Re: Unknown character encodings in .emacs

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 07.06.2008 um 15:32 schrieb Alan E. Davis:

> As an example, I have an abbreviation table that has been in my  
> init file
> for 15 years, and now reads as gibberish.


Check which encoding is used in a backup of your init file. Then open  
it with a prefix command: C-x RET c <the encoding> RET and then C-x C- 
f or e in dired-mode to open the init file. Now put into its first line:

        ;; -*- mode: Emacs-Lisp; coding: utf-8; -*-

and with a prefix command: C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-s. This will  
make sure that the file is read into GNU Emacs in its original  
encoding and is saved as UTF-8 *and* will ever be re-opened in UTF-8  
encoding.


The kind your abbreviation table looks like, makes it obvious that  
its UTF-8 file contents was opened in some 8-bit mode and again saved  
as UTF-8. 8-bit characters ("extended" US-ASCII) are in UTF-8 encoded  
as two 8-bit "characters." When you re-read them in 8-bit mode (1  
char = 1 char, while in UTF-8 it would be 2 char = 1 char) and save  
them again as UTF-8 they become four 8-bit "characters."

--
Greetings

  Pete

We have to expect it, otherwise we would be surprised.