-8.

--
Greetings

  Pete

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.